Personal Picks: Sporty and off-road... 4

The staff remains passionate, and opinionated, about the diverse group of SUVs tested in the January 2007 issue of Consumer Reports. Below is our final thoughts on that group:

Cliff Weathers: You can call them SUVs, car-based SUVs, crossovers, or whatever you wish. Vehicles like the Acura RDX, BMW X3, and Mazda CX-7 are nothing but slightly beefed-up station wagons with all-wheel drive. That's right, station wagons. Nobody is going to take any of these vehicles through a dry river bed. That said, I found the RDX to have the best manners of all the vehicles in this group. I thought it had the most car-like ride and its turbocharged four-cylinder engine did a good impersonation of a V6. I liked the X3 as well, but I thought that its ride was too stiff and sometimes jittery. Further, I felt cramped in the X3 driver's seat on long trips. I did find the interior to be top notch, however, and all the controls, save the frustrating radio, to be easy to use. 

As for the FJ Cruiser and the Wrangler, our two "real" SUVs, they sure do look nice in my driveway, but they're oafs on pavement. I could hardly see out of the FJ Cruiser and had to crane my head down to view traffic light changes. The Wrangler is better on pavement than the previous version, but that's like saying cardboard tastes better than aluminum foil. If I had the use for a rugged, go-anywhere vehicle, I'd opt for a Nissan Xterra without thinking twice.

Jim Travers: Mother always taught me that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Which brings us to personal pick time for our group of small upscale sport-utility vehicles.

As different as they are, one thing all these have in common is some pretty scary price tags. Our X3 cost more than $42,000; and the RDX came in at about $39,000. Even the rather Spartan Jeep was priced at $30,000 plus. Admittedly, it is all-new and significantly improved, but it's still a "crudester" requiring constant steering correction to keep going in a straight line.

At the risk of a rap on the knuckles from Mother, none of these sport utilities is all that sporty, in spite of some pretensions like paddle shifters and turbochargers. Sorry, Mom, but they're a little short on utility, too. None seat more than five, and some have less cargo space than better-handling and less-expensive wagons like the Mazda 6 or Subaru Outback.

While keeping in mind the lessons of my youth, let me say this: The new Jeep Wrangler Limited has a pretty nice steering wheel.