What small SUV?

Looking for a new car something along the lines of a SUV.
It needs to be fairly small so it will fit right out side our cottage. I’ve been looking at the Skoda Yeti but does anyone have any other reccomendations?

How small?

Ford do the EcoSport which is based on a Fiesta (IIRC), or the Kuga which is based on the Focus.

Loads of other manufacturers do Yeti sized 4x4s. Not so many do something smaller.

Mazda cx3

Q3

Porsche Macan. Turbo.

I am currently using a Kuga.

Is small SUV an oxymoron?

Surely it’s just a car? With the possible added option of 4wd?

T5 Transporter

Had a nose around the new civic tourer recently. For a small car externally, it’s got a huge amount of space inside. Perfect bike car I would imagine.

IME avoid the Fiat Sedici…..
No load space
Problematic Diesel engine (may just have been a bad one)
Ate rear shock bushes
Uncomfortable front and back.

Suzuki Jimny

GMC K- 2500 Wideside ?

I have a Freelander 2 which I have to admit I love, though the boot is a touch smaller than I’d have liked. I do a lot of road miles to site then some off-roading once there and it copes with it all perfectly.

The new small Jeep isn’t too bad and seems very popular.

Audi Q3 won’t be a bad motor and a Kuga is only really a focus on stilts so can’t go too far wrong there.

There’s a new small Toyota coming out in the spring.

Isn’t a small SUV just a car with jacked up suspension and a really high roof to make it waste as much fuel as possible?

Is this the sort of thing you had in mind?

What is the main requirement, ride high or All Wheel Drive?

Nissan Juke fits No1
Mini Countryman fits No2

New Jeep might be worth a look, or how about the retro Fiat Panda 4×4.

Ford Kuga’s have a poor rep, I’d avoid.

If you dont care what other think or want a marque brand then –

really small then get a Fiat Panda 4×4

mid size then Mazda CX5

or get a VW Golf alltrack

How small ? New ?

Yeti is a good little-big car, a vw with a green badge
Q3 good quality, little smaller inside than yeti
Juke, widely derided here but compact and easy to park (tny boot) good for 2+2 or just kids in the back, Japanese reliability.
Suzuki Vitara or Vitara Max

Interesting above that there will be a new Toyota, we loved our 2000-2005 shape Rav 4 but the more recent ones are imho too big. The Rav was a great family car and with totally removable rear seats excellent for the bike and carting stuff about

Toyota C-HR

Early days in my ownership but so far I would recommend a Jeep Renegade, 1000 miles done in my new one and I love it. A friend has had one about 6 months and loves his too – he kind of swayed me, otherwise I wouldn’t have considered it – I was looking at a Peugeot 308 GT Line.

Decent boot space, I can easily bungee an upright buggy in there (hurrah for cargo hooks) and fit the dog in, which I can’t do in our Golf. Good driving position & height, found it easy to get comfy in there and no harder to park than the Golf – maybe easier, 18 inch wheels on both, but the Jeep has fat 60 profile tyres 😀

Even with just a 2wd Petrol the extra clearance is great in forest car parks on dog/bike trips where I don’t have to worry that I’m about to smash a front splitter or undertray off. Defo not the most sporty ride or subtle styling for the money, but otherwise hard to fault so far.

Surely for a small site, an estate or hatchback will be smaller outside and larger inside?

We have a BMW X1. Lovely car (apart from the sodding run flat tyres)

I looked at the new VW Tiguan and Seat Ateca but settled on a more sedate estate. My Seat Leon ST Cupra Black arrives in October. 🙂

Peugeot 2008 might also be worth a look if you wanted something more dinky, in-laws have a 2008 Allure iirc and I was impressed with general build quality/materials inside, 1.2 petrol was nippy and it came with M+S tyres and all sorts of selectable snow/sand etc modes too!

