Gentlemen: The small end of the SUV category, with vehicles like the Honda CR-V, has suddenly become very crowded. Nissan has added the X-Trail, Hyundai has the Tucson and Kia has the new Sportage. There are others as well, including Ford's Hybrid Escape and Jeep's Liberty.
What would you recommend if price, safety and fuel economy are the major deciding factors? Any one to choose as "Best of Breed?"
David in Calgary
Cato: There is a reason why the Honda CR-V remains a top seller in the small SUV category: it is competitively priced -- brilliantly so, if you factor in its strong resale value.
And it gets a five-star or best-in-class crash test safety rating for both front and side impacts. Plus its four-cylinder, 160-horsepower engine is strong and smooth. It also gets a respectable 10.6 city/8.0 highway for fuel economy - that's litres per 100 kilometres.
Vaughan: If you go by the numbers from the feds (Natural Resources Canada calculations), the typical CR-V owner will pay about $1,300 a year on gas. That's half what the owner of a colossus like the Chevrolet Suburban will spend at the pump.
Cato: I'm glad you brought up Chevrolet, because . . .
Vaughan: I didn't bring up Chevrolet. I was pointing out to you what a gas hog the Suburban is. Why do people run errands in these tanks anyway?
Cato: Yeah, yeah. Rant away. There are people who tow things, you know.
Anyway, one new vehicle David didn't mention -- and I want to mention it -- is the Chevy Equinox, which is sort of an ute/crossover wagon. Prices range from $26,615 to $31,330 for a loaded 'Nox with all-wheel drive. That's a couple of grand less than a CR-V, which runs from $28,200 to $33,600.
Vaughan: 'Nox? Anyway it's the new one built in Ingersoll, Ont. -- the one that they drop a 3.4-litre engine in that's imported from China. The Pontiac version is called the Torrent.
Cato: Right. The Torrent shares all the bits and pieces under the skin with the Equinox and Saturn's Vue. It, like all the rest here in this small SUV class, carries five passengers.
Vaughan: When we ran into GM CEO Rick Wagoner at the Detroit auto show he was flogging the Equinox hard. I can understand why. It replaces the unbelievably ugly Aztek that GM had trouble giving away.
Cato: I'm throwing the Equinox into the mix because it is the right price, though like most Chevy products it will depreciate faster than any of the Japanese SUVs. GM insists on playing that incentive game -- discounts them like mad -- and when that happens you get low resale values.
Vaughan: The Equinox has great crash test scores: five stars for front and side impact and four stars for rollover protection; brilliant for a small SUV. The fuel economy may be the weak spot. It's just okay at 12.0 city/8.6 highway. But there's plenty of room and the all-wheel-drive system is fine.
Cato: Okay, okay. First, we're recommending the Honda CR-V. The ride and handling are first rate, the value equation fits because of that high resale value and the safety and fuel economy numbers are excellent. Quality, by the way, is among the best in this class if not the best.
Vaughan: The Equinox deserves a look because it does the job on the safety stuff -- the crash test and rollover ratings. Rollover ratings matter with SUVs because these are tall vehicles with high centres of gravity. The pricing is very good. Quality looks okay but who knows? The Equinox has been on the market for less than a year.
Cato: So we'll need a little bit more of a track record to make a judgment on quality.
Vaughan: Now what about a third recommendation?
Cato: This is where things get tough.
Vaughan: Yeah, there's lots of other big players here, all four-by-fours that are, for the most part, also available with just front-wheel drive.
Let me list them: Nissan X-Trail, $25,998-$33,098; Ford Escape, $22,995-$36,215 and $35,925 for the hybrid 4x4; Hyundai Tucson, $19,995-$28,725; Mazda Tribute, which is just Mazda's version of the Escape, $24,495-$35,295; Jeep Liberty, $27,460-$32,440; and Mitsubishi Outlander, $23,348-$33,046.
Cato: For me, the X-Trail is a bit pricey for what you get. The Tucson and its Kia sibling, the Sportage, are incredibly well priced. But even though many Hyundai products are clearly competitive on quality, these two new utes don't yet have the kind of track record that would let me recommend them to David.
Vaughan: The Jeep Liberty, then.
Cato: Right. The crash test scores are five stars for front and side impacts. I know the three-star rollover rating is a bit weak, but not terrible.
Vaughan: What I like about the Liberty is fuel economy. I'm not talking about the gas-powered four-cylinder or V-6 versions. They're nothing special. But the 2.8-litre, four-cylinder turbo-diesel in the Liberty gets an outstanding 10.5 L/100 km city and 8.0 L/100 km highway.
Cato: With those numbers, this Liberty diesel has an 805-km driving range. And it's powerful. Not horsepower powerful; 160 horsepower is nothing to brag about. What matters more here is torque, which in the Liberty Diesel is 295 lb-ft at 1,800 rpm. That kind of torque puts you into Suburban country.
Vaughan: The Liberty Diesel has enough torque to tow a small house. And modern diesels are so smooth.
Cato: There you go, David. Three very different small SUVs, each strong in the areas you say matter most. Drive them and see what you think.
Vaughan: Look, the compact SUV market is just under half of the whole SUV market in Canada. It's incredibly competitive out there and that's to your advantage price-wise whichever SUV you choose.
Specifications
2005 Jeep Liberty Diesel
Wheelbase: 2,649 mm
Length: 4,430 mm
Width: 1,819 mm
Height: 1,783 mm
Base engine: 2.8-litre inline four DOHC
Output: 160 hp at 2,200 rpm/295 lb-ft of torque at 1,800 rpm
Basic warranty: Three years/60,000 km
Base price: $30,655
Specifications
2005 Honda CR-V AWD EX
Wheelbase: 2,625 mm
Length: 4,597 mm
Width: 1,782 mm
Height: 1,682 mm
Base engine: 2.4-litre inline four DOHC
Output: 160 hp at 6,000 rpm/162 lb-ft of torque at 3,600 rpm
Basic warranty: Three years/60,000 km
Base price: $30,300
Specifications
2005 Chevrolet Equinox LS
Wheelbase: 2,858 mm
Length: 4,796 mm
Width: 1,814 mm
Height: 1,760 mm
Base engine: 3.4-litre V-6 OHV
Output: 185 hp at 5,200 rpm/210 lb-ft of torque at 3,800 rpm
Basic warranty: Three years/60,000 km
Base price: $29,225
