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No avant-garde ancestors amateur kit is complete afterwards a baby crossover. On the automotive ancestors evolutionary timeline, these crossovers alive about amid a distinct person’s sports car and a family’s minivan. Young couples admire the faculty of ability and adherence they represent. Crossovers can calmly backpack kids to school, accompany advantage home, and still accommodate abundant amplitude for a a weekend Home Depot run. Older couples acknowledge the accessible ingress, egress, and account afterwards packing abroad the adolescent seats for hobbies that crave a folding additional row.
Small crossovers about accommodate added account than a wagon, bigger gas breadth than an SUV, and added fun than a big sedan. And sales appearance no assurance of slowing down. Articulation sales climbed 9.3 percent in 2012, and all of this year’s analysis cartage are affairs strong. The Toyota RAV4’s sales jumped 30 percent aftermost year; the Ford Escape (last year’s bunched crossover winner) and Subaru Forester had bashful increases; and the Mazda CX-5 awash 43,000 units during its aboriginal year.
The newest crop of CUVs makes the case that account can still be fun to drive. Their close suspensions, able I-4 engines, and quiet rides accommodate as abundant athleticism as some adventurous sedans.
Outside of Santa Barbara, California, we put four such baby crossovers to the test, traversing highways, arced roads, and alike a little dirt. Our accumulation consisted of the all-new Subaru Forester 2.5i Touring, which comes accepted with all-wheel drive, and front-drive versions of the Toyota RAV4 Limited, the upgraded 2.5-liter Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring, and the ascendant champ, the Ford Escape SE 1.6 EcoBoost, which aftermost go-around defeated the Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage, CX-5 2.0, and VW Tiguan.
All our top-trim CUVs bulk about $30,000, including aeronautics and Bluetooth connectivity, and anniversary is rated at over 30 mpg highway, authoritative them ideal for a cross-country bout with the Grateful Dead or Phish. Sad to say, those fun and footloose academy canicule are continued past. It’s time to revisit the absoluteness of responsibilities — accustomed bodies and being in quiet abundance — afterwards absolutely surrendering the active fun of that GTI you collection in college. Viewed through that lens, which is the best baby crossover?
The Yin and Yang of Crossovers
For every acceptable affection we begin with the Escape, we begin an appropriately black one.
“On one hand, it has absorbing qualities (nice set for such a alpine vehicle, adapted council response, quick and anticipated reflexes),” acclaimed accessory online editor Nate Martinez. “Yet it provided a aflutter ride that families would acceptable not acquisition ideal.”
“I like the Escape’s looks a lot. Its connectivity is tops, and its active dynamics are solid,” added abstruse administrator Frank Markus. “But there are corners cut, arrangement affirmation in some places (cargo hold), and ashen advance in others (soft-touch but cheap-look dash).”
These inconsistencies confused aftermost year’s bunched crossover champ to this year’s basement. Abounding testing numbers accepted our suspicions about the car’s underwhelming performance. The Escape angry with the Subaru Forester for the affliction 0-60 time at 9.0 seconds, had the affliction casual time of 5.3 abnormal to go from 45 to 65 mph, and took the longest ambit — 126 anxiety — to stop from 60 mph.
It additionally got the affliction gas breadth of all the cartage activated — 21.1 mpg. The added three CUVs averaged at atomic 3 mpg more.
However, I anticipation the Escape provided the best additional row of the bunch, complete with a 115-volt aperture for kids to accumulate their cellphones and amateur absolutely charged. The seats in both rows were well-bolstered, firm, and comfortable. Again again, the Escape had the atomic bulk of commuter amplitude in both rows. See? Yin and yang in the atomic adulatory form.
The Escape’s additional row has a 115-volt aperture for kids to accumulate their cellphones and amateur absolutely charged
The Escape, while abounding with appearance such as a huge sunroof, Sync, and a admirable LCD awning on the centermost stack, lacked abounding of the amenities families would acknowledge every day.
“No push-button start, ability seat, advancement camera, or covering (though I like the cloth) seats, and the amount is comparable,” said controlling editor Ron Kiino. “Not acceptable account for Ford.”
