My Mom is looking for a new-ish car.
She wants good fuel economy, but anything over 20 seems negotiable. AWD (selectable, full time, whatever) is a must and it can't look like a "car" and it super duper absolutely cannot look like a station wagon. From what I can tell, "cars and station wagons" are defined as conventional looking vehicles that have low hoods and gently slope up at the window screen.
Hatchbacks are okay, hideous monstrosities like the the Subaru Forester are cool, the Kia Soul/Nissan Cube is amazingness wrapped in awesome. The Toyota IQ is super cute.
She wants leather, but I'm going to talk her out of this cause it just doesn't seem possible. Prefer a price in the high teens.
AWD Honda Element?
They certainly look a bit weird.
Element? CR-V? My mom has a 2004 CR-V AWD and gets 24-25mpg.
Okay, inputting data... SUV/hatch only, 4x4/AWD only, 20+ highway MPG only, leather only, and a price of $15K-$20K. Let's see, the magic 8-ball says...
Used (06-12):
- Honda CR-V
- Ford Explorer
- GMC Envoy
- Mazda CX-9
- Chevy Trailblazer
- Cadillac SRX
- Ford Escape
- Suzuki XL-7
- Jeep Liberty
- Toyota RAV4
- Mercury Mariner
- Saturn VUE
- Subaru Forester
- HUMMER H3
- BMW X-5
- Nissan Murano
- SAAB 9-7X
- Mitsubishi Outlander
- Lexus RX 330
- Ford Edge
- Mercedes ML-350
- Dodge Nitro
- Volvo XC-90
Cripes almighty man! 
Can you narrow it down a little more??!?
Josh
Dork
3/21/12 6:50 p.m.
If you want an AWD not-car under 20k its going to have to be used. Mazda CX5 probably comes the closest to your needs at 23ish in AWD (just over 20 with 2wd). They are getting rave reviews so far. If the AWD requirement were relaxed, a Veloster might be a good choice. They certainly are weird-looking enough.
I tried to talk her out of the AWD requirement, which would open up vehicles like the Soul for 13,900, but she has to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter at least a couple times a year and CALTRANS, in most cases, doesn't care if you have snow tires. They do care if you have AWD, however, which seems retarded to me but whatever.
I was pushing Veloster/CRZ/Scion IQ, but chains are a giant pain in the butt for a woman in her 50s to do when it's snowing on her.
What do you all think of the Suzuki SX4? The mom is proficient with a real transmission.
I like them. They meet your qualifications too! However, this is spoken with knowledge purely pulled from the internet, like 4 years ago. They may have longevity issues. Hope someone else chimes in.
mndsm
UberDork
3/22/12 8:04 a.m.
You said Forester pretty much right away. That was the first thing I thought of. Seems like a slam dunk to me.
