Most comfortable non-luxury AWD SUV with all safety tech

Hi,

My ES300H lease is getting over in august and my 2014 FWD RDX is 5 years old.
I want to replace both by a used BMW 4 series convertible (which will be my lightly used car for in-town driving and fun, including snow since it is hard top convertible) and an AWD SUV (NJ) which will be my driving workhorse.
Looking for opinion on what will be the most economical + comfortable (low NVH) SUV with safety tech (adaptive cruise, lane keep, BSM, Rear cross traffic). I might consider a 45K miles lease but most likely just buy it.

Thanks

I think the Mazda CX-5 fits the bill pretty well for you. Very comfortable and it can come loaded with safety tech. Toyota RAV4 has been leasing decently well this month if you decided to lease. A CPO RX350 would be another interesting option.

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The Subaru Ascent.

The Subaru Forester

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Thanks for all the replies.
The forester is my wife’s favorite but when we had driven the last gen, it was very noisy. I saw the new one at the NY auto show but haven’t driven it yet. Same with RAV4.
What do you guys think of the santa fe? I would like to avoid CVT. Tired of their droning.

Loving the new Jeep Cherokee with Tech package, very good bang for the buck.

Another one of these threads.

So far, you have 4 different opinions from 4 different people. None of those opinions matters if you don’t test drive and determine if you like the car yourself first.

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Another one of captain obvious replies.
There is a difference between test driving a car for 15 mins and living with it. I value opinions from fellow petrol heads. Thats the joy of being on a forum with other folks who love automobiles.

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Is the car for you or your wife? She would not know CVT from any other, IMO. At least my wife doesn’t know and doesn’t care. Nor do I when I occasionally have to drive her Forester.
If you didn’t drive 19 Forester yet, then go and see for yourself if it is noisy, like @mp11477 said

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I agree that the Forester sounds like a good choice here, especially with you likely purchasing it. Whereas something like a Cherokee is much less appealing to purchase.

As for the CVT, Ursus is right. Your wife probably wouldn’t know the difference between a 6 speed Auto and CVT. My Accord has a CVT and the only people who notice it are people who knew about it before they got in the driver’s seat. Good CVTs don’t drone anymore and you have to really care about driving to even think about how they perform relative to a normal automatic. Even then, if you sit in traffic like many American commuters the transmission doesn’t make a difference most of the time.

Although it definitely verges on the luxury territory, I would still recommend the Volvo XC60. Volvo still makes the best seats in the industry (in my opinion anyway)

I’d also second the CX5 suggestion. The tech is great but try and go for an extended test drive if you can. I didn’t really like the seats, I found the base cushion just a little too short for decent thigh support. Higher spec models might’ve solved that now though and it’s absolutely a personal taste thing.

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The payment is basically in lux territory

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agreed, it’s going to be easily >$100 over the top spec CX5 trim but if you’re spending a lot of time in a car, Volvo is always a good choice.

EDIT: I just noticed OP suggested they were likely to buy it! so I rescind my Volvo recommendation. Stick to an Asian brand :slight_smile:

If you’re leaning towards purchasing, I’d suggest cross shopping a low mileage CPO RX350. They’ve had the full suite of safety features since the 16MY redesign so any of the newer years will work. Plus it has outstanding NVH and seat comfort.

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Thanks for all the replies. I will be doing a lot of driving in the SUV. We both don’t have designated vehicles.
The RX350 and late model used RDX AWD both are appealing. The Santa Fe’s warranty is appealing since I am thinking of purchasing.
Good to know that someone else also finds CX5/9 seats weird. They are just a bit short with little thigh support. At the auto-show, I sat in every car to critically test the seats. The best were Lincoln. Unbelievably comfortable. Volvo and BMW were not there at the show.

The Santa Fe is a great option if you’re buying (they don’t lease too well). If leasing, I’d also recommend a VW Tiguan, but you’ll need to go higher spec to get all the safety tech. It’s larger than your average compact SUV, only a few inches shy of a Santa Fe, yet priced more like a Tucson.

No, it’s not. The resale value is not good.

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W/ generous warranty VW has, purchasing is also probably a decent option for this car. Heard that the driving pleasure one expects to find in a VW is conspicuously absent in this model, though…

Unless your drives are as short as the time you sat in a car at the auto show, that’s not a particularly accurate way to gauge seat comfort over longer drives, IMHO.

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More an issue if he plans to dump it after 3 years. Given that he mentioned the long warranty, I’m making an assumption he’s planning on potentially keeping it 5-10 years. In that timeframe, the difference in resale narrows considerably and the higher purchase discount for the Santa Fe vs it’s competitors plus no repairs in years 4 & 5 make it worth considering, in my opinion.

Agreed that the VW warranty makes the Tiguan worth consideration for a purchase as well, especially if planning to keep the car the 6-years timeframe of the bumper-to-bumper warranty. Leased one for the wife, may buy it out at lease end, depending on what lease deals are out at that time.

I do agree that it’s not the GTI-on-stilts the outgoing Tiguan was, this one is a bit more relaxed and comfort oriented, and prefers to be driven more ‘smoothly’. Some hard plastics in the interior, but the basic construction still feels very euro-sturdy like other Volkswagens, with very mechanical bank vault doors that you don’t get on it’s domestic or Asian competitors.

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