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Nissan Murano vs Toyota Highlander vs Subaru B9 Tribeca vs Honda Pilot
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Bottom line for me is like others I find the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander bland, boring, plain and other adjectives that others have said similiar. They just dont do anything for me and have small tires etc. etc. Believe it or not the MDX which is a Pilot with an A on it is much lower down on consumer reports but I still considered it and even the looks on that are just not that great and it has some definite lows like braking and others according to consumer reports.
The Rx330 is the #1 rated midsize suv and i would maybe consider it but its pricey and my mom had one and now has the Hybrid version which is like 50,000 so thats out of question and just not for me. The Highlander Hybrid is still the same plain boring Highlander but with better gas mileage and i guess performance as well but it ends up being more then the tribeca and again its still the same looking plain Highlander.
This leaves the Nissan Murano and its luxury counterpart the Infiniti FX. I am actually a Nissan loyalist and like the styling of these so they are prob the biggest competitor to the Tribeca for me. The FX is more expensive and is almost too car like looking and i think they both have bad rear visibility out the back window. Even the Murano comes out more expensive then the Tribeca.
Bottom line for me is that the Tribeca is newer which though is a risk especially as it was too new for consumer reports to fully rate but it is based on the year after year recommended Outback/Legacay so its likely it will be recommended by CR. Having a model soon after it just came out adds a fun factor to it being new to you and new on the road as a model.
Also its little things like side view mirror turn signals that the VW Touareg has but is not a recommended model, and none of these other comparative models have. And of course the puddle lights that none of these other models have. So for me its just the whole package of certain features even little details the non boring even controversial styling, its newness, based on recommended models and the fact that i can get one loaded for a better price then any of the other models similiarly equipped.
For me it comes down to the Murano and the Tribeca which edges it out thanks to lower price and a few minor details that the Murano doesn't have.
Tribeca has VDC, so it's very likely they will rate it highly.
The puddle lights are really cool, they let off a bluish hue.
-juice
Also the WRX gets #1 top pick for "Fun To Drive". The B9 being loosely based on the Legacy/Outback looks promising as the Legacy is not only recommended but scores only under the Passast, Accord and Camry in total. So it will be interesting to see what CR rates the Tribeca as it was too new and untested for the last isssue but again it looks promising and its worth the risk for the enjoyment of having it while its a new model instead of waiting for CR's April 2006 annual car issue.
Also on a semi unrelated issue but dealing with comparisons. Why did i see a forum of ppl saying that the Tribecas front grill was ugly and then saying that the Saab version will be better? Didn't these ppl know that the Saab 9-7X has nothing to do with the Subaru B9 Tribeca and is actually just a crappy unrecommended poorly rated Chevy Trailblazer with upgraded interor and exterior appointments from a manufac with only one well rated recommended vehicles
However, the Murano has a few not-so-minor details that the B9 does not have. I would consider memory seats, HID lights, auto up/down windows, auto-dimming mirrors, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, smart key, a little more useful than puddle lights, and turn signal on the mirrors.
As for controversial styling, that's a draw.
Auto dimming rear view mirror it does have as an option. Tilt/telescoping wheel i've seen ppl complain about but its nothing I ever use or need so I don't mind. Smart key that unlocks when you get near or whatever and/or starts car as long as its on your person. Again dont have it so i wont miss it..
And as far as cool bluish puddle lights that no cars have , even if it is more just novelty then useful its well pretty damn cool and again no other cars have. And turn signal on the mirror is something few other suvs have and none that directly compare and is both cool and useful. Again its all preference but I personally would rather have the puddle lights and turn signal side mirrors over any 2 of those options missing or even in place of all of them so i guess B9 is for me.
Plus all the features it does have = or better then the competition not to mention what ends up being all on the lower price end when comparing which is a point that others brought up in defense of the missing features.
Murano wins the longest options list race. Pretty incredible really what they offer if you're willing to pay for it.
-juice
Tho saying the the puddle lights is a cool feature is the same reasoning bodble2 is saying about the nicer features that the Murano has... to each their own...
I did get a chance to see one parked near me last week and I'd say it looks better in person than it does in pictures.. I liked the side view alot, but the nose is still subjective.. what I don't like is the rear view..
Time for the car mags to do a shootout on crossover suvs...
-juice
I have not made up my mind whether the 7 seater is worth it. I can see the 3rd row being useful in something as big as an Odyssey but not so sure about 3rd row in SUVs like Pilot.
Any thoughts on how useful the 3rd row is?
