First
- Car Fiesta
WANT SOMETHING AFFORDABLE AND SHINY
YOU WON’T BE SICK OF AFTER A COUPLE OF
YEARS? THESE THREE MINI-SUVS MAKE A
STRONG PLAY FOR YOUR WALLET.WORDS MARK RECHTIN PHOTOGRAPHY MT STAFFH
ow do you do, fellow kids? Yes, we
know, it’s really hard to adult these
days. Jobs are scarce, and America
is hemorrhaging employment
every month. Meanwhile, there
are mountains of student debt to pay
off. Things seem pretty grim; making a
monthly new car payment must seem
like a fantasy.
However, for those in the work-at-
home-office brigade doing well enough
to entertain the possibility of dismissing
the used car blues and getting something
sparkly and new, we present three cheap,
sporty-looking, kinda-sorta SUVs that
deliver good looks, capability to haul
a couple (quarantined or vaccinated)
friends, and your stuff while making a
decent value play.
These aren’t really SUVs in the
purest, or purist’s, sense. Sure, they offerall-wheel drive and slightly better ground
clearance than a sedan. But you aren’t
going to conquer Moab in any of these.
You can call them SUVs because they’re
shaped like one, but best treat them all
more like a lifted hatchback with decent
traction control. They should schuss
you to the ski lodge without too much
problem, but that’s about it.
The three latest entries in the
subcompact crossover field are the
Chevrolet Trailblazer, Kia Seltos, and
Mazda CX-30. This is the most crowded,
competitive segment in the auto industry,
and when you are dealing with a package
this tidy and price-sensitive, there is a
temptation to dismiss them as all of a
piece. However, to bastardize George
Orwell, some subcompact crossovers are
more equal than others. So which is the
best small SUV?THE ENTRANTS
The Chevy Trailblazer comes with rugged
good looks and a choice between two
three-cylinder turbocharged engines; for
this test we picked the optional 1.3-liter
that delivers 155 horsepower and 174
lb-ft of torque—a seemingly respectable
amount for an engine and vehicle this
small. Its power routes to a nine-speed
automatic transmission, which is the only
pairing available with all-wheel drive.
And although Trailblazer prices start at
just shy of $20,000, this trim level starts
at seven grand more, and our as-tested
model optioned up to a startling $32,350.COMPARISON I Chevrolet Trailblazer RS AWD vs. Kia Seltos SX Turbo AWD vs. Mazda CX-30 Premium AWD