This one is for my wife. Her protege is just about to fly apart or rust away, and she wanted an AWD small SUV that was decent on gas. I suggested checking out the one pictured below. She liked it so I shopped around on line, got a good price, she drove it and thought it was very nice, so we got this:



Yep, a new outlander sport, SE AWD (no glass roof on this one). MSRP is $24,600, we didn't pay anywhere near that. Hey it was this or a cheap, loud, buzzy mazda 2 which would be a nightmare in the snow (way too light).

Two dealers out here were real pains to deal with (no, really? lol) even though I was doing on line shopping for price quotes. One wouldn't give me a quote at all (WTF?!), the other did but it was like pulling teeth; I had to go back and forth 4 times just to get a decent price. Well, I thought it was a decent price (just below invoice) but then a third dealer was straightforward and just came right out with a very low quote and that was all she wrote.

As for the car itself, you'd think since it is one of the smallest SUV's you can get that it would be tiny, but it is not really small. It's not huge inside but still has good space, plenty for 4 people and cargo. It has very good front seats and lots of features (auto wipers/headlights/climate control, heated seats, the fuse system for the radio and i-pod, a knee airbag, and such).

And yes, it is slow. 148hp + CVT + AWD = slow. But, my wife is from europe and always drives slow cars so for her it is fine she is used to it.

Turbo it :p

Seriously, nice buy. Crossovers or small SUVs are nice. The 09 CR-V I picked up in July has been awesome!

Congrats Todd.

I seriously like the new Outlander/RVR.

Shame we don't get the 1.6L HDi over here. 110hp/177lb-ft, 50mpg.

On the plus side, I hear there will be Peugeot/Citroën version available in 2012, so you might be able to play around with fascias for giggles.

This one is definitely on our list, though Vanessa prefers the Juke. :twitch

The Juke would definitely get bonus points for having much better performance with that 1.6L turbo. However it needs premium and that car is also VERY cramped inside, not enough space to be that practical for us. Plus we both thought it looked ugly.

The outlander sport is small for one of these compact SUV's but it has plenty of room inside for us, not as much as a toyota or honda but much better than the Juke. Definitely check it out. Just be aware that it is slow. A 50 shot would do wonders for it. Maybe one weeked when she isn't using the car....

My wife tried out the AWD setting on it in the heavy rain this weekend. She said it made the car feel much more stable and she liked it.

The diesel would be great if they offered it, but my wife doesn't like diesels either :shrug

Sad thing is, most of these jobbers, with anything above base model, come with an annoying CVT. :wallbash

Takes all the joy out of driving if you ask me.