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EVEN IF YOU don’t know much about the SUV market, you’ll no doubt have heard of household names like the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai.
But there is a broader choice out there than those heavily-marketed models, and if you’re on a tight budget, you should be ready to expand your search.
This week we take a look at some of the less well-known crossovers and SUVs on sale – from the brands you might not expect.
The French brand may be better known for its small hatchback and larger people carriers, but its 2008 crossover strikes the right balance between drivability and functionality. It’s not too bad looking either.
While Peugeot doesn’t offer all-wheel drive in this model, it is possible to get one with Grip Control. It is a smart traction control system that provides better levels of grip in more challenging conditions like mud, sand and snow.
Compared to many rivals, the equipment levels on Peugeot’s 2008 is often higher than a similarly priced competitor, which does add to its appeal.
You either love Citroens or you hate them. Yes, the Citroen C4 Cactus may be as close to automotive Marmite as you can get, but this is a car that comes with a few surprises.
First up, it’s relatively affordable. When this model was new, a fully-loaded one cost less than an entry-level Qashqai. It’s a light car too, so opting for the 1.2-litre petrol engine means you’ll still get pretty decent fuel economy.
The MINI Countryman isn’t so mini, but for some, the badge alone is enough to make it a desirable car. When new these cost quite a bit considering their size and performance, but now the used market has seen prices come down.
Find the right one with a high spec, and you can nab something of a bargain. The Countryman doesn’t have quite the same crisp handling as the smaller MINI Hatch, but it does feel substantial enough on the move, a feature that will appeal to some. Do be prepared for some thirsty engines though.
The Suzuki Jimny is one of the smallest SUVs you can buy on the used market, but that doesn’t stop it being a cracking little car. It won’t win many drag races but its venerable 1.3-litre petrol engine shouldn’t give much bother as you rack up the mileage.
As an off-road machine, the plucky Jimny has the ability to embarrass many larger and seemingly capable SUVs. It’s not a car for those with larger families but if you’re after something with bucketloads of character, the Jimny is worth a look.
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I get so annoyed when we mark such anniversaries like the holocaust etc, such hypocrites we are when this is going on in front of our eyes, oh but it’s okay because in 100 yrs time we’ll look back, mark the terrible occasion & wag our fingers !
This is the carnage, this is what Aleppo looks like now, a city which had a population half of Ireland’s with over 2 million people living it, imagine if this was Dublin, Cork or Belfast? Utter destruction akin to what Dresden experienced in WW2, and we have people getting their jolly’s talking shite about these people here every day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9CSqWQBpOo
You’ll always have lunatics in any debate. Thankfully sound minded people can look at the rubble of aleppo and the far right claim that these people are opportunists looking to scam social welfare rather than fleeing for their lives and come to the obvious conclusion.
they howl with rage if someone injures an irish child, but are perfectly happy to let 100,000s of syrian kids suffer unimaginably
Jester and tariq .. please google these names for me , then tell me what you think without name calling , “effram etaim and afek oil . Look these up , read about them .
Sorry Effie etaim
In the wikepidia section on afek oil , it explains how in 2013 afek discover enough reserves in Syria to make Israel self sufficient , along comes Obama to overthrow Assad . Effie etaim who describes Muslim’s as a cancer is head of this drilling , he purposely created a refugee crisis and Isis as a smoke screen
If the UN or NATO or the EU built camps in Syria, then this wouldn’t happen. Bringing them to Europe simply isn’t working.
@Chris Perron………….That is the best solution of any.Although it should be said that Tent City in Saudi Arabia already has air-conditioned faciltiies for 3,ooo,ooo people and SA should be forced somhow to open these to Syrians.
Tha Islamo-fascist on site here are delighted that they can try to shame us Europeans for not doing enough. but if all things were equal between a choice of Europe or Saudi Arabia the Islamo-facists would still push for entry into Europe because they desire the conquest of Europe for Islam. What;s the best thing for Islam is first and always their guiding princple and not the welfare of refugees per se.