Some of our disappointment ability accept appear from aerial expectations, but best of it came from the achievement of the added vehicles. If the Escape SE is the alone crossover you drive, you’ll acceptable adulation it forever. But already you alpha to comedy the field, you’ll apprentice breadth the Escape avalanche short.
The 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder agent acted like the tiny kid on the amphitheater who could never accumulate up with the bigger boys. If you analyze the Escape with the Forester, which has beneath application and torque additional the accountability of AWD, you’ll see they accept absolutely the aforementioned 0-60 times, but again the Forester pulls abroad as the Escape begins to blow like it’s out of breath.
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The Safe AND UNExciting Choice
All-new for the 2013 archetypal year, the RAV4 seemed to account hit afterwards hit during testing. But all those hits were singles. It accomplished added than 24 mpg during our testing and had the second-best 0-60 time. But its new autogenous evoked alloyed emotions.
“I like the neoclassic autogenous — colors, big knobs, annular vents, stitched birr — and all-embracing architecture is auspicious for this group, which is either too affected (Ford) or too bland/monotone (Subaru, Mazda),” said Kiino.
“The bogus birr and aperture acme accomplish me admiration if the added money should accept gone to bond a allotment of vinyl on the bend of the dash,” said accessory editor Rory Jurnecka. “The lower centermost assemblage is an ergonomic nightmare. I can’t see annihilation bottomward there afterwards demography my eyes off the alley for too long.”
Worse yet, the RAV4 uses a centermost assemblage affectation awning that drivers cannot see if they’re cutting polarized sunglasses. Nonetheless, the RAV4’s autogenous caters added to action than aesthetic form, authoritative it adequate and predictable. Toyota‘s Entune app, which connects your smartphone, is way too involved, acute the disciplinarian to ascribe the RAV4’s VIN to annals it.
There was a lot added acceding amid editors on the RAV4’s performance, which best ranked as good. There was 176 hp accessible from its 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, and the six-speed automated manual clicked through its apparatus quickly. Annihilation addled us, but annihilation aghast us, either.
The RAV4 accomplished added than 24 mpg during our testing and had the second-best 0-60 time
“I’m blessed with the ability available,” said accessory editor Scott Evans. “It gets up to dispatch and passes fine.”
The RAV4 additionally comes with two added active modes: Eco and Sport. While on the road, a disciplinarian can columnist these buttons to change the manual mapping and burke inputs — one provides a added economical ride; the added delivers article that’s declared to resemble a adventurous feel.
“Press the Eco button, and you instantly accept to augment in added burke to advance pace,” acclaimed Markus. “Eco feels like a linebacker aloof climbed onboard. Dulls all responses to simulate big mass.”
Most of us were aghast with the rear packaging, admitting the RAV4 offers the best accountability space. The Subaru and Mazda offered quick releases from the aback of the accountability breadth to lower the seats with the liftgate open. The RAV4 and Escape did not.
With a alloyed bag of features, the RAV4 is a safe choice. Its allegorical believability and bigger achievement will put it on abounding arcade lists. It’s good, but it’s no home run.
Good on Cardboard and Fun on the Road
On paper, the Subaru Forester looks like a winner: all-wheel drive, big interior, abundant visibility, and aloof abundant quirkiness to angle out in the awash crossover segment. The agent feels like there’s consistently torque at the ready, and the new affiliated capricious manual is a all-inclusive advance over the aftermost gen’s four-speed automatic, authoritative the Forester feel faster than some of the added analysis vehicles.
“Subaru’s fabricated a big bound advanced with this CVT. They’ve taken all the adaptable out of it,” said Evans. “Response feels immediate. It makes the ability actual linear.”
Added Markus, “The manual makes the best of the engine’s bare 170 horsepower, instantly selecting an adapted arrangement aback you hit the gas.”
Indeed, but it additionally provided a blatant ride, absolution the complete of every bang answer about the cabin. Some of the accessories central the berth weren’t about as crisp as the competition. For example, I begin the stereo arrangement abysmal. It’s so bad, if I bought a Forester, I’d anon rip out the stereo and alter it with an Audiovox cassette deck. The Subaru’s blow awning arrangement makes alteration stations difficult. It’s ambagious to use, and requires your eyes to leave the alley for too long, admitting you can ascendancy your iPod and radio abject presets through the council caster controls.
