` Groovy SUV's

Groovy SUV's

Possible cars to rent for the Colorado trip in June 2006.

Click here to see a list of what is available at the Montrose Hertz in June -- this is just to give us an idea. In what's shown below, SUVs marked with *** are available at Hertz in Montrose. The others may be available at other dealers, who knows.

These cars below are all available in 4WD. No idea if any qualify as high clearance. It might be hard if not impossible (come to think of it) to rent Japanese cars. I seem to remember most car rental places only rent American models, but maybe that's changed.

These pictures all show the 2006 models, except as noted.

The three numbers given for each car refer to: number of passengers, number of large bags, number of small bags.

  1. ***2005 Subaru Outback 2.5i. 5 3 2. 22/28 mpg. 33.5 cubic feet in cargo area in back of wagon.

  2. Isuzu Ascender. 16/21 mpg. 43.7 cubic feet cargo space.

  3. Jeep Cherokee SRT8. 18/23 mpg. 70.8 cubic feet cargo space.

  4. Honda CR-V 4WD LX. 22/27 mpg. 33.5 cubic feet cargo space.

  5. 2006 Ford Explorer. 15/21 mpg. 45.1 cubic feet storage space.

  6. ***2005 Ford Escape Hybrid. 4 3 2. This beast supposedly gets 31/36 mpg (city/highway), or 500 miles between fill-ups. The cargo area is a smallish 29.3 cubic feet. They call it a "small SUV".

  7. ***GMC Envoy. 5 3 3. 15/21 mpg. 43.7 cubic feet in cargo area.

  8. ***Toyota 4Runner. 5 3 3. 15/21 mpg. 42.1 cubic feet in cargo area.

  9. ***Ford Expedition XLS 4X2. 8 3 2. 14/19 mpg. Cargo area is 60.9 cubic feet behind 2nd row of seats, and 20.7 cubic feet behind 3rd row of seats.

  10. ***BEHEMOTH - ***2005 Ford Excursion 4X4 6.8L. 8 2 2. 12 mpg city. Cargo area: 100.7 cubic feet behind 2nd row of seats, 48 cubic feet behind 3rd row. I have to believe this cargo area will hold 4 suitcases; the given numbers "2 2" must refer to the space available when you're using all 3 rows of seats. If the 3rd row is not used, then you have 100 cubic feet, which is by far the largest cargo area of anything shown on this page.
Marianne Mueller
Last modified: February 20, 2006