Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

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Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby billy_14 on Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:58 pm

Hi Folks,
I've been searching for a complete family car or I could put it in this way, a 7 seater compact SUV for almost 3 months and I'vent decided any. My expectations are budget are as follows:
1. excellent safety features- (dual air bags with rear passenger curtain air bags)
2. spacious interior
3. long drive comfort
4. budget within AED 100,000

I dont take my car off-raod and I care less about the car's off-road ability, but it should give me an excellent on-road drive. I'd give less importance to additional features like moon-roof,cd players, leather seats etc, and high priority for safety features and smooth drive

I've a confusion between 2010 Hyundai Santa FE, 2010 Kia Sorento, an used Honda MR-V or used Ford Explorer!! kindly suggest me on any one of the above. If you could help me in finding out a better option please let me know.

cheers
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby root on Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:08 am

First thing, Welcome to the Forums!

Secondly, compact and 7-seaters normally do not go hand-in-hand. The compact ones are really 5-seaters.

Thirdly, within your budget the only new SUV I can think of are the Korean ones. You might be able to get a Honda MRV/Pilot 2009 at some good deal as they need to get rid of old stock. The MRV is a comfortable city ride.

Another option is the Mazda CX-9. Looks very nice, third row is small, but exists. I think it retails at around 110k, but maybe you can get a 2009 model cheap if they have stock remaining. Or maybe increase your budget a bit..you get leather seats and a nice music system as well.

In your list, all four are fine. Santa Fe has a good reputation and resale. The Fords are traditionally bad on resale. The MRV is for some reason not very popular in UAE, but its a Honda, so its reliable. Also its a big seller in US.
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby balajiv1979 on Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:42 pm

Please look at the Hyundai ver cruz 7 seater and new one starts at 100k.

Interior is spacious but everything apart from the vehicle is OPTIONAL
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby billy_14 on Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:40 pm

Thanks Root.
well, I've would imagine myself driving a Santa FE. still as far as safety features are concerned, I;m still confused with Santa FE versus Sorento. Santa Fe and Sorento both comes with 5 star rating in crash testing but in different levels. kindly advice me on this? Please get me a quick comparison between both of these cars. Both are from the same company if I'm not wrong!!

Are MR-Vs and Pilots the same cars with different names? I dont think there's a 2010 MR-V !!

Any advices on the used 7 seater cars? Are the Toyota Innova or Mitsubishi Grandis gonna suite my budget and options and likes?? How are these cars reliable in UAE? though Innova's are a big hit in India and Asia...
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby root on Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:21 am

The Innovas and Grandis are not big here. The soccer-moms here drive Prados and Pajeros instead :)

is the Santa Fe really a 7-seater?

Safety ratings, not sure about those, but I am sure they are good. They are big vehicles, something that is good with the traffic here. Same company - well, not really. Santa Fe is Hyundai, and Sorento is Kia. Their dealer here may be the same, but these are different Korean companies. Hyundai is slightly better in quality as a brand in general, however the Sorento is a popular Kia model.

MRV and Pilot are the same - just its called Pilot in USA.

On used 7-seaters - if you wanna play it safe, go with Toyota Prado. Its reliable and excellent resale. Only problem is that every other person in Dubai has one.
Mitsubishi Pajero is another good (and boring) option.
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby T.N.T on Thu Jan 21, 2010 2:20 pm

Theyv'e started calling it the Pilot in the UAE too.
Get the Mazda CX-9, it fits your criteria perfectly.
The Santa Fe's 3rd row is very cramped.
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby billy_14 on Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:16 pm

Hello,
Sorry for the break..
Well, I wish, I could share some information on SUV's or CUV's!!!
earlier i've mentioned Santa Fe as a compact SUV, but as root mentioned its not an SUV as many of us in this part of world think like. This information is only to people who really think all the 4*4 vehicles are SUV, as in Large or compact.
Santa Fe, Sorento, CRV, RAV4, NIssan Murano etc are termed as CUV i.e. Crossover Utility Vehicle. these vehicles are normally built on a car platform to have a shape of a perfect SUV. Its not a perfect SUV, but borrows most of the features from an SUV. Even the Pilots and Audi Q7 and Ford Flex fall into the same full sized CUV's..
Santa Fe are few small sized CUV to come with 7 seaters, earlier it was designed to have just 5 and now its bit comfortable to have 7 seats..
Santa Fes are built on Hyundai Sonata platform, CR-V on Civic, RAV-4 on Corrolla, Audi Q7 on Audi A6 and BMW X3 on BMW 3series. Mazda CX-9s are built on van platforms called as Mazda MPV, so they are known as Minivan CUV's.
Since I was looking out for a basic 7 seater, with an AED 100,000 budget and with good safety features, I've decided to go for Hyundai Santa Fe, which is one of the best compact 4*4's built by Hyundai with an affordable price. Well, I dint care about the resale value as I'm intention is to drive the car for some years rather than selling
I would like to thank all the users who have commented on my post and giving some useful advices
I'll post some pictures of my car once i drive it home

Cheers...
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Re: Compact 7 seater SUV?!!

Postby root on Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:22 pm

Congrats! Its a good choice!

And I see you have your hopes high for the next one (Ferrari Spider).
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