The best thing for me is it really does fit me size wise, which is not easy since I am tall. In fact it is the only Subaru that does. Well the Forester does too but that leaves no room in the back seat. It drives very well and the interior is really the best out there for the price point (Murano, Odyssey, and low end MDX being my chief competitors. The Pilot does not fit as well but I hope for some interior tweaks in the 2006 models that come out in September).
I will say the throttle tip in point is not as smooth as it is on Honda or Acura products but smoother than the Murano.
I do note there is no side door ding protectors in the design which will mean inevitable door dings.
Subie has been good to us - we like our LL Bean wagon a lot and the Tribeca may be the size upgrade we are looking for. Its just hard to justify compared to an Odyssey van which gives more space and mileage for the $$ but with 1 kid and 1 on the way. may be too big.
I recently drove a relative's Outback with a 4 cylinder and was impressed with the pick-up.
I've mentioned this to a couple other posters, too. Even if you're hardly ever going to use that third row, with the 7-passenger you're still increasing your resale value/desireability, gaining rear heat/AC controls and headliner vents, and (if you're comparing base models) adding standard heated front seats.
Terry over in Real World Trade-in Values always asks if there is a 3rd row - that is where the demand is.
-juice
Subaru took a big chance with this new SUV look to their perpetually undefinable wagons of yesteryears, but I am glad to say that they have done it again. In a sense they have been inching towards this car with more luxurious versions of the Outback and the Forester. Smartly, they realized that they were missing out on the people who would buy a Subaru if only it had more space, and if it connoted more of a sense of of luxury. Though kind of pricey for Subaru, I would give it a thumbs up. Check out carlist.com for a full list of features.
One thing more has anyone looked at hauling a sheet of dry wall or plywood only the Pilot is big enough to fit one in on the floor the Highlander will fit it on the shock towers in a pinch, but don't go over bumps with dry wall or it will crack
They Honda Odyssey is set up the same way as the B9 - jacks in back for the kids to hook up an xbox to the dvd screen.
I just wish they would remember that the car payments are made from the DRIVERS seat so the AUX jack should be placed closer to that location. :-)
The Pilot is missing side curtain airbags, I'm surprised you find side air bags so important yet those aren't? Also you can't get NAV and DVD, only one or the other.
Those iPod pics are at work, the ones photoguy2 sent me, so check the Tribeca thread for his crafty solution.
-juice
Back to the B9 v. Murano. The Murano ride for me was harsher. I like the fact that in the Subaru, I could see out the back with little worry on blind spots. I am 5'4". I think though, I am going to take it out again (the B9) and try letting the dealer allow me to back up and into a parking space. It's just a quiet ride and a quiet car.
However it still ranked very high in the side impact tests even without them and i think that bit of extra bulk that the Pilot carries over the others will help out a bit too in a crash, as long as the laws of physics still hold true to me prevention is still the best way out of an accident.
Re the Murano i also drove one of them and was very disappointed at the interior as it looked like something out of star wars and had a lot of scattered switches all over the place. also the ride was very harsh, it was way too rough for a car in this class and price range.
Re hauling on the roof Not too keen on putting stuff on the roof for 3 reasons 1 it scratches up the roof racks that are exposed to the elements. 2 it is wet up there and full of snow in the winter which lasts 4 month here and 3 weight on the top is a lot less stable than weight in the trunk again these things are top heavy to begin with and even the owners manual on the highlander wars of putting weight on the top .. I guess that is why there is more need for the side curtain airbags in the smaller narrower suv's
A couple of other things to note that i have found out. on reading the owners manual for the Pilot . 1 the Pilot has a deferential that require frequent oil changes
The real answer i would love to settle for sure what is the best car value is for a low priced toyota Highlander limited Hybrid , but alas they are just too expensive to be practical even at todays gas prices.
As i think you can tell it for me is very hard to part with my reliable highlander but in the words of Shrek "change is good donkey" so to the pilot I will go ...
Remember - resale on a low priced new car will be, well, low. And in some cases it was already not so good.
KBB value on my '98 Forester was about a grand higher than a Jeep Grand Cherokee of the same age and mileage. The Jeep was about $8 grand more when new.
I don't have to go out on a limb to say the Murano, Highlander, Tribeca, or Pilot would hold their value better.
Small 3rd rows still boost resale, whether they are roomy or not. Ask Terry in RWTIV.
-juice
http://www.drive.subaru.com/Win04_DesignRevolution.htm
Establishing a Premium Brand –
The Unified Image of Subaru
The front-end styling features a wing motif that recalls the origin of the company as an aircraft manufacturer. The grille represents a cross section of the fuselage in the center and wings on either side.
http://www.drive.subaru.com/Sum05_B9Tribeca.htm
The grille represents the cross-section of an aircraft’s fuselage and wings, recalling the heritage of Subaru as an aircraft manufacturer and emphasizing our commitment to engineering excellence.
