2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport SE AWC

I think this thing is exactly the perfect size, and it had my Ford Escape-driving neighbor jealous of its style. When she saw that it was fully loaded AND under thirty grand, she half considered looking for a Mitsubishi dealer to trade her car in. Which brings me to the sorest point of any great car to come from the tri-star brand: the abysmal dealership network. There are so few dealers, and my previous experience with ones in Greenwich, Connecticut, and White Plains, New York, were both terrible. It's really too bad, since for a hair under $29k you get a fun-to-drive, tidy, well-equipped CUV. I wish they would do away with the CVT, though. It drones under any amount of acceleration and makes the engine sound wheezy, loud, and coarse. The suspension seems a little too soft for the car's intended sporty demeanor, too. As Joe Lorio points out, the Juke is better known (although Mitsubishi did run some weird campaign involving driving this car via the Internet) and is even more funky. While I would take the Outlander Sport's interior over the Juke's -- especially for the giant, LED-trimmed glass roof -- the Nissan comes in at almost two grand cheaper and is a hoot to drive. For someone who wants a little flair in the compact CUV class but finds the Juke too out there, I think the Outlander Sport could be the way to go. Donny Nordlicht, Associate Web Editor