Sometimes a car just can’t handle all the stuff you need to maintain your lifestyle. Whether it’s lugging equipment to work every day, handling supplies from the home improvement store, or hauling your fishing gear up to the lake on weekends, an SUV can handle the job. Here are three that work just as well as everyday drivers, as they do as weekend workhorses.
2015 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring: The CX-5 (top) is considered a compact SUV, but you find it feels anything but compact when you’re inside it. There’s a ton of interior room, and it feels a lot larger than it is, and we mean that in a good way. You get headroom, legroom, cargo room… room for just about anything you want to haul.
Like many of the Mazdas we’ve driven recently, you get a lot of car for the money, and the 2015 CX-5 continues the tradition. Our tester came loaded with all the tech toys, comfortable, supportive seats, sunroof, touchscreen with nav and more. (One negative: the navi screen is smaller than most you’ll find these days, at 5.8-inches, which makes it a challenge at times.) One thing we are happy Mazda kept is the knobs. We love knobs for volume and tuning, and it seems a lot of manufacturers are losing them when they install touch screens.
The CX-5 is one of the best handling SUVs we’ve tested, and while the 2.0 liter, 155hp 4-cylinder engine is fine for most driving, we recommend the 184hp, 2.5 liter 4-cylinder—it provides a lot more get up and go. And 35 more lb-ft of torque, which makes towing a lot easier. Both are Mazda SKYACTIV engines, and with a city/hwy/combined MPG of 26/32/29 for the 2.0 and 25/32/27 for the 2.5, you’ll be passing a lot of gas stations on your way to the lake.
MSRP: Starts at $21,545.
2014 Mitsubishi Outlander SE: Mitsubishi has been working hard to change their reputation for making cars that are mediocre at best, and the 2014 Outlander SE shows they are moving in the right direction. We found the newly designed Outlander to be not awful. Which is a rave. Really.
The Outlander has 3 rows of seating, but you’ll only want to use the third row in an emergency (say a couple of drunk buddies need to driven home in a less-than-upright state), and folding it down gives you a lot more cargo space.
Related: 2014 Mazda CX-9 Makes People Carrying Fun
Outside, Mitsubishi has finally redesigned the front end, giving the 2014 a more refined face. Inside you get a 9-sleaker Rockford Fosgate sound system, 7-inch touchscreen, and available advanced tech like adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning and lane departure warning.
The Outlander’s 2.4 liter, 4 cylinder engine produces 166hp, and for a 3-row vehicle, that’s just enough to get the SUV rolling. But, if economy is your main goal, the powerplant does get you there on a frugal EPA estimated 31 MPG highway. Which isn’t bad for a 7-passenger hauler.
MSRP: Starts at $22,995.
From the minute you slide into the wood and leather trimmed interior, you feel like you’re in an SUV costing $10-$15 grand more. There are nice touches, like the small key holder next to the cup holders, to drop the fob into, for those of us who hate sitting on our keys, a gorgeous sounding Infinity sound system, and a huge pano roof that lets the sun shine in on you and your passengers. (Too much sun? The Sorento has built-in, pull-up shades for the passenger doors.) It’s also the only one of this group to feature a power liftgate, something we’ve come to love when loading up the SUV for the weekend.
The most powerful of this group, the Sorento SX is powered by an all-aluminum 3.3-liter GDI V6, which makes a more-than-ample 290 horsepower. It’ll get you there, fast. You also get your choice of steering modes: Comfort, Normal and Sport, each increasing the stiffness. (We kept it in Sport most of the time. Comfort felt way too soft and light, like driving your granddad’s old Caddy. Good for some, but we like to feel the vehicle.)
Like the Outlander, the Sorento’s third row is best when you absolutely have to put someone there, otherwise fold it down and take the extra cargo space. Now that you’re all into luxury, you can use it to bring the antiques to your country house.
MSRP: Starts at $24,100.
