Crossover SUV Comparison

gregg_vw

I agree. I insisted on leather on my last eight cars. Of course with leather you have to have seat heaters in winter, and they are still sticky in summer, unless you have seat coolers. Leather also wears faster than most modern seat fabrics and it needs more maintenance.

But then I got suede seats and they were so much better. I cannot understand why they are practically unavailable. My latest car now has cloth (with heaters too). To each his or her own, but I will never go back to leather.

lwolf99

My family consists of me, my wife and our 2 children - ages 11 and 6. We have a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivan. Most of the time it is just the 4 of us, but occasionally, we haul a few friends & family members. We do not do a lot of cargo hauling.

The minvan has been very good - seating capacity wise. It has been very easy to pickup a few extra passengers - comfortable for the 3rd row passengers, and now flipping or folding seats to get back there.

Looking at some of the CUVs, they certainly do look and feel a sportier that my minivan. We have mostly focused on the Mazda CX9 and the Acadia/Enclave. But I have to say that I am having some sepration anxiety from the minivan.

The 2nd row captains chairs of the Acadia/Enclave seem more comfortable to me - maybe becuase they are closer to the minivan configuration - compared to the 2nd row bench seat of the CX9. But the Mazda CX9 seems to ride/driver smoother. I am having a hard time choosing.

gregg_vw

I see Ford has priced it, and it is only a bit more than the outgoing FS. However, considering it has the 3.5 engine, the tiny price increase may be a bargain.

But what's with that clumsy throwback big old seamed airbag cover on a 2008??? That look was fine in my 1998 Ranger, but even the little Mazda2 now has no airbag seams. The VW Golf got rid of all the dash seams as long ago as the 1999 model. More and more people are beginning to notice these details. Ford just has to do better and the sooner the better.

barnstormer64

As a people-hauler, I think you'll be happier staying with the mini-van, honestly.

chuckhoy

I, personally, prefer cloth to leather because I don't slide around as much. But, if you have kids, leather is SOOOOOOOOOO much easier to clean.

stever

Lots more here:

Leather vs Cloth Seats

I have one car with (hot) black leather seats and one with (now dirty) cloth and much prefer the cloth (although the cloth ones aren't heated).

arumage

The CX-9 GT actually has 20" wheels standard.

ateixeira

We have some very passionate people here in this thread. Glad to see folks are having a sense of humor about it.

I'll say this, if you have to ask what you get going from $30k to $40k, then stick with the $30k model. Obviously those things are not a priority for you, else you would have been looking for them in the first place!

bobw3

I'll say this, if you have to ask what you get going from $30k to $40k, then stick with the $30k model

Not true in my case...I just don't like to waste $$ for options I don't want or will never use.

albook

It's simply choosing between a little more comfort, and a little more performance (though the choice definitely won't be easy!). The CX-9 is the sportier of the two, and handles a little better. But the Acadia/ Enclave has more space and comfort for about the same size, and still perform well. So if you are not wanting to move far from your minivan, go Acadia. But if you want sporty, go with the CX-9. They will both be priced about the same, so that probably won't be an issue.

albook

When was this price released? I wanna see.

gregg_vw

The announcement was on Autoblog today.

albook

Just saw the announcement. My thoughts:

It was smart of Ford to keep the price about the same, but this increase puts the TX very close to other competitors, such as Outlook. I think the FS had going for it it's bargain price. And who knows- there might be a lot of discounts like there are on the FS right now. But this price enclosure will make people really take a look at the product. Because bargain pricing is no longer an offered plus-for now.

freealfas

"It's simply choosing between a little more comfort..."

hence the point of a CUV,

"and a little more performance..."

oxymoron, you don't buy a CUV for performance.

and if the mazda folks were serious about performance they'd get rid of the 20" boat anchors they call wheels. It astounds me they'd do that under the zoom zoom pretense, no it doesn't they want to make money(rightly so) as 20" wheels means "performance" to most buyers.

sorry, I just don't get it as usual...

tim156

Autoblog reports the base price will be $27,365.

mchappell

""and a little more performance..."

oxymoron, you don't buy a CUV for performance. "

More performance relative to each other, not to a Corvette. The CX-9 definitely has less body roll and is more stiffly sprung (than the Lambdas). Additionally, the 20" wheels allow for a shorter sidewall tire, which contributes to better handling.

I think we're all aware that you don't buy a CUV to perform similarly to a sports car. However, their performance levels are different, relative to each other.

freealfas

But what most people don't know is that the larger wheel's increase in unsprung weight actually inhibits better performance, increases braking distances, choppier ride due to lower sidewall, etc., etc...

Hence most people thinking that more is always better. The "dub" generation is the group that really missed the boat on this and illustrates the point best actually. It's all about the visual bling with no real gain in "performance" implied or otherwise.

