[Alfisti]

SUbaru's being reliable is one of the all time great myths. They are not compared t their peers, they languish mid to lower mid table on most rankings.

[fbsm]

Originally Posted by tdott

Honda HRV

I was going to suggest the honda or a toyota rav4

Both are uninspiring appliances that will require very little care and feeding outside of preventative maint and go hundreds of thousands of miles very reliably

[jmg]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

SUbaru's being reliable is one of the all time great myths. They are not compared t their peers, they languish mid to lower mid table on most rankings.

Reliability is always relative. Relative to a X3, they are reliable. Relative to a CR-V, they are less reliable according to the trades. I can only say from experience that I've never had anything major that needed repairs in my past 2 Subarus.

[Mr Carrots]

Originally Posted by jmg

I haven't driven the new CTV and I dread the idea. I hope it doesn't take me off the Subaru fan club. Does the X1 come with AWD or is just just FWD now?

Even the 'xdrive' version is FWD 99% of the time unless the rear tires slip out so we saved a couple of thousand and went with the Sdrive version. It ended up being something like 28k before taxes which was barely more than the Subaru it replaced. It's her fancy looking grocery getter/dog hauler so we didn't really need AWD (and moving to Texas means we'll need it even less!)

At 200 WHP the X1's FWD torque steer isn't even an issue, but the 8 speed is a million times better than the Subaru CVT. Their corny 'shift points' don't fake gear changes at all convincingly and just end up giving poor fuel economy and I had to continually tap the paddles when driving because it shifted so slowly.

[EyeGuy]

Originally Posted by Mr Carrots

We had a forester xt before a minivan ran into the back of it, prettt good cheap SUV but that cvt is awful and the car lacked the feel or handling of the new x1 I got my wife to replace it.

The base forester is as junky as anything else with that prehistoric 2.5 engine Subaru insists on keeping alive.

How's the x1's rear seat room compared to the xt? I've been thinking about making the switch myself.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by jmg

Reliability is always relative. Relative to a X3, they are reliable. Relative to a CR-V, they are less reliable according to the trades. I can only say from experience that I've never had anything major that needed repairs in my past 2 Subarus.

They're not though, Subaru are consistently ranked below BMW, not much but they are. They have had huge issues with head gaskets and front suspension issues which are extremely expensive to fix.

The reliability thing is a flat out myth when looking at hard data, we are not talking issues with poor touch screens, the mechanical reliability is below industry average but they sell on their "rigged" reputation.

[HawkeyeGeoff]

100% on the Mazda CX-5. Fantastic little car.

[AtlasM]

Originally Posted by jmg

I haven't driven the new CTV and I dread the idea. I hope it doesn't take me off the Subaru fan club.

The Subaru CVT is actually pretty decent. My wife drives a 2016 Impreza with a CVT and I rather like that car.

Before we test drove it, the CVT gave me pause, because of my experience with assorted Nissan CVT rental cars that fight with you when you press the gas pedal any amount short of flooring it. You have to floor them to get them to move, otherwise the transmission quickly shifts to a taller ratio to continue cruising along at maximum mpg. I get that they're trying to maximize mpg but it's almost like the car was programmed to assume that small gas pedal movements by the driver are unintentional and therefore need to be canceled out by a taller gear ratio.

While the Impreza certainly isn't fast, the CVT does a good job with choosing gear ratios that help accelerate when you want to. It doesn't fight with you like the Nissans do. Rolling on to the gas on highway on-ramps it keeps the engine right around 4k RPM until you reach highway speed. It's a little weird with the revs not changing but it keeps it in the meat of the powerband and does a good job getting up to speed with only 150 hp. Part-throttle moves trying to hit a gap in traffic, same thing, it doesn't hesitate to give you a shorter gear ratio to help move things along. Overall, it behaves how you'd want it to.

[saeyedoc]

How about the Acura RDX? I see lease deals for $299/month

[Alfisti]

no way in the world a rdx is really $300 month.

