any non-hybrid SUV's good on gas? Need car suggestions

[Lisa_M]

Well, my husband's car is on it's last legs (92 Grand Am). We are going to need to get a new (to us) car soon here. He wants us to get a car that is not low to the ground like his is. We also need a car that is comfortable for traveling. Our families live far away, so we need a vehicle that is roomy enough for our stuff, the baby's stuff and for long trips, our cats stuff. So basically, a carseat, two cat carriers and stuff. We have a Vibe, which is probably what he'll be driving to work (50 miles a day). It's good on gas, but a little snug for traveling. My job is only 8 miles away, so if it's not great on gas I can sort of deal, but with gas prices getting so high, I'm leery of getting a small SUV. I know minivans are an option, but I am pretty young and don't think I can mentally wrap my head around driving one. My mom told me, "Your a mom now, what's the big deal?"

any suggestions for vehicles for us to look into?

 

[adkkev]

Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV, Jeep Compass/Patriot may be what you're looking for. Unless you absolutely need the 4 wheel drive option, go for the 2 wheel drive models (they'll all be front wheel drive). All get pretty good gas mileage, and all have the room to meet your needs.

Pricewise, the Jeep is the cheapest.

 

[dismom24]

We just bought a Saturn Vue and I love it. It gets really good mileage and has llots of extra room. Our minivan was horible on gas. HTH

 

[ArielRae]

I also have a saturn vue and love it. I say go for the Saturn Vue. DH always says that he loves filling up my car over his as it cost less to fill. We use it as our family and long distance car. We have even driven it down to florida and back from New Jersey. I was a great drive.

 

[pnutmnm]

I drive 53 miles a day (round trip) and am currently getting approximately 26 mpg in my Honda CRV. I love it!!! Although it is a 4-cylinder, I think it has a lot of pep.

 

[Lisa_M]

We just bought a Saturn Vue and I love it. It gets really good mileage and has llots of extra room. Our minivan was horible on gas. HTH

What kind of mileage are you getting on the Vue?

It seems like these small SUVs are not nearly as bad on gas as I thought.

 

[ceecee]

I think the VUEs are getting around 21/26 they do have a hybrid which gets a little more. Most vans don't get very good, so I started looking for a crossover or smaller SUV, the Honda CV-R (I thought it was a little small compared to my van) has pretty good mileage and so does the Toyota RAV and both have good repair/safety ratings.
Check out edmunds.com you can learn quite a bit on that site.

 

[paladin]

Another Saturn Vue owner - we love it. I have actually never figured out what our mileage is, but if I had to guess, probably around an average of 22-25.

 

[Auggietina]

I have the 2009 Subaru Forester. They redesigned the Forester for 2009 and it's more mainstream looking than the large stationwagon look it use to have. I'm getting 24 MPG that is 60 % rural stretch 40 % city driving 15 miles to work each day. Living in Maine I wanted an AWD vehicle.

 

[mpls_mm]

I just bought an Escape, they have some good rebates and deals going on now. It's supposed to get in the 20's, but I only drive little short distances and I took one big road trip and it averages 20. I've been very happy. The dealership gave me a gas discount card so I can save off every gallon at certain chains.

 

[harleyquinn]

Vues are rated at 19/26 while the RAV4 and CRV get 21/27.

You can get the epa ratings at www.fueleconomy.gov and www.edmunds.com is a great source for ratings and reviews.

I'll be getting the Vue as I get the GM discount, but if it wasn't for that I would get the Rav4.

 

[ericamanda01]

We have a 2002 Saturn Vue Stick shift that gets around 26 city/32 highway and we love it! I swear I will keep that car until the tires fall off! It's so comfortable to drive and has plenty of room for our needs.

 

[Tinkerbell58]

In January, I was car shopping. My choices were a 08 Saturn VUE or 08 GMC Envoy. I bought the Envoy, and hate it! There are too many blind spots. It currently gets 19 mpg (it was around 16 mpg when I first bought it).

I should have bought the Saturn VUE. I guess I'm stuck with the Enjoy. Too bad we can't borrow a car from the dealer for awhile to try it out before making a purchase.

 

[Golf4food]

We just went through the whole process of buying a new SUV a month ago. We looked at and test drove various year models of:

Honda CRV
Toyota Highlander
Toyota RAV4
Hyundai Tuscon
Kia Sportage
Ford Escape
Jeep Patriot

We wound up with a 2008 Ford Escape. Just now on the 3rd or 4th tank of gas and average just under 23 mpg overall with about 50/50 city to highway driving. It is rated for 20 city/26 hwy.