The Journal really needs to give Patrick the Rabbi his own column, it could be called The Daily Delusion – A Paradox in Nine Halves.
Assad has consistently denied such access. Suggest something new.
no need to add “per se” to the end of that sentence, it didn’t add anything
If you build refugee camps in Syria, Daesh will continue to do what they have been doing and pick these people off as to be used as human shields
“Experts with the Syrian Observatory for Human rights”?…its one reclusive geezer with an internet connection and Youtube in an attic in Coventry who parrotts what the Wahabbi gangs tell him to!!!
That’s the part that jumps out at you from this story? Not the human suffering?
@petr In normal times outside of recessions people would be shocked, but Europe is fractured some countries are in recession and in these countries people struggle with daily survival.
You raise a very interesting point, ” complanacy has crept into the Syrian hardship and horrendous cruelty , so picture of thirsty people no longer shock the world. Why because it just Syria and a battle against desh in Aleppo is taking place. It wrong very wrong because dictators decided this and people suffer.
Just imagine if Syria had an earthquake the whole world would run in with supplies to feed the people of Syria. I bet the terrorist and dictators in Syria are not thirsty.
@petr That thing and his friends will use any opportunity to pour venom and poison. To do so, they shall not have any empathy or compassion.
It is always the innocent who suffer most.
There will always be those who lack compassion, empathy and understanding. Indeed, there are some who actually delight in the misery of others.
True.
Right you are Michael. I often thing the racist rabble here get a kind of sick satisfaction from human suffering and misery.
“Thing”…”venom”….”poison”…
This is rich Petr coming from an Islamic apologist like yourself the danger in Europe now is not coming from jackboots but from beards and veils and medieval Islamofacism , Europe defeated extremism before it will do the same with this latest plague
“This is rich Petr coming from an Islamic apologist like yourself”
I’m a secular atheist. I carry water for no religion and no institution. But I will never stand by while entire group of people, religious or otherwise, are being demonised and degraded.
The Christian Brothers at St. Mary’s, Rathmines wouldn’t be very impressed with your un-Christian views Mike, oops, I mean Eamon!
Never been there Liam but I have been to Gorey
You constantly defend Islamism
You constantly miss the point Eamon / Mike. I will continue to enjoy watching your sadness envelop you.
“Europe defeated extremism”
I guess 40000 neo-nazis marching every year in Dresden don’t count. Neither do Front National and other extreme-right parties.
I also guess that using extreme-right parties rethoric like “islamofascism” doesn’t count either. Neither does the paranoid idea that refugees plot against Europe …
Other things that don’t count:
Referring to refugees fleeing war torn Syira as a “plague”
Not at all Petr medieval Islam is the plague
As you well know those people are marching against backward Islam but that won’t suit you seeing as you are a slave to the prophet
This is a disaster of biblical proportions.
Hundreds of comments on what be called frivolous articles, but only about a dozen on this article. Shows what you’re dealing with, apathy.
Sadly true John flood sad reflection on us.
Chill out John, the article has only been up 35 minutes
@john this is a story about civilians suffering. Some here simply don’t want to acknowledge that innocent civilians exist anywhere so with no head hackers to point at its hard for them to put their prejudice away
So long as they don’t seek refuge in Europe it’s ok
Isn’t that right Oracle/Rowe
You’re right. Lets move the entirety of Syria and Northern Africa to Europe. Problem solved, eh?
If only there was a force in the World that could be used to get water and aid to these people. Hmmm…
Suppose the UN is out of the question?
That’s right I’m afraid. I’ve been around the block but I’ve actually never seen the kind of acute cruelty and lack of any human decency or feeling that many contributors here exhibit. Mercifully, I think it’s a very marginal position in society, a rag bag of knobby discontents on the Internet. If I’m wrong, Nazism is rearing its ugly head once again in Europe.
