With my car donated and our other car on it's last go-round at 202 thousand miles, we are shopping. Here is data I collected from edmunds and cars.com on the our top choices.
Capacity (all seat 5):
Car L W IntVol CargoVol (cubic fee)
----- --- --- ----- ------
V70 186 71 135 33.3
CR-V 179 72 103 37.2
Golf 165 70 105 12.2
Jetta 179 70 125 32.8
MPG/Power/Range
Car Year City Hwy HP/TQ Range
------- ---- ---- --- ------- ------
v70 01 17 24 168/170 400/527
CR-V 2wd 12 23 31 185/163 351/470
CR-V 4wd 12 22 30 185/163 336/459
Golf 11 30 42 140/236 435/609 (same for '12 and '10)
Jetta 11 29 39 140/236 420/565 (same for '12)
Prices (current advertised prices on cars.com)
year/miles/price (miles and price in thousands)
v70 04/80/11, 06/54/17, 08/44/20, 10/54/24
CR-V 2wd 07/46/16, 09/57/17, 10/44/21, 11/17/22, 12/13/21
CR-V 4wd 04/56/15, 07/40/22, 10/24/26, 11/20/21,
Golf 11/5 /20, 11/41/23, 12/14/25, 13/7 /24
Jetta 10/25/24, 12/--/25, 13/12/28
After driving all but the CR-V and based on the data I offer:
The 2 wheel drive CR-V gets very good gas mileage and has more cargo room than our current car. And it is 7 inches shorter! It is also more reliable than VW. However, VW gets better gas mileage by far. These also have near-luxury interiors and much better handling than the CR-V. The jetta is more car than the golf, but is also more expensive. A newer v70 is also an option as there are some to be had with "low" miles at good prices.
Time to make a choice...
