Which of these small SUVs are the best value in terms of price, mpg, standard equipment, and resale?
Price, standard equipment and perhaps mileage goes to the Santa Fe. It offers the same as the Honda, but costs a fair bit less. Although the Honda will certainly hold its resale value better, it also costs more to buy and from what I’ve read, it’s off-road abilities are fairly poor. Of course, I doubt you’ll be off-roading much.
Avoid the Vue, though. It’s not a terrible SUV, but it costs similar to the Santa Fe but the Hyundai is much, much better.
After reviewing the Consumer Reports April issue which is the Annual Auto Issue. I have a recommendation. You should do the same and consider the RAV-4 which gets better gas mileage than all the others and competes with the Honda for reliability. The auto issue is at all the book stores and most of the grocery stores. You really want to do some research on your own so you can evaluate this expense. You can’t afford not to do it. You show promise, because you are asking car experts questions. That is only one step. I just checked again and the Honda and Toyota were four cylinders. I guess it’s proof that you have to be your own expert.
Go to edmunds.com for the 5 year ownership costs that includes depreciation. The 2nd thinh to compare is using fueleconomy.gov look at overall not city/highway MPG. Fuel costs are going to be your largest expense beyond depreciation.