We all want the best because we've all been burnt by a bad product or service at some time and we don't want to repeat our mistakes. Regret is hard to live with.
Then again you may have bought the best brand to be equally disappointed. I've certainly been in both places with white goods, many times. I can't seem to win.
Finding the best crossover car may seem difficult with over 30 crossovers, SUVs and 4x4s for sale in the UK. However you can dismiss many as premium brands and traditional 4x4s and not what you'd call a crossover which is a car that looks like a SUV but is built like a car. Crossovers are built more like an MPV car. The difference being a crossover has a horizontal bonnet and is generally not quite as versatile.
Whether old best sellers like the RAV4, CR-V and Freelander count as crossovers I'm not too sure but we can put them aside as too much money.
With things as they are most of us are looking for cutbacks. The word cheap spings to mind and although it doesn't sit well with the word best many of us have bought cheap brands for them to be relaible and durable whilst some of us have bought the best brands and suffered regret.
Let's start making a car comparison of cheap crossover cars. We can always change course if some car feature suggests we need to. The cheapest crossover car is the Skoda Yeti, followed by the Hyundai ix35, then the Mitsubishi ASX, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai.
At this stage you may not be influenced by cheap because you're worried about cost - depreciation, interest charges, running costs. It's not just the money, it's the cost of time if things go wrong. Historically these are valid concerns. But not nowadays.
Most car reviews you read are good. There are claims premium cars have a lower rate of depreciation. That's percentage which can be a large amount of money. I've known owners lose £13, 17, even £20,000 in one year of ownership. You can't lose that kind of money on a cheap car. It can be the case a low price is reclaimed by high interest charges. You can walk away from that marketing approach. When you check the data running costs they look like they're going to be low. If you make comparisons at this point the differences are not enough to declare a winner. They seem similar.
It won't escape you that by cheapest I'm referring to entry prices, two-wheel drive models but with acceptable trim and equipment levels. If you want a larger engine, AWD and a higher trim level you're fast approaching £20,000. Accepting cheap can be OK, there are no hidden costs, with an eye on the range of prices are there differences in the detail - the data.
Obviously mpg is a concern with the fuel cost of 12,000 miles motoring coming close to annual depreciation - historically the biggest motoring cost. Like engine for like there are small differences in the combined mpg but as the DVLA point out these are lab' figures and when cars rank closely for fuel consumption the differences may not be present on the road in real conditions.
You should also be careful when considering diesel and calculate at what mileage your saving in fuel costs pay back the extra you pay for a diesel car. I know in larger SUVs diesel is the only option suggesting it's the way to go. But I can't figure it's definitely the case in this class for a private motorist.
If I had to pick a winner for fuel economy it would be the Mitsubishi ASX 1.6 although it's not the most economical, it's not the most expensive to buy.
Where you will find differences is in the cargo capacity with all 5-seats up. The Yeti and Qashqai are similar. The ASX is a tiny bit better.The ix35 is significantly more spacious being a little larger than the Sportage. Note there are small differences in overall length but all five crossovers can be classified as compact.
When it comes to performance none of these crossovers has sluggish acceleration that would frustrate a driver. Maybe the Qashqai 1.5 dci is on the limit. If you want more performance you pay more. Once you go over the £20,000 the Ford Kuga and VW Tiguan become contenders.
It seems to me Ford and VW have positioned their products and prices as alternatives to expensive SUVs and 4x4s. Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Skoda seem to be positioned as interesting and viable alternatives to the ubiquitous hatchback - Focus, Astra, Golf.
You would also have to clarify safety ratings and features. ESP or ESC will shortly become standard on all new cars in the UK. The entry model Yeti did not have ESP. Some of the recent models have not been Euro NCAP rated. 5-stars is today's standard.
The old idea of SUVs impacting on the environment is vanishing. You should find with the exception of larger petrol engines the emissions on these cars acceptable and not making too much difference to the cost of annual vehicle excise duty
So you can see if you want the cheapest the Yeti is the car to go for although the rest may also be within reach. Overall the ASX maybe slightly more efficient but the ix35 and Sportage are more versatile.
I've not mentioned style or driver comfort because they are matters for your personal taste. Personally I like the look of the ASX and Qashqai plus I find them the most comfortable which would sway me. But there's one thing for sure of Skoda, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi and Nissan are highly respected brands with high levels of owner satisfaction. More than that they are among the best in surveys. So best and cheap can go together and I can see no evidence you'd regret buying one of these five crossovers.
Regards
Ralph
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