@ Brent
The same UN which saved the people of Srebrenica?
What these people need is humanitarian aid AND refuge. NOT closed borders and ripping up of geneva conventions
Fox, Yeah that’s right, it’s gone swimmingly for the Germans, French and Belgians over the last two years wouldn’t you agree??? How about the Saudis chip in eh?
I totally agree with you, Petr.
“Nazism is rearing its ugly head once again in Europe.” As far as I am concerned, the horrors committed by the Nazis happened only yesterday. Still you will find people to diminish the horror that happened, or deny it, and copy it nowadays.
Why would the Saudi’s chip in Rowe, it’s well established that they are a rogue state like Israel or North Korea who have no interest in humanity on any kind of scale, global or otherwise. Europe is different, Europe is the birthplace of many bad things, but has also been the most forward-thinking continent since the end of the Middle-Ages, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment. Europe (not the EU or any political organisation) is the torch bearer of humanity, it is frail, weak and dysfunctional, but it is not one to shirk a challenge or reach out a helping hand during a humanitarian crisis.
Yea very true Jews are leaving France in large numbers
Not possible for a Jew in Hasidic dress to walk though a Muslim area without being attacked
Synagogues have to be guarded by the police against attack
Europe should not have to bear all the burden of massive refugee numbers just because we are relatively forward thinking.
Being a backwards s**thole does not excuse the Gulf states and others from their disgraceful lack of action to aid their muslim brethren.
@rowetten As if you cared! You are always against the presence of a refugee in Europe. Hypocrit.
No, it doesn’t Malachi, but while you’re standing on your soap box waiting for Gulf states to reform people like you and I are being turned to dust.
Right so Tariq, you accept that it isn’t the fault of overburdened Europe that refugees are dying, but the fault of the Gulf states who have plenty of space and resources yet do nothing?
Glad we got that straight.
Hypocrit…..
I never said it was Europe’s fault. Although European leaders have been central to the instability in the Middle-East over the past two decades.
@Peter Fletcher I see you put a lot of efforts in typing the words you manage to read.
You know you can type them on your head… Thus I won’t have to waste another second on your stupidity. And I won’t thank you in advance.
Prouesse, what a laughable comment.
Do you disagree than Saudi Arabia, for example is a s**thole? Where they execute gays, apostates, blasphemers, sorcerers, etc. in public?
Am I over-generalising? Hahahah. Jesus. Cop on please.
Liam the reformation never knew you were Protestant
How about they spend their billions on helping their fellow Muslims, instead of spending billions exporting their poisonous Wahhabi doctrine and arming various Jihadist groups across the globe??
@malakyste Again, the fact you don’t even see what’s wrong with your comment which you take so seriously, speaks volumes.
Unlike you, I don’t a country as homogeneous block. Indeed it’s full of individuals. An individual is very different from the political power in place.
And that’s what you forgot. You are so blind that you don’t even see that a political regime is actually oppressing members of the people. And the people is, I believe, one of the main components of a country.
By the time you get that, Saudi Arabia will be a democracy.
Prouesse, when I call a country a s**thole, what gives you the impression that I was talking about the people living there?
I say it’s a s**thole because living there would be hell. You’re reading to much into it and attempting to shove words in my mouth.
Au contraire Malachi, Prouesse is correct, and you are back-tracking quicker than a Michael Jackson moonwalk on fast-forward.
He’s correct that Saudi Arabia isn’t a s**thole?
Amazing.
Firstwhoaaa….this is a story about conflict. Specifically one city in Syria. It’s not about the whole mean region and is not about African asylum seekers.
The s**thole I can see here, is in your head…
@Team Tariq……….As I read you Tariq you have wriiten off Gulf States, if indeed you ever seriously considered them, because you support Islamic Hijrah-the sacred migration of Muslims to conquer a new land for Islam.
Men control and murder, its a sick wicked world mean while the military industry makes a killing literally, there’s money in blood.