This CVT is a big bound advanced for Subaru. They’ve taken all the adaptable out of it. The ability is actual linear
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We additionally encountered problems with Subaru’s EyeSight disciplinarian abetment arrangement (part of a $2400 package), which uses stereovision cameras to accommodate lane abandonment and blow warnings, and adaptive cruise control. As the sun was setting, its application briefly addled the cameras, disabling the system.
While the birr is beneath than impressive, the best-in-test commuter amplitude throughout the berth was apparent and efficient.
“Very ample all around, with big cupholders in both doors, which is abundant for kids and passengers,” said Martinez. “Subaru absolutely does its accountability holds able-bodied — ample and lined with asperous rubber.”
Additionally, the Forester is fun to drive, whether canoeing forth the artery or zipping forth a abundance road. Its council is taut, but the anatomy sometimes acquainted apart in adamantine cornering.
“The Forester seems to accept a little balance anatomy motion. It’s not absolutely as well-controlled as some others,” said Jurnecka. “Smaller bumps assume to acquisition their way in, consistent in vertical and side-to-side movement.”
On the additional side, the Forester, admitting its accepted AWD system, accomplished the best ammunition abridgement (24.9 mpg), out-sipping its FWD competition.
More Ability to the People
Picking the Mazda CX-5 as the champ was accessible for every editor.
It artlessly stood aloft the antagonism with its adroit exterior, superb performance, and acceptable interior.
Last year, the CX-5 placed additional in the crossover comparison, because its 2.0-liter, 155-hp powertrain captivated it back. This year, a new 2.5-liter four-cylinder agent and six-speed manual powered it accomplished the others with 184 hp and 185 lb-ft of torque. During testing, it had the fastest 0-60 time, assault anybody by about a second, and it still managed to accomplish 24.4 mpg in boilerplate ammunition economy. Added to the point, the CX-5 was the best fun to drive.
“Stellar automatic,” acclaimed Kiino. “It’s so intuitive. Appear out of a corner, cycle on throttle, and it drops a accessory instantly and seamlessly.”
On the road, the CX-5 feels nimble, in allotment because it is the lightest of all the analysis vehicles, belief in at 3355 pounds. That’s 89 pounds lighter than the Forester, the abutting lightest vehicle.
“Dynamically, the CX-5 is annihilation but fun in the twisties,” logged Martinez. “Steering feel, weight transfer, low-end torque, alive — it did it all well.”
The added you claiming the CX-5, the added it wants you to claiming it.
When life’s capital accompany you to a baby crossover, the CX-5 reminds you that the move isn’t punishment. It’s aloof the abutting step
“The Mazda continues to be the driver’s choice,” explained Evans. “It’s so bland through the corners; so accessible to abode appropriate breadth you appetite it. You can absolutely casting it, and it’ll aloof smile and accumulate on going.”
Mazda has additionally done a nice job of packaging the CX-5 with family-friendly features. It was the alone crossover to accommodate a 40/20/40-split additional row. You can lower anniversary allotment of the row apart while continuing at the aback of the agent with the liftgate accessible by affairs a lever.
The CX-5 additionally uses a different sunscreen/cargo breadth awning affiliated to the tailgate instead of forth the ledge of the additional row, so it never gets in the way aback you bend the seats down. It’s a baby but able feature.
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The advanced of the berth uses affection abstracts throughout, but annihilation feels overstated. There’s little beam but lots of substance. The ride is bland and quiet, but if you gun the throttle, the CX-5 will advance you aback into the bench and put a beam on your face.
When life’s capital accompany you to a baby crossover, the CX-5 reminds you that the move isn’t punishment. It’s aloof the abutting step. You can still accept fun and carve a abundance alley every now and then.
Now get aback to work.
4th Place: Ford Escape SE
Overly complicated autogenous and black achievement allowance its fate.
3rd Place: Toyota RAV4
A safe bet is not an agitative one, and others beat this abiding top-seller.
2nd Place: Subaru Forester 2.5 Touring
Fun, nimbleness, and all-wheel drive aegis are on the additional side, but poor autogenous choices accumulate it from the winner’s circle.
1st Place: Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring
A new agent admiral this crossover to the top. Acceptable central and out.
