cars.com and motorWeek came to elkhorn Wisconsin where we put 5 midsize SUVs
through nearly a week of testing
here's how they placed and what our judges had to say our winner of the
challenge the 2016 nissan murano the murano has a standout styling that sets
it apart from the rest of its competitors its futuristic and it really
is a leavener hate it sort of thing and i love it
however that standout styling leads to a giant c-pillar it makes that blind spot
when you're looking over your shoulder impossible to see around because of that
limited visibility i found myself using the around view monitor system a lot
it's really easy to find you just hit the button on the multimedia system and
you get a great view of what's going on around your car nissan murano is a quick
SUV with a legitimate big v6 engine no small turbo four-cylinder year it's also
trying to be something distinct from the rest of them not as much a family SUV
really more of a kind of a semi luxury SUV just in terms of interior materials
and a lot of that works
the thing that I like about the murano is from the back of the vehicle you've
got the tailgate up maybe you have all this cargo you want to put in the back
so to drop that second row seat sometimes is a very uncomfortable lean
in or even push back but in the murano you've got a lever on both sides of the
vehicle to drop down one side of the seats or the other and then an electric
button that pulls it back up if you need don't need all that space the murano is
very comfortable and super luxurious compared the other vehicles here
the biggest thing i don't like about the murano is the exterior design i know it
says it's out there it's modern but to me it just looks like it's trying too
hard to be different in second place the 2016 ford edge the edge is one of the
wider midsize SUVs in this challenge and because of that it easily fits three car
seats across the back seat
coming into this I wouldn't put the edge as one of my favorites but it actually
has one of the nicest rides and I
dynamically handles very well and one thing I didn't particularly like was the
transmission shifter itself it's really easy just to go right past me and in
sport and also when you're driving going back and forth between drive in Reverse
it takes forever for the transmission to respond first of all cabin materials
really excellent probably some of the best in this group overall first-rate
multimedia system to a sink three system from Ford really really is a much better
system for . going MyFord Touch I don't really like the bathtub feel that I have
when I'm trying to lift myself into that vehicle however the adaptive steering
this is a new feature that Ford is just had over the last couple years is
amazing about it literally makes it feel like a different vehicle when you're
going slow versus when you're driving at speed and when you're in sport mode
everything tightens up a little bit well but again
speed-sensitive that's very impressive technology placing a mid-pack third is
the 2017 kia sorento going into this I would have put the sorrento up near the
top but after driving it spending more time with it the ride i don't know
whether it's this trim level or this tire wheel package much rougher ride
then I remember especially going over harsh bumps the rear suspension
incredibly noisy the kia sorento as a pretty high-quality cabin and quite a
bit of cargo space as well all the things that impress about the sorrento
do sort of go away though once you start driving it
unfortunately the suspension allows just a degree of movement in the body over
major bumps in the road that's totally missing in some of these other SUVs not
the most comfortable on a road trip
sorrento was the vehicle in this comparison test to me that feel most
like a minivan so it has that kind of vanilla personality to it but what I did
like is the interior I think they've done an exceptional job of making both
the navigation system and the HVAC controls underneath very easy to see and
identify no matter what the conditions are outside the surrender looks like a
much more expensive vehicle than what it really costs it has the sophisticated
grill and alloy wheels
one thing that stands out about the Sorrento and not in a good way is the
road noise you hit the open highway and it gets really loud in the cabin coming
in at fourth place is the 2017 hyundai santa fe sport interface board compared
to the others this feels very cheap inside
not at all what you expect compared to the other hyundai santa fe sport has a
few highlights among them handling which is pretty good and lots of storage
spaces up front including a nice big open storage straight ahead of those
cupholders and gearshift a few downsides on the santa fe sport visibility and
swooping rising beltline on the outside means smaller second row windows makes
it a little bit harder to see out of from the inside
speaking of inside those cabin materials have a lot of cheap kind of low-rent
plastics and the seats cheap great of leather in our test car and they're kind
of tough and not very comfortable although the Santa Fe may be very fun to
drive because it's so sporty the jellybean design look is not going to
separate it from the crowd bringing up the rear in fifth place the 2016 jeep
grand cherokee with the grand cherokee I like the fact that it's really the only
true SUV of the bunch definitely has the off-road credentials to haul more no
more and I like the more truck like ride myself a couple things I didn't like so
much about the Cherokee the interior doesn't feel grooming is the only is
here and the quality of the materials is actually pretty good but you didn't
finish not quite up to par of the rest grand cherokee to me was the most
claustrophobic for me when I was inside it's very dark not huge windows so no
matter whether you're looking in the rearview mirror or even out the sides
you're not going to be able to see a lot compared to some of the other vehicles
in a second but i like about the grand cherokee is that maybe more than any
other vehicle that we're testing here it can do a lot of different things and it
also has a real four-wheel-drive system meaning that it has a low range and also
a multi terrain system that allows you to set sand snow or mud depending on
what you're about to do
jeep grand cherokee scored some major points on ride quality where its
suspension really cushions a lot of bumps that kind of come up into the
cabin and some of these competitor suvs also visibility you can flip those rear
head restraints down create a clear view straight out the back the back seat in
the grand cherokee is fantastic it treats its passengers really well thanks
to heated rear seats USB ports and also air vents there is so much stuff in this
backseat
it's a winner for busy families here's what the little odd about the grand
cherokee this is a almost 45,000 dollar vehicle and it has a beautiful 8.4 inch
multimedia screen but what it doesn't have is a navigation system that the
real Miss for most families so there you have it
see each of these cars full scores and plenty more on cars.com