Sitting in cars...

So, we're considering buying a car next year before rotations, and since we had a few hours between lunch and our matinee movie, we went to a bunch of car dealers and sat in some cars we're thinking about getting. We're looking at mini-utes (compact SUV's), and these were some of our favorites. They're all relatively similar on paper (ie. HP, passenger volume, etc.), but they are definitely different when you actually sit in them. So, here's our very unofficial and unqualified car review, more for our own record, but you can enjoy and comment too! (also there is probably a big difference when driving too, but we haven't gotten that serious yet)

The Toyota Rav4, formerly nicknamed the 'les-bot' by kamala's uncle, is one of my favorites of the day. It reminded me a bit of my Toyota truck which I miss dearly. It has a full-sized spare on the outside of the car, which left more room inside. There is a compartment where a spare tire would normally be found that you can stow more stuff in. The seats folded flat in the back as well as the front passenger seat.
The Hyundai Tucson was pretty nice. We haven't been Hyundai fans in the past, but this was a pretty nice car inside. The cargo area was all plastic, so if something spilled it would be easy to clean up. As with all of these, all the seats fold flat. One unique thing for this one is that the window in the hatchback could open separately.
The Nissan Rogue doesn't look nearly as good in the pictures as it did in the lot. We didn't actually get into this car, but it looked very nice and has similar features as the other cars.
The Jeep Compass is still one of our favorites. We did do a test drive of a compass last year and were very surprised by the power of it's 4-cylinder 172hp engine. This one also has a plastic lined cargo area. Kamala likes that the seats are made of stain/odor resistant materials. This vehicle had the most comfortable back seat of all we sat in. It also comes with a 4WD lock, so if you know you'll be using all 4 wheels, you don't have to wait for AWD to distribute the torque. This is still Kamala's vote.Last but least of all, the Honda CR-V. We love our Honda Civic, but we were very disappointed with this Honda. The interior just felt cheap all around, and it was very uncomfortable. A lot of stuff in the interior didn't make sense either, like a mini-van style console that sort of folds down out of the way.

So, it was fun checking out cars. We like these types of cars because they have room in the back for Kamala's saddle and tack, get decent gas mileage (25-29mpg), and sit higher for more comfort on long drives. The 4wd is also nice for crazy iced hills on the way to school and for driving home to Montana and California (through Tahoe - where chains are required if you don't have 4wd). These vehicles also allow more room for expansion of our family than does the civic - (and Kamala will NOT ever get a minivan!). So, that was our Saturday activity, and that's what we thought about a bunch of cars that are essentially the same thing, only different. --TS