Car and Driver CUV comparo: Ford Escape v. Honda CR-V v. Hyundai Tucson v. Jeep Liberty v. Nissan Rogue v. Mitsubishi Outlander v. Saturn Vue v. Suzuki Grand Vitara v.Toyota RAV4

really? have you tried all of them?

He must have a lot of spare time

But when they put BMW on top they are spot on, right?

Ha, take your little small tall girly CUVs. I'll take a Liberty anyday of the week over the others, and park on top of them at the mall, LOL.

I'm pretty sure that the new Jeep Patriot and outgoing new Compass are the comparison CUVs for this contest. FWD w/ available AWD, better fuel mileage and similar size. The Jeep Liberty compares more with slightly larger SUVs, it's not much smaller than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's in another segment classified as small SUV. The Jeep Liberty is not a Crossover by ANY MEANS. It's an off-road SUV! Get it right fools.

My fiance has a 2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade and I installed the light bar kit for her right after she got it. Man can that thin get through the slop. Not only that but the engine just rips with torque. Oh and it's RWD, something the others don't offer with their cutesy FWD.

Sorry folks, I'm a die hard Jeep fan and there will be one in my driveway at all times, regardless if it's mine or my soon to be wife's. Give me rugged or give me death. I wonder how many times not mentioned the Jeep had to pull the others from the muddy slop. Probably more than they mention.

I agree with the above, jeep has been going somewhere with their cars.

once upon a time a Jeep was comparable to a Land Rover product

all small suv's are a joke, they don't have 7 passenger seating, they can't haul jack squat, they don't get as good gas milage or handle like a car... so what is the POINT?

The Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander are both available with seven seats.

Would you have posted this if the Toyota hadn't won? Be honest.

Actually S4... I am surprised that they didn't measure the Chevy Equinox, Kia Sorento nor the Mazda CX-7 which not only represent the respective brands at the price threshold they placed for this comparo... But I think the CX-7 would have smoked most of these.

The Mazda should've been here, yes.

But the Equinox is a POS last-gen GM product, and the Koreans are already represented by Hyundai.

CX-7 is slow for it's MPG. It is the best looking by far, however. If gas was free, I'd consider one.

cptamazing is an inbreed, brothers of nascardude, coming from the same "Uncle Daddy"...Congrats to the winner in this comparo-battle. Now where's Round 2? And what's that about?

cptamazing is neither a captain nor amazing.

Discuss.

:)

They did forget a few models. Like the above mentioned Equinox, CX-7, Ford Edge, Dodge Nitro (Jeep Liberty cousin), and Pontiac Torrent.

I feel some of these could be classified as mini-utes instead. There are like 3 classes here. A crossover to me would be something like the Pacifica, Murano, Edge, etc. A mini-ute or cute ute, would be the Mitsu, CR-V, Rav 4 and other mentioned in the comparo. And the Liberty is def. a small SUV.

It is nearly the only true small SUV (the Liberty). LR2, maybe (based on advanced off-road characteristics). Wrangler 4 door, yep. Wrangler 2 door is what I'd drive if gas was less than $2 a gallon.

Is there a Midsize SUV? Most of these are large jacked up station wagons, except for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4Runner, LR3 and a very small hand full of others.

The Torrent and Equinox are embarrassing. They shouldn't be here. The next iteration of small GM SUVs will be much better.

Ford is already here- Escape.

Nitro = Liberty, which you said...

And the CX-7 should be here, yes.

What is weird for me, unfortunately I have had the dissapointemtn to drive all of these cars. Renting from enterprise a lot for work. The vehicle I thought was by far and above the best was the jeep liberty!!! I dont have an hour to spend typing my thoughts of each individual vehicle, but there is no way I would be caught dead in any of these vehicles, but the least annoying of them all was the Jeep.

Its a good article but the choice of trucks they chose to review is a little...off. Why include a Jeep Liberty in this comparison of CUVs(should've been the Patriot)? in that case you might as well add the Nissan Xterra(which probably would've won). The Vue is also too big, they should've gone with the Chevy Equinox/Pontiac Torrent for this.

The Jeep lost what a shocker. The only vehicle with a low range and built to go off-road. Those who say the
Jeep shouldn't be in this camparison are right. I wish Car and Driver would stop testing REAL SUV's, they just want them dumb down to be jacked-up cars.