“far right”
What exactly is “far right” about being skeptical about a couple of million people, many of them not Syrian at all coming to our continent? Especially when there is a terror threat.
But mostly Muslim….Sunni at that…..because the west destroyed their countries…Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, China, Eritrea, Somalia, Morocco, Egypt, Iran etc etc…
Id love to see a truce lasting weeks in Aleppo but i dont believe the coalitions of gangs Fatah Halab and Army of Conquest will stop fighting for minutes never mind weeks….its not like they care about the civilians.
There are very few forces in this conflict that care about civilians, Peter.
Over-simplifying the conflict to apples and oranges doesn’t benefit anybody Peter.
Meanwhile we watch the Olympics.
Just like we did 4years ago given the whole thing started in 2011
Nick, what’s wrong with watching the Olympics?
The victims are human beings, human beings just like us.
Differences of religion and politics are insignificant compared to our shared humanity.
This is a real humanitarian crisis but it is not a natural disaster. It is a disaster caused by human beings and needs a human and humane solution.
How is Rowe even allowed spout his vitriol here without censorship? His avatar has “pork eating crusader” for gods sake.
Shame on you Journal
Fox, Seriously, Does pork offend you? Or historically, the Crusades maybe?
What has he done that warrants censorship?
Thankfully nobody uses our silly blasphemy laws. Are you asking the journal to be religious police?
Fox, Arsenal, pffft, shame on you.
Rowe’s profile picture and comments, whilst childish and crawling from a cave of hate, do serve as a reminder of what we should be determined to not see Europe repeat from her past.
“pork eating crusaders”….they were the elite….mostly French i believe.
Liam /Tariq Yes, and as your account states, you really are the ‘Official European Integration Expert’.. Only in reality it’s just you and a sticky Koran somewhere in Wexford ffs.
Peter, Very true, and not for them and the likes of Sobeiski, Europe would be a Sharia hell hole at present.
@rowetten and peter fletcher Cruisaders enjoyed eating adult human beings and children according to Raoul de Caen.
Team Tariq is right. It does fit with you very well.
@Peter Fechter……The southern French who had long experience of the savagery of Muslim conquerers in nearby Spain over the years were the most suited to join the ranks of those heading to the Holy Land to fight the Mohammedan bandits attacking Christian Pilgrims out there.
Rowe – “Does pork offend you? Or historically, the Crusades maybe?”
What offends me is that we have someone commenting on an article about the plight of some 2 million innocents, whose sole intention is to stoke up feelings of xenophobia towards these very people
Your avatar and comments are nothing but antagonistic to most people of the Muslim faith
If my avatar offends Muslims, sorry, it’s not my problem. I did not create it to appease them, I’m sure they have better things to be worrying about such as condemning the next Islamic terrorist attack.
People just like you and me, pawns in wars for resources started by people that live in our countries, for that is certain and the media that they own have done their best to demonise these people, because they are supposedly all Muslims. I don’t think any of these people give two f***s about religion and God, just survival.
Removing or trying to remove dictators in the Middle East is a bad idea
Assad determined not to go the way of Sadamn and Ghadafi
If you put Mother Teresa in charge of one these countries that are divided up by tribes and such, she would soon turn into a thug in order to keep control.
Yes clearly no one in the region “gives a **** about religion”. Totally.
Derek — Remind me, who drew the borders?
Central bankers of course, Petr but if you are looking for a nation to blame then Britain.
Malachi, if you think that most of the foreign mercenaries that make up ISIS and such are religious then think again. They doing it because they getting paid and they have free reign to do what they want. Some are Islamic terrorists, most wouldn’t know where Mecca was.
If you are seriously under the impression that religion is not a huge factor in sectarian violence, including re: ISIS, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
The Middle East has been irreversibly warped and malformed due to religious nutjobs who believe they are doing Allah’s work.
Guess we better let them all come to europe so
have your say