QOTD: Searching for Value Among the Utilities?

by Corey Lewis

January 23rd, 2019 9:05 AM

qotd searching for value among the utilities

Don’t let the title confuse you; we’re not discussing how to save money on your electric bill. Today’s QOTD hopes to find utility vehicles of value, in both the SUV and CUV categories. Put on your thinking caps.

We’re forever being told the utility vehicles of today are not good value. They’re more expensive to buy than their sedan, wagon, or hatchback counterparts, and not as “good” at doing utilitarian hauling duty as their truck cousins. And they fail on these fronts while using more fuel than necessary, due to their excessive weight and air-punching shape. Yet here we are — crossovers and SUVs are what most American consumers are buying and want to buy, as all those other body types (except trucks) fade ever closer into irrelevance.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t find the best of the bunch for getting some bang for your buck. Today we’ll take a look at three main categories of SUV and CUV; the easiest way to segment them seems to be by size.

Compact
Midsize
Large

We can further differentiate the segments by finding our value leaders in separate realms of truck-based and car-based utility vehicles. Then, we divide them up a bit further by coming up with recommendations for luxury and non-luxury marques. Of course, the true goal of a luxury vehicle is not kindness to the checking account, but perhaps there’s a way to have a luxury utility in your life without paying far too much to your local car dealer.

It seems simple enough to rack your brain for the lowest cost entry in each segment, but cheap doesn’t necessarily mean good value. They’re not all qualifiers for Ace of Base. Your selections must be available as new, here in 2019. And as an overarching rule today, if it doesn’t have four- or all-wheel drive available, it’s not a utility vehicle. Those are called hatchbacks. Sad!

Off to you.

[Image: Ford]

#2019Vehicles #Cuv #EconomyCars #NewCars #NewSUVs #NewsBlog #QOTD #QuestionOfTheDay #SUV #UtilityVehicles #Value

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4 of 64 comments

Seth1065 on Jan 23, 2019

I will toss my hat in the honda area , our Pilot has been great for us, 14 years , no major issue and really no minor ones either, it may not go to far into the woods or tow a ton, I will never use it for that, it has held up well inside and out, it will be handed down to our teenager when he gets his DL in a few months, I know plenty of folks who swear by their CRV's. really have no need for a BIG SUV but maybe a Lexus GX , maybe you could get a Land Crusier w more toys and get a better deal w the number of Lexus coming off lease vs a LC ?

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- Burnbomber on Jan 24, 2019
  
  Big second on the Honda Pilot. We have a relatively new 3rd generation and it came with a good price, beating the price pants off the GM trio of Acadia, Traverse, and Enclave. It exceeded in our "taste test" against those as well as the Highlander, Sorento and Santa Fe, Pathfinder, and Durango.
  
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- Tonycd on Jan 24, 2019
  
  @burnbomber I believe the old Pilot held up well, although the 2nd gen was criminallly cheaped out inside. But as with other new Hondas, I don't entirely trust the more complex new engines and transmissions they're using, and recent Consumer Reports reliability data show a precipitous decline for most Honda models except the Fit (which lacks most of the tech).
  
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Lie2me on Jan 23, 2019

(See top pic) I'm on my 2nd Escape and can't say enough good about them. Buy one slightly used for the best value

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