Ive driven a lot of rental cars recently, and experienced some interesting new cars. As reference i drive a 1994 ford escort, so my change jumping to a modern car and what i look at is mostly down to driving feel and its assembly, quality of sorts. Modern cars with electronic throttle all have throttle delay, electric steering has dead zones, etc. The best cars imo are the ones that minimize those flaws inherent to modern cars.
And with that theres two that i really liked, and those are the Nissan Murano and Kia Soul.
The murano is just another nissan SUV, its shaped weird, but it drives amazingly well. It floats over stuff, it handles really well despite being an SUV, i guess i could say it handles well in the context of SUV's.
But the best part about it to me is that it has a CVT that doesnt fake shift. It works the way a CVT should, you dont feel it change gears because its never really changing gears. A lot of CVTs are programmed to feel like its shifting gears because the user finds that more realistic. But the way a CVT works you should never feel it, and the murano does that well. You get up to speed on the expressway and its this perfectly linear power curve. I liked that a lot.
The Kia Soul i drove recently i feel like has everything youd want for a practical and reliable car, because its still old tech and a small engine in there. It definitely fits into the category of being one of the last new cars you could reasonably work on yourself without any major hassle. Theres no weird nonsense going on in there, all the parts are off the shelf borg warner OEM things that are in every other car ever. Theres a bajillion of them out there so parts availability is huge. Its my immediate thought for people who want a car that wont have the downfalls later of some irreplaceable part or computer issue hell.
It has its downsides, its not the best driving experience. Its tall with a narrow and short wheelbase, you cant whip it around comfortably. It gets blown around in crosswinds. It has a substantial, not a dead zone but a keyed zone in its steering. It wants to rest in a center, and that center is kinda big, so your real finite steering adjustment is just not there at all. Throttle response is very poor, its like driving with input lag.
It also doesnt have an Aux port which i do not understand because even the base model has a great speaker system, but whatever.
Im speaking as an American, im not certain if the Murano is even across the pond but really id translate those benefits to probably most modern nissans. Weird that a nissan CVT is now what i think of as a positive attribute to the car...
If i had to buy a new car today, id buy a Kia soul, knowing that it will be a good long term choice in terms of maintenance and repairs.
