Advice on Vehicle Purchase

I have a good friend with relatives who all live in Maine. They all have subarus for the harsh weather. I have a friend who bought an Outback last year. She loves it!
I vote for the Outback.

I just bought a 2014 Highlander and LOVE that baby :) We looked at the Outback but the headroom was just TOO low. My husband and boys are all around 6'4" mark and they were bumping their heads on the ceiling.

I'm getting pretty good gas milage for the size (averaging 20mpg city driving and well over 25mpg highway).

Don't know how much "space" you might need but you might also look at the rav4, crv, and ford escapes ... all have AWD models. Also depends on your budget.

Good luck with your shopping. Shopping for a new car about drove me to the brink of full blown insanity LOL

I just bought a Kia Sorento in July and love it .Mainly for the third row passenger seating. The Santa Fe is comparable to the Sorento, but I found that the Sorento is the overall better deal for the money. The Sorento does come in AWD, but we didn't opt for that- winters are mild here in NC.

Hmm.. funny. I just purchased a 2011 Outback.
So far, I'm very pleased with it. This one is rated 29 hwy, but when I was just driving highway home from the dealership (it's flat down here in the south) I was averaging around 31 mpg.
This week, city driving mostly, and a few 10 mile increments on the interstate (with lots of "hills"--- or bridges over the many marshland rivers) I have averaged 25 mpg.

It isn't a super peppy engine (I drove a V6, 6 sp manual with 260 hp before this for comparison), but it is very smooth. And all the extras are nice (we bought a limited trim level). The harmon kardon stereo is wonderful.

Haven't taken a road trip yet, but the back seat has an enormous amount of legroom.

I just traded my 07 pilot for a 14 outback and so far I love it. I miss the heck out of my pilot but I wanted smaller and better gas mileage as well. I am getting 27mpg driving my daily drive (1/2 city 1/2 highway) I took it on my first 7 hour trip and was getting 34mpg so I was quite happy with that. I haven't used the AWD but growing up in Durango and hanging out a lot in the mountain towns you see them EVERYWHERE so I'm thinking they do pretty darn good. Since you arent used to the 3rd row that my pilot had the adjustment might not be as bad as what I am still trying to get used to. It's a great little car and I plan on it being my sons first car when he starts driving in 7 years.

My brother has the 2011 outback. He loves it. We drive a 93 jeep grand cherokee laredo. compared with the jeep, the outback is peppy. compared with his 2005 toyota avalon, it is an absolute lumbering oaf.

Can't speak to you about how the outback compares with the santa fe, but consider the handling if that sort of thing is important to you.

Best,
F. B.

I just traded in my 2003 Expedition (which I LOVED) and bought a 2014 Explorer. I needed the third row of seating, but wanted better gas mileage. Overall, I've been thrilled with the performance of the Ford trucks/SUVs we have owned - we had over 300K trouble-free miles out of one, and over 200K trouble-free miles out of the other, so to me, buying another Ford was a no-brainer. Anyhow, not that it matters where we live so much, but it does have 4WD, and the gas mileage for the size of vehicle it is, is pretty good!

Subaru drivers love their cars:)

My husband just bought the AWD Ford Escape last fall and absolutely loves it. I have the Nissan Pathfinder (larger, third row, not great gas mileage) and I really like it but he much prefers his littler suv over mine. I looked up the 2 you are looking at and the Escape seems to be about the same size. You might want to take a look at them, they are great little cars. Another friend of mine has owned 4. She gets the latest model every few years.