[wdb]

All this hating on Hondas. I've never been behind the wheel of one that wasn't at least mildly entertaining. My parent's old Accord V6 was surprisingly powerful. My first gen Fit was a total hoot in the twisties and offramps. My wife's CRV is taut and precise (and underpowered). Sorry folks, but in my experience if you want a dead stick you have to go Toyota. Or American.

[cjb762]

Originally Posted by wdb

All this hating on Hondas. I've never been behind the wheel of one that wasn't at least mildly entertaining. My parent's old Accord V6 was surprisingly powerful. My first gen Fit was a total hoot in the twisties and offramps. My wife's CRV is taut and precise (and underpowered). Sorry folks, but in my experience if you want a dead stick you have to go Toyota. Or American.

Not hating on Hondas at all here, but we have a Honda CRV and a Mazda CX5, and the Mazda is lightyears ahead of the Honda in pretty much every driving category, and I really like the Honda. The Mazda's engine is fantastic - free reving and hard pulling, and the automatic transmission is sincerely the best automatic transmission I have used. It is way better, for example, than the one in my 2007 E90 - no lag, no hesitation, when you put your foot in it, it goes. The Mazda actually feels light and nimble through corners too, and it is really fun to push it. With the Honda, I get a lot of torque steer and understeer. Both are all wheel drive.

Anyone thinking about a small SUV is really doing themselves a disservice if they don't at least take a Mazda CX5 for a test drive.

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by wdb

All this hating on Hondas. I've never been behind the wheel of one that wasn't at least mildly entertaining. My parent's old Accord V6 was surprisingly powerful. My first gen Fit was a total hoot in the twisties and offramps. My wife's CRV is taut and precise (and underpowered). Sorry folks, but in my experience if you want a dead stick you have to go Toyota. Or American.

No hate here. We own a Pilot, had an Odyssey before that and my daughter recently bought a Fit. When I was looking before deciding on my X1 I had both the CRV and the CX-5 on my short list.

Bottom line is I liked pretty much everything about the Mazda better than the CRV. Frankly I wanted to like the CRV better as we have a good history with Honda. But both myself and my wife like the CX-5 much more. In the end the main reasons I went with the X1 were that I wanted something smaller and of course the major difference in performance.

Personally I don't think you could go wrong if you ended up with either of the Honda (HRV/CRV) or Mazda (CS-3/CX-5) offerings.

[saeyedoc]

How about a Tiguan? They now have a 6 year warranty and start around $25k.

[BMW F22]

I think the CX5 is a great option. Younger brpther has had one for a few years now and he likes it. I helped him shop for it long ago and was impressed with the driving dynamics.

Originally Posted by bucketfoot

Another vote for the CX-5. I almost got this for myself, but ended up with the X1 instead. You could also consider the CX-3.

Curious why you went with X1?

[bucketfoot]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

I think the CX5 is a great option. Younger brpther has had one for a few years now and he likes it. I helped him shop for it long ago and was impressed with the driving dynamics.



Curious why you went with X1?

The main reasons were:

First, I preferred something smaller than the CX5 and the CX3 had just come out and I couldn't find much info on it yet.

Second was that I paid less for the X1 than I would have paid for the Mazda, yet I have longer warranty coverage (CPO warranty not a full warranty, but still is lasts longer).

Third was the more premium feel, better performance and just the plain & simple fun factor of the car (it's been a long time since I've owned anything you could remotely call a performance car!)

[saeyedoc]

Looked at new Cx-5, Rav 4, Rogue and Crosstrek. Liked the Maxda the best of those, but in the end got a CPO '15 Acura RDX for the same $. I thought she made the smart choice.

[Alfisti]

Yep 100% agree.

[djse60]

Lease a BMW X1. Got a great deal for my wife a year ago - PM for details if interested.

[saeyedoc]

Originally Posted by djse60

Lease a BMW X1. Got a great deal for my wife a year ago - PM for details if interested.

See above, done deal