Make sure you visit www.fueleconomy.gov and look at the NEW EPA estimates - don't go off of the old estimates that were based on 1970s tests. The new ones are more accurate to today's driving.

Some crossovers (station wagons on steroids) get a little better mileage than the true SUVs, but we just don't like the way they look. The Ford Escape gets the best mileage overall of any of the true SUVs (meaning it is not a car frame with a more trucky body as some are). We love it so far. Mileage should improve a little bit as we break it in more. Our older 99 Nissan Altima and 04 Saturn Ion (lease returned, replaced by the Escape) were only averaging around 25 mpg overall, so we only give up around 2 mpg by having the larger, higher, newer, safer, and cooler Escape.

And as was previously mentioned, get the 4 cyl version unless you plan on towing a trailer or something like that - one of our problems in America is the obsession with power ("You need a V6 or a V8!") but 99% of us don't NEED a V6 or V8 engine. If we didn't all slam down the gas pedal after a light turns green and speed away like race car drivers, we'd save a LOT of gas, and unless you are hauling heavy loads, you don't need anything bigger than a 4 cyl engine in most any vehicle. But if you go to any of the car review sites like Edmunds etc. all of the official reviews poo-poo on the 4 cyl and rave about the bigger engines, making it sound like the smaller engines are useless and that everyone should only consider the bigger engine - is it any wonder we have a problem now with rising oil and gas costs? We made our own bed and now we must sleep in it.

 

[dismom24]

My Vue gets 21/26. It is a 2004 and has a 6 cyl, so I am not sure why it gets such good mileage. They tried to explain it to me, but... I do remember them saying something about a honda engine in it (not sure if that was every year or just that year).

 

[Shadeaux]

After 14 years of driving minivans, I decided I wanted something smaller, but I didn't want a car. After months of looking at various small to mid size suvs, I decided the 2008 Honda CR-V was for me. When we bought it, we never intended on using it for travel, but after having it for a couple months, decided to drive it to WDW last month. It had enough room for the three of us and all our assorted junk. The best thing was the gas mileage...we traveled 1900 miles...gas mileage was averaged 30 mpg. That's including driving around WDW property and the seemingly endless sitting at red lights when we went anywhere in the area. I think I like the CR-V better than any vehicle I've owned in the 30+ years I've been driving.

 

[clarabelle]

I am getting a Subaru Forrester as well
I would also consider a CRV or a RAV 4
Consumer Reports Car issue was out recently-I think it is worth picking one up

 

[harleyquinn]

My Vue gets 21/26. It is a 2004 and has a 6 cyl, so I am not sure why it gets such good mileage. They tried to explain it to me, but... I do remember them saying something about a honda engine in it (not sure if that was every year or just that year).

The old ones do, up to 2007, but the new ones have GM engines.

The new models are a LOT heavier, so they don't get as good of MPG.

 

[HayGan]

In January, I was car shopping. My choices were a 08 Saturn VUE or 08 GMC Envoy. I bought the Envoy, and hate it! There are too many blind spots. It currently gets 19 mpg (it was around 16 mpg when I first bought it).

I should have bought the Saturn VUE. I guess I'm stuck with the Enjoy. Too bad we can't borrow a car from the dealer for awhile to try it out before making a purchase.

What do you mean?!?! I have NEVER bought a car without taking it home for a day or two. That is way to expensive of a purchase to get without really finding out if you like it or not! I have never had a dealership tell me no - they often times even offer.

As for the OP, I would recommend looking into purchasing a newer used vehicle. Lots of vehicles coming off leases that can be had for a steal!!! I recently purchased a 2004 Toyota Highlander with only 24k miles on it. I absolutely LOVE it! I get about 20mpg city and 26mpg highway. Great vehicle at a great price!

 

[dturner]

In January, I was car shopping. My choices were a 08 Saturn VUE or 08 GMC Envoy. I bought the Envoy, and hate it! There are too many blind spots. It currently gets 19 mpg (it was around 16 mpg when I first bought it).

I should have bought the Saturn VUE. I guess I'm stuck with the Enjoy. Too bad we can't borrow a car from the dealer for awhile to try it out before making a purchase.

I bought an 2006 GMC Envoy Denali 4WD last July with the thought that we could travel more and see things I haven't seen in the US. I never thought gas would go up like it is. Although I love my Denali - lots of little cool stuff in that car and it so comfortable to travel in it bites on gas -
14.7 miles/gallon in town and 19 miles/gallon on highway.

Luckily I only live 10 miles from work but that's still almost 2 gallons a day to get back and forth to work.