The last line of the Jeep review tells it all,"If you want a four-wheel-drive truck, why not buy a four-wheel-drive truck?” If you don't know the benefits of a real SUV over a truck, you shouldn't go into the back country or better yet you should review 4X4's.

Me, I'll take the Jeep.

At least I'm not alone on this one. The Liberty by no means belongs in this comparo. The Liberty should actually be going up against the likes of the Hummer H3, Land Rover LR2, etc. If they wanted to put a like vehicle in there, they could have used the Dodge Nitro. Same car as the Jeep except it does not have the 4WD option that is available in the Liberty. Thus more of a competitor if they are thowing these cars together in a comparo.

I'd easily pick the Jeep, and yes if your going off-roading the benefits of a SUV are a multitude over a Truck. One namely being weight transfer, you get more weight on the rear axle thus the rear wheels help to push more when mucking it out. Put a truck in that spot and you need to add sandbags or cinder blocks.

This looks about right from test-driving the Toyota, the Honda, the Mitsubishi and The Hyundai, although I am kind of shocked that the Ford and the Saturn beat the Hyundai!

If only Lexus had a CUV...I bet the Hyundai would beat that according to Car and Driver.

The new Saturn VUE is definitely a better car than the Hyundai, looks better, performs better. Ever been in a Tuscon with a V6. It's a 2.7L wimp. My Matrix felt like it pulled more than this thing at WOT. I drove the Kia Sorento to which is the cousin with the same engine, totally horrid.

The VUE gives you a smooth 3.5L V6 with 260hp. And when the Redline comes out it is goin to be a looker for sure.

It is an imcomplete list. Too bad the new Forester is going to be a couple months too late to make it to the test. Should have tested the old one. It was their top pick of small SUVs recently for several years in a row, also, it landed on the top 10 fastest cars $25k-$30k recently. It would off-road better than all but the Liberty. All this without a pesky roll-over warning. Hmmm.

I know!! why isn't the forester on this?? it would be my choice overall.

btw, did you hear there will be a diesel for it in a few yrs?

"It would off-road better than all but the Liberty"

You have got to be kidding, independent suspension, car frame, and no low range. the Jeep would leave it whimpering on the anything but a dirt road.

Optimist,
I said all but...
The only existing vehicle the same size as the Liberty that is better off-road was it's predecessor, the Regular Cherokee. With it's 4.0L in-line, it was just about perfect. So we are in agreement.

In fact, I'll boost your post as a courtesy to reflect that.

Rat's forgive my dyslexia I didn't see "All". Please forgive, I have boosted you accordingly.

Interestingly the Liberty is called in Cherokee in Europe - it was its replacement.

Rupert,
I learned something today! Never knew that. It makes sense though. They should have kept the Cherokee name in the U.S. too.

I believe it is a fair list. Toyota and Honda have done a great job with the compact SUV segment. They designed the RAV4 and CRV to be good all around vehicles. They also know that typical drivers would never go off road or go off road a fraction of the time and concentrate on typical useage needs.

Another issue is that it is difficult to make an excellent Off-Roader and On-Road SUV cheaply. Low end SUVs are usually one or the other. Typically Land Rover is best for that due to suspension options and we all know what they cost. For off road needs I would get the Jeep.

Would these things even see a puddle deeper than six inches? Pot hole can get that big I guess.... I see a lot of chicks drive Jeeps... why is that? Anyway people who buy these like to take this to the local grocery store or maybe put a bike rack and take it to the park. I'm sure there will be a few that gets taken out to the nearest mud hole but for the most part these thing are meant to take kids to soccer practice. Yes they are jacked up cars and drive like cars because that what a majority of the buyers look for.

Your point is valid, But to and off-road enthusiast like myself, It's getting harder and harder to find a true off-roader. Magazine like Car and Driver are the problem, they drive Jeeps (even the Wrangler) and complain how uncar like the are. So the manufactures dumb down SUV to make magazine happy. So basically the mags whine and I get a choice of lesser vehicles,URGGGGGGG.

If the front of the rogue wasnt so ugly I would take it. The Vue is rather pleasing to the eye as well however it is way to much of a chick vehicle.

Not that im defending the Liberty, but it should not be in this comparo, my friend has one and it is simply remarkabkle off-road. The rest of these are grocery getters - or feminine mobiles. The Jeep Liberty should be compared to a Hummer H3 or that ugly Toyota FJ thing - you know that one that has the frame cracking problem - yeah that one.

Well the FJ is more of a Wrangler competitor, but I get your point...