Bob
-juice
You can find more pictures of this thing if you google images for alfa romeo crossover.
Steve, Host
That Alfa reminds me of the Maserati Kubang SUV concept.
You guys are too vanilla!
-juice
i said this car looks angry. i did NOT say it looked bad. i think it looks way better then the trifecta in pictures. the hole in the middle doesnt look like the urnial that the trifecta does nor does it have the groucho look.
Vanilla is a V6 that sounds like any other, you can't even tell which vehicle brand you are driving. Honda? Toyota? Nissan? Mazda? Suzuki? Mistubishi? They all sound and feel pretty much the same.
OK, let's cut the Murano some slack because the CVT has plenty of character and sounds like nothing else. Well, maybe an Audi A6 V6 CVT. ;-)
Every Subaru has a boxer engine, with tons of character, hardly vanilla. A very distinctive sound and feel. You could pick it out while blindfolded in a crowd of idling SUVs, easily, precisely because it is *not* vanilla.
Just because it's reliable doesn't mean it's vanilla!
-juice
the legacy looks typical, boring
all of the subaru are boring to look at except...
the trifecta is not boring to look at but neither is the aztek ( aztek incites rage in me )
For example - BRAT, XT and XT6, SVX, bug-eyed Impreza, Baja, and now Tribeca.
IMO they style them contoversially as often as they do conservative.
-juice
Porsche and Subaru are, incidentaly, the only two car companies that use "boxer" (horizontally opposed) engines, preferring them for their low centers of gravity which allow better handling (so you won't spill that double tall caramel macchiato).
Take one for a spin!
Boxer engine - traditionally powers Porsches. Cayenne uses a tuned VW/Audi V6.
Weight - Cayenne is portly, Tribeca is lighter, and less mass is another Porsche trade mark.
RWD - Tribeca sends 55% of power to the rear axle by default. They both meet this criteria I believe.
Power - Tribeca has more HP than the base Cayenne does. By just 3hp, but still. Rims are also bigger, 18"x8" for Subaru vs. just 17"s standard on the Cayenne.
So if someone told you there was a new SUV that just came out with a boxer-6 that was light and had a rear-drive bias with more power and bigger/wider rims ... surprise, it's the Subaru, not the Porsche.
-juice
Your gooooooooooood!
Averaged 20.4 mpg, about 16 in pure city driving and 25 on a road trip to the beach and back. Plenty of room for the 4.3 of us, 2 kids and a dog if you're wondering what that last 0.3 is. Drove in torrential down pours on the way so the AWD and stability control were very welcomed.
Ours had a brilliant NAV system, just awesome. Found every address right away with just a street number and name, no city or state to enter. Seriously. And if we chose a different route it just recalculated the route in seconds. Add a sexy female voice and I give it an A+.
Kids enjoyed DVDs both ways, Monsters Inc and Finding Nemo. Wireless headphones meant we could enjoy our own music...Aaaah!
Had the A/C on but still used the heated seats to soothe our backs. Heated mirrors cleared up the rain so we could see better. They stay totally clear, neat feature not just for snow/ice.
Acceleration was good, did some passing on 2 lanes and never had white knuckles.
Complaints? The arm rests are set too wide. Maybe I'm just used to cramped quarters. I'd prefer captain's chairs with built-in arm rests that moved with the seat. Or maybe a telescoping wheel so I could rest my elbows and still have my hands at 10 and 2 o'clock. Either/or.
My other qualm was city mileage was poor. I know, what do I expect? Again I'm used to a Miata (28mpg) and a Forester (25mpg), so any SUV would guzzle gas compared to those. I filled her up with Amoco Ultimate and spent $36, not too bad I guess but I'm a cheap skate and accustomed to $25-30 or so.
Conclusion: this make a great family car for the suburbs and rural areas where it can stretch its legs and make a family of 5 comfortable doing so. My kids fit fine in the 3rd row so call it a 5+2 for short trips and car-pooling.
What it is not is a city car meant for one single person commuting alone, then it's just overkill. So this would end up being my wife's car, not mine, since I commute to DC every day.
-juice
Dealers don't have it because they can't keep any in the lot. Selling like hotcakes.
Just tap the screen in any position and it re-centers around that point. If you zoom out you can find a city or town this way. Then just zoom back in and fine-tune your destination.
I'm not familiar with the MDX's system but this was very easy to use, plus it has a large 7" screen. Pilot's is just 5" and hard to see the details, not sure about the MDX.
-juice