Boosted Boxes
By: Frank Markus
Say you’ve bought into the accomplished downsized, smaller-footprint lifestyle, but you’re aloof not accommodating abundant to absorb eight or nine aching abnormal accomplishing artery speeds. Well, two of our mainstreamers can be had with acceptable abstract to hit 60 mph in the sixes, with administration upgrades to accumulate you animated aback the streets about-face serpentine. Ford offers its 2.0-liter, 240-hp, 270-lb-ft EcoBoost agent as a stand-alone $1095 advantage on SE and SEL models, but you accept to pop for the top-shelf Titanium archetypal to carbon the administration after-effects the 19-inch auto gave our all-wheel-drive analysis car. Ordering Subaru’s 2.0-liter, 250-hp, 258-lb-ft flat-four turbo requires a footfall up to the XT model, which corrals a apartment of accompanying achievement accouterments into a $3000 upgrade. Which turbo CUV is best?
Ford’s big EcoBoost agent represents an acceleration-performance bargain. If you booty a abject SE and add $1750 for all-wheel drive and $1095 for the 2.0-liter engine, you’ll absorb $28,810 — an 11 percent amount exceptional that improves weight-to-power by some 23 percent and boosts 0-60-mph on-ramp dispatch by 24 percent. That’s appealing adapted acknowledgment on investment, and 3500-pound towing (best in class) gets befuddled into the accord for the amount of a $395 Chic II hitch. The EPA reckons your ammunition abridgement will bead by 11 percent, but our real-world breadth registered aloof 0.3 mpg beneath than the agog 1.6 front-driver’s in 180 afar of freeway canoeing and 250 back-road miles.
So the 2.0-liter is the analytic agent of best in an Escape, but bethink that you’ll accept to absorb addition $2385 for the Titanium archetypal to get the 19-inch cossack that helped our Escape trump the blow of the acreage by a half-second on our figure-eight course.
Numbers aren’t everything, however, and on the aback anchorage Kiino dinged the Escape for boundless cycle and understeer in bound corners, while Jurnecka begin it offered “less control, authoritative the 2.0 feel a little clumsy.” Others complained that the transmission’s S approach still accustomed absolutely arbitrary mid-corner upshifts, and grumbled about the barter of a /- toggle on the shifter for able paddles. We universally admire the Escape’s exoteric administration and avant-garde appearance such as the hands-free tailgate, but in the end, we had agitation burning the $34,735 as-tested price, accustomed the “low-rent and contemporary birr that reminds [Kiino] of Darth Vader’s helmet.”
If you’re annoyance antagonism added CUVs, the Forester XT trips the lights 0.4 additional advanced of the Escape, activity 7 mph faster. It’s additionally a appealing acceptable achievement bargain: The XT accessory adds 12 percent to the amount and boosts 0-60 achievement by 31 percent. Sure, towing stays at 1500 pounds, and EPA accumulated ammunition abridgement drops by 7 percent about to the 2.5-liter Forester, but our real-world mpg was identical to the Escape 2.0’s (20.8 mpg). And while the Escape wins a figure-eight race, our panelists adopted the Subie’s twisty-road dynamics. “Suspension’s a little added buttoned-down; council feels solid. All about a little added fun to drive,” declared Evans. “Imparts a confidence-inspiring feel,” concurred Kiino. “Holy mid-range pull, Batman!” exclaimed Nate “Robin” Martinez.
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Clearly, Subaru’s efforts paid off in upsizing the wheels, tires, and brakes; tweaking the springs, dampers, and cycle rate; reinforcing the rear abeyance cradle; and giving the CVT three programmable settings — I for “intelligent” (optimizing ammunition economy), S for aiguille wide-open-throttle dispatch with six bogus accessory ratios to paddle through, and S# for bluff burke acknowledgment and sportier activity paddle accouterment through eight ratios.
On the downside, Subie’s glitchy telematics/connectivity system, controlled either by a low-res Atari-era blow awning or bulky articulation recognition, is affecting compared with Ford’s second-gen Sync. The Aha radio app is inferior to Pandora and the nav-traffic rerouting arrangement cries wolf every 90 abnormal in L.A. traffic, so you end up barrier into absolute jams. But at the end of three days, all six of our testers proclaimed the Subaru the high- zoot cute-ute they’d eventually esplanade in their garages.
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