Our daughter just bought a used CX-5, and likes it, so that was kind of our first choice. But my wife much preferred how the Honda drove. That’s why you do test drives, I suppose. Not quite as much storage either.
The cars you’re speaking of always remind me of when Carmella Soprano got her new car “Porsche Cayenne, like the pepper”.
Pity you don’t get Renault/Dacia in the US, otherwise the Duster or Oroch would be my recommendation.
I’m on my 3rd Ford Edge in a row. I love this car because it is large enough for whatever SUV-ey thing I need to do, but the driving experience is like a car. Parking is sedan-like. I drive a lot of miles, so comfort and handling are important to me.
A Dodge Caravan comes in a small form factor that’s only 7 inches longer than the forester. It clocks in at 189 inches. The low 180s are typical of crossovers. It’s actually shorter than a Honda Accord. Of course, if it were me, I’d get the extra bed length and go for something like a Sienna or Chrysler T&C at 200 or so inches. The extra 12 inches is all cargo space and you’ll love it. They’re actually easy to drive. The extra length really only matters when parallel parking. You quickly get used to it.
I also recommend the Ford Flex. Three row seating. Tons of cargo room, but if you’re scared of long vehicles, it’s 202 inches, so it’s even longer than a minivan. Lower ceiling too than a minivan, but it can haul a decent amount and comes in an AWD model. It’s a stellar vehicle.
If you really want the low price point and the shorter car, I really want to reiterate the Journey. You can pick up a used one with 30 thousand miles on it in the 15k range and they are solid vehicles. If you only want FWD, you’re looking in the 12s. Its biggest drawback is that it’s underpowered in the I4, but not something you’ll notice most of the time. If you can find the V6, I would highly recommend it. The fuel economy is almost exactly the same and the power boost is very noticeable. Also, the third row is extremely tight for adults. I won’t say unusable, but no one would want to sit back there for long distances.
If price isn’t a problem for you, the Toyota Highlander is a great vehicle in that range too. It’s a bit longer and noticeably wider and probably about 10 grand more (but as much as 20 grand more even used if you want one decked out. The 2015 hybrids decked out MSRPed at 50 grand.), but it’s a decent vehicle. It has the same problem as the Journey in that its 4-cylinder model is underpowered and pre-2015 models had a weird “roll” when steering around tighter turns. It’s a bit longer than the Journey, but only by about 3 inches and those three inches are very helpful with the back seat. The ten grand difference is largely due to features that you can exclude from the Journey: back up camera, lane detection, blind spot warning systems, etc. Stuff that old guys like me don’t care about, but younger drivers probably can’t do without. The hybrid version is nearly worthless. It’s a virtue signal more than practical. It gives about 3 miles per gallon on highway and claims 10 in cities, but it’s closer to 4. (It’s listed as 25/28. In comparison, a Dodge Journey is listed at 20/26. Both are typical car exagerrations. A V6 Journey really gives you about 17/23 and a hybrid Highlander is about 20/25.) I won’t say stay away from the hybrid, but if you’re expecting to save more fuel, it’s barely noticeable.
Just thinking since your current vehicle is a hybrid… have you looked at the Kia Niro? It’s a small hybrid crossover. My wife and I test drove one a few months ago when she was looking for a new car and we both really liked it. (Although ultimately she wound up buying something else.)
Those would all fall into the “compact SUV” category.
We have a CRV, and a Civic. The Civic is nearly old enough to drink legally, and it’s now my son’s car; we’re going to be looking for a replacement for it for my husband. It’s been a fantastic car but far too low to the ground to be easy to get into and out of for someone as tall as I am - so we’re looking at a something between the two.
We’re looking at Honda’s HRV, Nissan Juke, Mazda CX3 and a few others - called “subcompact SUVs”. Haven’t started shopping yet, but the hope is they’ll have better mileage than my CRV, and be more comfortable than the Civic.
If you were happy with the Fusion, you’d love the Escape, or even the Edge.
I was recently car shopping, and I’m quite thorough in research and test drives. For that price point, take a look at the Volkswagen Alltrack, a slightly lifted AWD station wagon. Car and Driver 10 best this year, great reviews all around. It has a manual transmission available, and was very “fun” to drive. VW also, starting with 2018 models, has a new 6 year/72,000 mile warranty, to offset some of the negative publicity of the Diesel software boondoggle.