If the 20's w/tires on the CX actually weighed less than the 19's w/ tires then you might have an argument in terms of unsprung weight only as choppy ride would still apply but I'm pretty sure mazda didn't go to the effort to make that happen.

"More performance relative to each other, not to a Corvette"

But if you hang out around here long enough you'll find that people are hoping gm will drop the ls-2, why stop there how about the crate 502 in the lambda platform to make a CUV that does compete with the vette and haul 7 doing it, are perfectly willing to accept 12mpg and will call it progress... because what we have out there now just isn't enough...

mchappell

I'll concede that the majority of wheel 'upgrades' are mostly cosmetic. I would guess that only the true, high performance cars have wheel upgrades for performance reasons (larger, yet lighter). A larger wheel, if heavier than the smaller wheel, will probably only offer an advantage during steady state cornering, on a relatively smooth surface.

I would also assert that the majority of the people here have no desire to see/buy a V-8 in the lambdas. There will always be a few, but $4/gal gas will trim that number even further. Doesn't GM have a hybrid V-8 in some trucks? That might be interesting...

As a side note, saw a blurb on the news tonight that full-size SUV sales are up 6% (not sure what time period), probably due to the great 'deals' you can get on them.

Mark

freealfas

"A larger wheel, if heavier than the smaller wheel, will probably only offer an advantage during steady state cornering, on a relatively smooth surface."

and ANY advantage would be lost in braking...I know I wouldn't want that...

"As a side note, saw a blurb on the news tonight that full-size SUV sales are up 6% (not sure what time period), probably due to the great 'deals' you can get on them."

Or possibly the fact that the CUV's don't offer enough of an advantage yet to compel people to give up on their behemoths that play to their image of success, safety and subtlety. (I'll concede to the towing crowd, but other than that the MAJORITY of SUV's will never see dirt... it's just like the dubs, it's all image...

lwolf99

I am also tryign to weigh the importance of a dealer located cloer versus a dealer located further. The CX9 and the Enclave, in my opinion, compete pretty well with each other - a lot of similar features. I like the "feel" of the CX9 a little bit better, but I like the 2nd row captains chairs of the Enclave.

But I am also trying to consider the importance, or not, of going with a GMC/Buick dealer who is 5-minutes from my hosue, versus the Mazda dealer who is 30-40 minutes away. I don't go to the dealer very often, but when I have to go, closer seems to work out better.

I am trying to figure out how much weight to give dealer location in my comparison.

texases

To me, the big issue with dubs is cost - tire cost. 20s will almost always have both shorter tread life and higher (sometime 2X higher) replacement cost. My co-worker was stunned to have to pay $200 per tire for 18" on her RX after 25k miles, after being used to $100 per and 40k life. Hate to think about the first new set of 20s.

freealfas

very good point...

bobw3

It's can be hard to compare MSRP on these vehicles...maybe not on the new ones because dealers usually stick to the MSRP initially, but after 6 months to a year, the domestics CUV will all start getting cheaper due to incentives, rebates, end-of-year closeouts, etc..., so unless you HAVE to buy right now, the best thing is to do your road tests now, figure out for sure what you want, and then wait until Nov-Dec to buy. You will probably be able to buy the loaded Acadia going for $40K today for at least $5K less.

arumage

In the past, larger tire diameters seemed to be mostly limited to stickier tires, which have far shorter lives and generally cost more. Now that more and more vehicles are coming with larger wheels, regular all-season tires are more readily available in larger diameters. A quick search on www.tirerack.com shows a good set of Goodyear tires for the CX-9 GT for $163 each. Several years ago they would have been even more expensive. In contrast, my 1999 Camry's 14" tires have become more expensive because nearly all new cars come with larger diameter wheels than that now.

texases

Yes, it's no longer the Porsche set buying the low profiles, so the selection's much broader, but you can still get your Camry tires for about $70.

arumage

...but that's nearly the same as a comparable set of 16" tires for my Intrepid. My point is just that as more vehicles use larger diameter wheels, price will decrease.

texases

Same tire (Pirelli P3000) is $99 for your Intrepid.

arumage

I didn't pay that much for the tires on my Intrepid. :P

Each vehicle in this comparison has 17" wheels or bigger now. Alot of people seem to like the look of larger wheels, myself included, as long as they don't make the ride to harsh. Many people do not think of the long term cost though. Atleast there are valid all-season tires available in these larger sizes now.

ateixeira

Get a Miata. My tires (for a 14" rim) were under $50 a pop.

happyinsd

Hello! Brand new to this board and this site!

I'm hooked on the Hyundai Veracruz, but am just having troubles with finding the color combinations. My question is...has ANYONE seen the black leather interior (SE)? I've ONLY seen gray interior. I'd like black on black, but I literally can't find it anywhere (I live in San Diego, but have been to/called dealers in San Diego, Orange County, LA, Riverside). Does this combo exist?

I want VCruz, SE trim, w/ the P & L package (no dvd) black/black.

Thanks!