INTERIOR VOL (cu Ë) - Car and Driver
COMPARISON TEST
MID-SIZE UN-SUVS
JUN 2008
INTERIOR VOL (cu ft)
62.3 4364
55.7 44.3 3500 3500 21.1
53
43
$33,010 $34,505 185.7 75.8 67.0 111.2 65.4
64.7 4468
57.7 42.3 3500 2000 20.0
55
53
$30,495 $32,365 184.1 74.4 67.9 106.3 63.6
63.8 4238 58.3
41.7 3500 3500 19.8
59
49
$28,635 $32,640 184.1 73.7 64.8 108.3 63.7
63.5 3946 58.6
41.4 2000 2000 18.2
53
45
$30,225 $33,995 188.5 74.1 67.0 111.2 63.3
63.4
57.1 42.9 3500 3500 21.7
58
47
4180
MAX
REAR
FUEL TANK (gal)
AS TESTED
TOWING (lb) % REAR
% FRONT
CURB (lb)
REAR TRACK
FRONT TRACK
WHEELBASE
HEIGHT
WEIGHT
$28,295 $34,300 192.4 72.2 66.6 113.8 61.8
When we arrived, the late-morning sun was bright on our first study point—the north side of eastbound Interstate 40 at mile 89.1. This is a threefer, three distinctly different geological events in one road cut. On the right is a broad area of finely textured horizontal layers, on the far left a smooth wedge of cheesecake beige, and separating these two formations is a series of bold diagonal lines. What happened here, we ask? The horizontals are a sedimentary formation, the oldest part of the cut, 20 million years at least, Ranney judges, fine sand grains
90
rado, New Mexico, and Utah come together. Immediately to the west is the Basin and Range region, where a stretching of the earth’s crust in ancient times resulted in the sinking of a broad area including Phoenix and Las Vegas. So we’d be driving downhill over the 144 miles to our destination that night, Kingman, Arizona, elevation 3300 feet. Along the way we would take notes, change cars, and stop to hear Ranney read off the geological stories captured in the many road cuts along I-40.
FRONT
DODGE JOURNEY R/T AWD† FORD EDGE LIMITED AWD HYUNDAI SANTA FE LIMITED AWD MAZDA CX-7 GRAND TOURING AWD NISSAN MURANO SL AWD† †2009 model year.
DIMENSIONS (inches) LENGTH
VEHICLE
PRICE ($) AS TESTED
BEST IN TEST
BASE
*EST
C/D RESULTS
What about fuel economy? Federal watchdogs rate the Nissan highest for city driving at 18 mpg. The Dodge and the Ford tie for thirstiest at 15 mpg. On the highway, the Hyundai tops the tote board at 24; the Dodge, the Ford, and the Mazda bring up the rear in a three-way tie at 22 mpg. When we picked up geologist Ranney in Flagstaff, elevation 7000 feet, we were on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, a relatively stable area of the continent where the Four Corners of Arizona, Colo-
WIDTH
panels. With Nissan’s muscular 3.5 V-6 as standard equipment, you can be sure of one thing: This bubba will boogie. The three other crossovers in our quintet have been around long enough since their 2007 intros to have become thoroughly familiar faces in traffic. The blocky Ford Edge seems to stand tall on the road, a tidy, muscular look that sold 130,125 copies in its first full year in the stores. A discreet distance behind at 92,421 sold is the Hyundai Santa Fe, substantially enlarged during its last redesign. Well behind at the checkout counter is Mazda’s CX-7, a sweetheart to look at, powered by the only four-cylinder of the group, a turbocharged 2.3-liter with direct injection. All our test crossovers have the option of all-wheel drive. The Dodge and the Hyundai are available with third-row seating, although we did not include that capability in this test.