I eventually ended up with something even sportier, but the Alltrack was my second choice. They start at $25,995. I even preferred it to the VW GTI I drove there as well.
Forester will go anywhere, cannot beat the AWD, runs forever. BUT, I think it’s got really bad road and wind noise
I have one of these. Good car, with sensational (50 mpg) gas mileage.
But: Even though the battery is located under the rear seat, the rear hatch room could be better. And it doesn’t sit as high up as a real SUV.
Check out the most recent (I think) issue of Motor Trend. I was paging through it at the barber’s and it has a short summary of every new SUV (including the compact and sub-compact ones) currently on the market, and some upcoming (like the Blazer and Bronco). My family has a Rogue that is closing in on 10 years old that we are thinking about replacing soon, and I thought it gave a great overview of what all is available. At $30-$35k you are in the mid-size SUV range, or even base trims of the smaller luxury brands.
You should check out the Honda Fit. It has a tall, upright seating position like you want. Cargo room is larger than many crossover vehicles. My 2009 Fit was totally trouble-free until it got totaled in an accident last year. I’m sure you can find good use for the ~$13k you save.
I like the Mazda CX-5, which I think looks the best and has the most car-like handling of the various options - my gf has one, and I’m thinking of getting one myself…I’d also suggest considering the Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav 4, Subaru Forester.
Bump…after a year of looking, I finally pulled the trigger on a CX-5 Grand Touring (the lowest level with satellite radio).
I realize that there isn’t much need for the interior lights when the car is on the sales lot, but did they have to leave the default setting to “always off” (instead of “turn on when a door is opened”)? That’s not something you should discover when you get into your car at 5 AM and can’t read any of the controls - especially if you never bothered to ask anybody how to turn on the headlights.
Those are really nice. I think Grand Touring is the top trim anyway so all the bells & whistles.
I’m glad you found a vehicle you like.
FWIW, I just went car shopping a couple of months ago with my son (new college graduate). He looked at the Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4, and the Hyundai Tucson/Santa Fe, and settled on a new Subaru Forester Sport. It includes most of the new safety features (EyeSight Driver Assist including pre-collision braking, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, reverse automatic braking, blind spot detection, rear cross-traffic alert, VDC, etc.).
While car shopping, we decided to trade in my wife’s 2013 Subaru Outback for a 2019 model, as apparently Subaru is getting rid of their 6-cylinder engine starting in 2020. (It’s being replaced with a 4-cylinder turbo, and I hate turbos.) She also wanted the new safety features. Her old car still had plenty of miles left on it, but I didn’t want to be stuck with a turbo when it was time to replace it. (I wouldn’t mind a hybrid, though.)
I was looking for something similar and ended up with a Subaru Crosstrek. The good: AWD is great, it handles nimbly, nothing has broken on it yet (but only 60k miles so far), collision prevention/lane drift detection work great.
The bad: Not enough cargo room (at all). Trunk is tiny. It’s a hatchback, but my old Mazda sedan had more room back there. Acceleration is atrocious, especially with 3-4 people in the car and camping gear. Headlights suck. Radio and sound system are bad, even at the highest trim. (Mine was 2016; maybe Apple or Google radio in later years is better). Also, the hybrid model is a total joke, adding 1-2 MPG (you read that right) for several thousand dollars and less cargo room and no towing capacity.
I’d consider another Subaru after this, but probably not a Crosstrek. It’s just too small and too slow… I can’t even merge onto highways safely unless I’m driving alone.
FoieGras, do you do Doper trade-in/upgrade deals? 
I was torn between the Tucson and the Rogue, but the Rogue had a scootch more leg room, so that’s what we paid cash for a couple weeks ago. Drives nice, and gets 33 mpg.
My wife wanted a Crosstrek, but I talked her out of it by telling her it was just too small. She got another Outback instead.
I told my son the same thing, which is why he got a Forester.
FWIW, I recently went on an 11-hour road trip up to Maine with a friend who has a 2018 Subaru Impreza. My take is that it was also much too small, with poor ground clearance (especially with the aftermarket trailer hitch he added for his bike rack). I helped out with some of the driving on the trip, and thought it handed well, though, and had pretty good acceleration for a 4-cylinder engine.