@matt you do get the fact that people like the suv styling and high ride height ? We’ve discussed it here many times but that’s a style many like / want to try

That Toyota looks fun £26-28k though for 4wd in anything but a tiny 1.2 😯

If you don’t run stupid low pro tyres then the ride height actually isn’t too bad on most cars. My recently holiday cottage was up a decent hill on a really rough farm track and our VW MPV was fine. The next door house just had normal cars, nothing fancy.

Oh a thought for the OP, chuck a Dacia into the mix.

was also going to suggest 2008. Had a rental one a while back, and it wasn’t awful

Having just gone through a long, drawn out process of weekends testing small SUV’s (most of which drove really badly, underpowered, heavy, dull steering and just a bit MEH)

We decided on a heavily discounted Ford Focus Sport and had a tow ball / electrics fitted. Price was good, drives nice, fairly economical in comparison to a small SUV (majority of which were 2wd).

Most dissapointed with the Kuga. Tried a 1.6 Turbo Petrol which made lots of noise but just didn’t “go”. And a 2l TDCI Titanium, all bells and whistles, still not impressive. Even the dealer said it was great to have all the toys but it’s just more to go wrong.

The only thing I thought was OK just a crap interior was a Tucson. Seems the options are nice interior / nice exterior / decent engine pick 2.

We’ve got a couple of Yetis on lease. Great deals. Parents have just had one on PCP – good deals too with deposit contribution.

Yeti drives quite well even in 1.2 guise. But two short comings – boot is small with spare wheel in. But you can at least move seats about. Also, it’s a bit creaky inside – not as well made as you think.

But they’re cheap.

If you don’t run stupid low pro tyres then the ride height actually isn’t too bad on most cars. My recently holiday cottage was up a decent hill on a really rough farm track and our VW MPV was fine. The next door house just had normal cars, nothing fancy.

Indeed, it’s telling that in most rural areas (where it’s actual rural residents not 2nd homes) people use smaller, normally old and battered hatchbacks on normal tyres to get around, or old estate barges for hauling ‘stuff’ and only use the proper 4x4s (Landrovers/Hiluxs/Jeeps/Pajero/Trooper etc.) in the winter or if actually doing work in the fields.

Most small SUVs and psuedo offroaders seem to live in the city, I think it’s probably more about the visibility of a higher position, which is even more appealing as more and more people opt for similar tall cars, and people liking the styling than about actual capability.

Loads of small SUVs used round my (rural) area. The mahoosive Q7s/X7s/LRs etc belong to the visiting urbanites.

Er, ride height is not a function of tyre size but mainly related to suspension setup.
Many people like the higher more upward sitting position and as it is available mostly SUV-styled cars that is what people buy. I enjoyed driving MPV style cars long after the actual need for them had passed – much more practical on when the car seat is near the same level as your pelvis height.

Loads of small SUVs used round my (rural) area.

Still mostly battered old french hatchbacks down here.

Agreed on the big blingy stuff though, you can tell they’re visiting because they won’t dare brush a wing mirror on a hedge or risk crunching an alloy in the verge to pass in the lanes 🙄

The high position for visibility thing is one of those cases where it used to be very useful, when it was unusual, now that so many vehicles are getting taller and more bulbous some of the usefulness is waning unless you go bigger again. I guess the comfort thing is personal too though as I find overly upright positions very tiring.

The main advantage of “SUVs” is the commanding driving position for seeing over traffic and looking down on peasants.

No use in rural areas when there is no traffic.

Any hatchback will be fine for country roads, its not like they have obstacles across them.

I had a Mazda CX-3 as a loaner recently, while my CX-7 was getting serviced. Very nice car to drive, good cabin space, great equipment levels and decent fuel economy. It had the same issue as all other small SUV’s though – crap boot space.

But you wouldn’t expect a small SUV to have a massive boot would you?

It had the same issue as all other small SUV’s though – crap boot space.

Agreed the modern ones seem to have a sloped rear window and styled to avoid the boxy look but that’s at the cost of the boot.

This is where the 2000-2005 Rav4 was good, I think the Vitara Max has a reasonable boot with seats up.