cemented together by standing water and now quite hard. The stack was much taller then, and eroded material from above slid down and created the lighter diagonals. The alternating red stripes—think of them as hot plaster applied to the steep slope—were delivered by volcanic eruptions. The cheesecake came last, Ranney says. Geologists call it the Peach Springs Tuff, deposited by a volcanic event—one of the largest ever—that occurred 18.1 million years ago. We’d see much more of that material in Kingman. CARAN D D R I V E R .C O M
MID-SIZE UN-SUVS
JUN 2008
INTERIOR VOL (cu ft)
62.3 4364
55.7 44.3 3500 3500 21.1
53
43
$33,010 $34,505 185.7 75.8 67.0 111.2 65.4
64.7 4468
57.7 42.3 3500 2000 20.0
55
53
$30,495 $32,365 184.1 74.4 67.9 106.3 63.6
63.8 4238 58.3
41.7 3500 3500 19.8
59
49
$28,635 $32,640 184.1 73.7 64.8 108.3 63.7
63.5 3946 58.6
41.4 2000 2000 18.2
53
45
$30,225 $33,995 188.5 74.1 67.0 111.2 63.3
63.4
57.1 42.9 3500 3500 21.7
58
47
4180
MAX
REAR
FUEL TANK (gal)
AS TESTED
TOWING (lb) % REAR
% FRONT
CURB (lb)
REAR TRACK
FRONT TRACK
WHEELBASE
HEIGHT
WEIGHT
$28,295 $34,300 192.4 72.2 66.6 113.8 61.8
When we arrived, the late-morning sun was bright on our first study point—the north side of eastbound Interstate 40 at mile 89.1. This is a threefer, three distinctly different geological events in one road cut. On the right is a broad area of finely textured horizontal layers, on the far left a smooth wedge of cheesecake beige, and separating these two formations is a series of bold diagonal lines. What happened here, we ask? The horizontals are a sedimentary formation, the oldest part of the cut, 20 million years at least, Ranney judges, fine sand grains
90
rado, New Mexico, and Utah come together. Immediately to the west is the Basin and Range region, where a stretching of the earth’s crust in ancient times resulted in the sinking of a broad area including Phoenix and Las Vegas. So we’d be driving downhill over the 144 miles to our destination that night, Kingman, Arizona, elevation 3300 feet. Along the way we would take notes, change cars, and stop to hear Ranney read off the geological stories captured in the many road cuts along I-40.
FRONT
DODGE JOURNEY R/T AWD† FORD EDGE LIMITED AWD HYUNDAI SANTA FE LIMITED AWD MAZDA CX-7 GRAND TOURING AWD NISSAN MURANO SL AWD† †2009 model year.
DIMENSIONS (inches) LENGTH
VEHICLE
PRICE ($) AS TESTED
BEST IN TEST
BASE
*EST
C/D RESULTS
What about fuel economy? Federal watchdogs rate the Nissan highest for city driving at 18 mpg. The Dodge and the Ford tie for thirstiest at 15 mpg. On the highway, the Hyundai tops the tote board at 24; the Dodge, the Ford, and the Mazda bring up the rear in a three-way tie at 22 mpg. When we picked up geologist Ranney in Flagstaff, elevation 7000 feet, we were on the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, a relatively stable area of the continent where the Four Corners of Arizona, Colo-
WIDTH
panels. With Nissan’s muscular 3.5 V-6 as standard equipment, you can be sure of one thing: This bubba will boogie. The three other crossovers in our quintet have been around long enough since their 2007 intros to have become thoroughly familiar faces in traffic. The blocky Ford Edge seems to stand tall on the road, a tidy, muscular look that sold 130,125 copies in its first full year in the stores. A discreet distance behind at 92,421 sold is the Hyundai Santa Fe, substantially enlarged during its last redesign. Well behind at the checkout counter is Mazda’s CX-7, a sweetheart to look at, powered by the only four-cylinder of the group, a turbocharged 2.3-liter with direct injection. All our test crossovers have the option of all-wheel drive. The Dodge and the Hyundai are available with third-row seating, although we did not include that capability in this test.
cemented together by standing water and now quite hard. The stack was much taller then, and eroded material from above slid down and created the lighter diagonals. The alternating red stripes—think of them as hot plaster applied to the steep slope—were delivered by volcanic eruptions. The cheesecake came last, Ranney says. Geologists call it the Peach Springs Tuff, deposited by a volcanic event—one of the largest ever—that occurred 18.1 million years ago. We’d see much more of that material in Kingman. CARAN D D R I V E R .C O M
