What SUV to get? Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4 or Kia Sportage?

chinitoguy30

Hello folks and fellow car enthusiasts!

I am out looking for a new car. For many years we've been loyal three brands - Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi. I currently own a 2010 Toyota Innova G which is running on a gasoline mill. I love my Innova but with the gas prices going up I've decided to retire my Innova and buy a new one. This time, I am eyeing a compact SUV. I've checked all the reviews and choices have been boiled down into three - Kia Sportage 2.0L EX 2WD diesel, Honda CR-V 2.0V and Toyota RAV4 2.5L 4x2.

I have not tried a Kia before and I've heard great reviews about the Sportage. Its powerful, fast and fuel efficient thanks to its diesel engine. However, I also heard about some Kia dealers with bad after sales service. Who can shed light into this?

I used to own two generations of Honda City - 2002 Honda City Type Z and a 2005 Honda City VTEC. I had a very very bad experience with the latter because of the expense I paid for its maintenance. There was a time that my bill reached P100,000 because of numerous replacement of parts plus the periodic maintenance is already expensive. Some of my friends say I made a bad decision on getting that 2005 model and the Type Z model was way better to maintain. Now I am afraid if I get the CR-V, I might incur the same expensive maintenance cost.

A Toyota is always a Toyota - its cheap to maintain. That's what I like about my Innova. She's four years old and I never spend more than P10,000 for maintenance. My problem however, is the Rav4's 2.5L gasoline engine. I read reviews that its kinda thirsty on city driving.

I am aware that the CR-V and Rav4 are gasoline variants but I do get good feedbacks about the CR-V's fuel efficient 2.0L i-VTEC engine. The Captiva is due for replacement and it is very expensive. The CX5 is also way over my budget even for the base model.

Lastly, I love the Mitsubishi Montero and the Toyota Fortuner. The problem is the size, My garage is kinda small and it fits my Innova and my brother's Mitsubishi Mirage. If I buy a car larger than the Innova, my brother's Mirage won't fit anymore inside.

Now, what SUV should I get? Need help! Other SUV suggestions are welcome.

DaugGreen

That's the reason why Honda's out of my to buy lists.

The sportage's nice. I haven't really had the chance to drive it, or research for any reviews. But for the looks department, i gave it a thumbs up. Anyway, i own a piccanto and i never had any bad after sales experience. I guess it depends on the dealer.

Ever tried Hyundai? The Santa Fe and Tucson had nice reviews. I also have an Elantra, and after sales service of Hyundai are superb.

kelunji

I own a 2014 Kia Sorento (a step-sister of the Hyundai Sta Fe). It handles like a car being a crossover utility vehicle (CUV), monocoque construction, the base model being FWD. Power is very good at ~190HP and 430Nm of torque for a 2.2L VGT engine.Its also pretty frugal at only 11-12km/L average. The Sportage is slightly smaller (a step-sister of the Hyundai Tucson), using a similar but slightly smaller engine at 2.0L. I also looked at it before going for the bigger Sorento because of the low ceiling on the Sportage. Since Hyundai owns Kia both share the same platform and parts.Nice thing about the Korean cars, they eschewed the Asian styling and going the Euro-look. I also looked at Toyota and Mistubishi's offerings but like the TS I found them too big for my garage as well as needs. Also sadly underneath they are still using old-technology (ladder-frames, non-VGTs, 4-speed AT gears, etc.)

cotton_on

have you even consider a Subaru Forester or even a Mazda CX-5? (the latter offers free PMS for three years through their yojin-3 care)

hardrive

I would go with toyota
Reliable

kelunji

cotton_on wrote: »

have you even consider a Subaru Forester or even a Mazda CX-5? (the latter offers free PMS for three years through their yojin-3 care)

TS already said "the CX-5 is way over budget", and trying to stay off gas engines.

K.I.L.L.

I have a 2.0L 2014 CR-V. I have no complaints except with the foot brake which doesn't seem to be as grippy even after adjustments. I'm currently getting almost 10km/l according to the trip computer. Even if you say it's wrong by 10%, it's still not bad.