Looking for compact/mid SUV and don't know where to start

Honestly $500 doesn’t really get you squat right now in the 3rd row with room.
You might want to review those ‘$500’ quotes as they might increase the down or not include TTL , etc

But Here’s some links you can read what other people are buying, do not use any pricing as everything has changed (pretty much pricing is only good for like 2 weeks nowadays)
Then when you find the car you WANT, not the car you will settle for, go to Marketplace and see what the brokers are selling them for.

Some of these links are old but they have a lot of discussion you should read first.