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SUVs Crossover SUV Comparison
7120 messages, Last post on Nov 06, 2009 at 8:28 AM
You are in the SUVs Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & tidester
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Replying to: ateixeira (Aug 04, 2008 6:49 am) The best way to compare is to start with the cheapest, base model of each. Most beginning with the '08 model year come with a lot of airbags and stability control standard, so the comparison is not bad. With options, the price can go up fast. Someone on a budget might shop for the base version of a given model. With that, the '08 Odyssey, if you can find a base version out there, is 6 thousand cheaper than an '09 Flex just appearing in showrooms. Someone stuck on getting a Honda might want the Pilot, at about 5,000 more than an Odyssey, and realize the model year-end deal on the Odyssey is the bargain. The base Odyssey LX is about the cost of the Suzuki XL-7, and I'd say the Odyssey is the better deal. However, with the XL-7, you can wear black leather when in it and look cool/tough because Suzuki also makes motorcycles, while the Odyssey minivan only looks good in front of Toys-R-Us.
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 04, 2008 8:49 am) Plus, you climb out of a crossover with a diaper bag and a little baby girl in your arms and it's sort of hard to look cool. Cute, maybe, but not cool. 
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Replying to: ateixeira (Aug 04, 2008 9:26 am) |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 04, 2008 6:16 pm)  Truth is, both have their uses. Our Forester has been great, and it will be our only snow vehicle. The clearance and AWD should come in handy, plus our mileage keeps improving. We were getting 34mpg on one all-highway stretch. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 04, 2008 6:16 pm) |
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Replying to: bobw3 (Aug 07, 2008 6:41 am) About the CUVs, the real subject here, there was an article saying that CUVs sales were surprisingly down as people now want cars with a good-size trunk instead of these station wagons on steroids. Many of these CUVs (Freestyle for one) gets better MPG than a lot of big cars out there, so I don't completely understand why CUVs aren't a little more popular right now. |
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 07, 2008 11:49 am) About the CUVs, the real subject here, there was an article saying that CUVs sales were surprisingly down as people now want cars with a good-size trunk instead of these station wagons on steroids. Many of these CUVs (Freestyle for one) gets better MPG than a lot of big cars out there, so I don't completely understand why CUVs aren't a little more popular right now. I am not surprised CUV sales are down. We have an '05 AWD Freestyle that we love, but have been bit hard by gas prices. The computer says the Freestyle only manages 16.5mpg with mixed city/suburban driving. On long road trips it typically manages 22mpg. This is lower than some other Freestyle owners report, but I believe it is most likely due to it being an AWD model which we do utilize in our long Minnesota winters. By contrast our other car is a 2001 Saab 9-5 wagon. This is classified as a large car with a good sized cargo area. In the same type of city/suburban driving this car manages about 24mpg. On the highway it does better than 30, so by driving it instead of the more roomy Freestyle we increase our MPG by about 8. This is a significant difference for us because we have to drive a lot, so this summer we have been driving the Saab more often and the Freestyle less. We love our Freestyle, but next time we go to buy a car we will likely look for something that gets much better fuel economy. I just wish something roomy like the Freestyle was available with a diesel engine that allowed it to get 30mph on the highway. I don't see why this isn't possible with some diesel cars getting 50mpg on the highway. - Chad
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 07, 2008 11:49 am) my explorer is 6 years old, has 83k on it averaging 16 mpg and runs great. i am keeping it and bought a sedan with a large trunk.
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Replying to: saabturboid (Aug 07, 2008 12:21 pm) The '01 Saab 9-5 wagon with automatic gets slightly worse MPG than my '05 Freestyle 2wd. ....www.fueleconomy.gov database..... I don't understand why there are some Freestyles (especially AWD versions) that don't get good MPG. I have elaborate theories why some don't, some which sound more like they come from Mel Gibson's character in "Conspiracy Theory, 1997", which in my case involve manufacturing variations and the weakness in the CVT design to fail to control steel belt tension nominal levels. Don't know for sure, but I have some evidence of this. The low MPG in some Freestyles appears to be real, as it affected the first Freestyle that Consumer Reports got a hold of for their first test of it, reporting 12 MPG then! Do you think Ford would ever admit this? Yeah, right. Related conspiracy theory: Ford quit using the CVT because of this design performance weakness in some percentage of vehicles.
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Replying to: coldcranker (Aug 07, 2008 4:11 pm) |
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