Ford Escape, Honda CRV or Toyota RAV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought the Honda CR-V touring which has all wheel drive on the afternoon of Dec 31, 2015. We shopped aggressively for the weeks preceding and got a good deal. We tried the subuaru forester and outback but they lacked the interior finishes that we wanted, like rear seat a/c and heat vents--important with kids. We were coming from an Acura and a BMW and just liked the CRV best. We have been really pleased. We looked at the Acura RDX and it was more expensive and had fewer safety features than the Honda CRV. I have friends who have the Fords and family who own the RAV4. Good luck!

I have a CR-V and also looked at the Acura RDX. I would have been fine buying it, the cost wasn't a major deciding factor. I much preferred the features and the space on the CR-V!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I've heard really good things about the CRV - so, that one.

OP needs AWD so the CR-V is out. Also saves on the clunky CVT transmission.

My CRV has AWD.

. It's not full time AWD - it just uses all 4 wheels when required.

Uh, AWD is really only important when it's required. Are you dense?

The Honda "AWD" is notoriously awful. The software lags on delivering very limited power to the rear wheels. You can easily read up on the problems, but I think the general takeaway is if you're a CR-V driver and feel you need their AWD you're better off staying at home. Of the small cuvs only the Mazda and Subaru have decent AWD systems, in Subaru's case it is full time. If you ever go the new England that's why everyone who needs AWD either has a Subaru or a truck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just went through this and ended up with the Mazda cx5. Some quick thoughts:

The only small SUV that can tow anything is the escape...we have a truck for our trailer and boar, so this wasn't a big deal but the Japanese ones can only tow 1,500 lbs.

The CR-V doesn't have a real and option. At most you get 20% power to the rear. The escape is 40-60, as is the Rav 4.

The CR-V and Rav 4 are both woefully underpowered. The escape with the 2.0 turbo is an absolutely beast and fun to drive, but expensive. The cx5 is also very peppy.

CR-V has some cool sweety features and a great trunk. Rav 4 also has really good interior layout. Both are basically unchanged for a decade and continue to sell well.

Bottom line decide what's important to you, and how much you're willing to pay. There isn't a quality issue here anymore between the domestics and Japanese, and in fact the escape is probably the class of the group, but it isn't what everyone needs.

FYI, the Rav-4 underwent huge changes post-2010 and it's basically a different car now.

The third generation Rav-4s (last one was in 2010 or 2011 I think) were available with a 270 HP 3.5 L V6 and could tow 3,500 lbs. They were great cars, and many are still on the road. Unfortunately Toyota got the same memo as everyone else in the industry and emasculated the Rav-4 for the 4th generation, opting for fuel efficiency.

Also I think you intended to write 60F-40R for the differential split? All of these vehicles have more robust front CV axles than rear, and are designed to run with front wheel drive only most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've heard really good things about the CRV - so, that one.

OP needs AWD so the CR-V is out. Also saves on the clunky CVT transmission.

My CRV has AWD.

. It's not full time AWD - it just uses all 4 wheels when required.

Uh, AWD is really only important when it's required. Are you dense?

The Honda "AWD" is notoriously awful. The software lags on delivering very limited power to the rear wheels. You can easily read up on the problems, but I think the general takeaway is if you're a CR-V driver and feel you need their AWD you're better off staying at home. Of the small cuvs only the Mazda and Subaru have decent AWD systems, in Subaru's case it is full time. If you ever go the new England that's why everyone who needs AWD either has a Subaru or a truck.

I agree that CRV AWD is terrible. However Subaru "all the time" AWD is a wasteful gimmick. The best system is a computer controlled AWD that works automatically and allows manual override to lock the center diff when needed. This is what is available in the top of the line Subaru WRX STI. The Foresters and Outbacks that everyone drives in DC are needlessly wasting tire rubber and drive chain components and their AWD ends up being front-biased anyway.

[Anonymous]

One other difference/change with the CRV is that they switched over to a CVT transmission within the last couple of years.

Not sure how much that matters to people. At first I was kind of skeptical about it but when driving a rental with one, didn't really notice any major differences. The car did seem kind of sluggish given the size. Don't know if it was because it was a base trim rental but thinking about it afterwards wasn't sure if it was due to the CVT.

A lot of manufacturers are shifting towards CVT transmissions either way now.

[Anonymous]

When we were test driving, my husband liked the escape but I felt like it wasn't very roomy inside. I liked the crv but my husband is tall and said it was uncomfortable to drive. Didn't try the rav 4 because we simply did not like the style. We ended up with the Santa Fe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One other difference/change with the CRV is that they switched over to a CVT transmission within the last couple of years.

Not sure how much that matters to people. At first I was kind of skeptical about it but when driving a rental with one, didn't really notice any major differences. The car did seem kind of sluggish given the size. Don't know if it was because it was a base trim rental but thinking about it afterwards wasn't sure if it was due to the CVT.

A lot of manufacturers are shifting towards CVT transmissions either way now.

The CVT definitely has a different feel. I personally like it & find it very smooth (versus feeling the RPMs change when the transmission is shifting), but it took some getting used to in pedal feel.

[Anonymous]

We are about to purchase and are looking at the same vehicles. I'm strongly leaning towards the Ford Escape.