In response to Blackie and Vuey's post, I have just been down this line. Looked at the Subaru Forester and Liberty Wagon. Ended up at the Mazda dealer and just couldn't go past the Mazda CX-7.

Picked up an ex-demo CX-7 Luxury (Bose system, leather interior) with 11K on the clock for $40K.

 

My wife's brother-in-law picked one up last year too. Nice interior and size. However I heard it likes to drink.

 

It's a 2.3L turbo and pushing 1700Kg of car. I expect how much it drinks is directly proportional to the angle of ones right foot.

 

ahahah true , Subaru fk the WRX the hardest !

i still like the new Forrester . I also like the new Toyota Klugger .

CX-7 is nice, great styling for a SUV and the finish and built quality is 5 star.

 

what about anything from the honda or toyota range, u cant beat them, new crv? or kluger? or the aurion?

 

I looked at the CRV. It is quite a lot cheaper than the CX-7 and it shows. Not sure if it'll seat three kiddy seats in the back either.

 

Cashout - What about a big 4wd like a Prado or something?

 

I always liked the liberty wagon. But it doesn't fit the 3 seats. To fit the 3 baby/toddler (not booster) seats you need 140 cms of back seat. Most family sedans have ~130-135 cms of back seat. This means that if you put three child seats in you either can't close the doors or can't fit the seats between the pillars.

We have measured the following (without a pass grade):

Liberty
Forrester
Outback
Tribeca
Passat
Touareg
Outlander
Kluger
Prado
Rav4
Tarago (but you could fit two in the second row and one in the third row)
Laguna (although the 2005 model does have the space but ther is a big hump in the middle of the back seat that makes it impossible to put a a seat there in a stable position)
Scenic/Grand Scenic
330
CRV
Accord Euro
A6
Grandis (but you could fit two in the second row and one in the third row)
Captiva
Sportage
Sorrento
Santafe
Accord. The door handles protrude inwards too much. Seat pops out of place.
Grand Picasso. Same as Accord
Odyssey... not even close
CX7 . Same as odyssey
Mazda 6. Same as above
Octavia. Same as above
Roomster. Even less space.
Rondo7 . Like the Roomster

The following can fit the 3 seats in a row:
Commodore
Lumina
Falcon
Mondeo
Caddy Life
Carnival


The following we haven't had a chance to measure or have just enough space and we need to try them out:

Camry
Avensis (can't find one at a dealership)
Aurion
Tiguan (not in dealerships yet)
X70


Anything else we haven't tried or may be out of the price range (like the Caravelle, Multivan, Voyager, R Class)

 

That is something we are keeping in mind. However something like the Caddy life or the C4 Grand Picasso drink just over half of what a commodore/falcon/Carnival does which more than makes up for the extra $0.20 cents per litre. At least on a tank by tank basis if not in an initial layout basis.

 

i personally like the new kluger , it looks good .

AusS2000 Posted on Jun 19 2008, 08:26 PM
[QUOTE]I looked at the CRV. It is quite a lot cheaper than the CX-7 and it shows. Not sure if it'll seat three kiddy seats in the back either.