Father-in-law in search of new SUV

[Bogeyman]

My father-in-law is in the market for a new vehicle to replace his aging Adventure. He was initially eyeing the new X-Trail, but decided against it since it does not have diesel and M/T. My wife suggests the Tucson, but it only seats 5 and the base CRDi variant is only available in A/T. So what else is out there? We're looking for other choices based on the following non-negotiables:

Budget: 1.3M - 1.4M

Mandatories: Diesel, M/T, can seat 7, third-row seatbelts (not lapbelts)

The most probable choice at the moment is the Montero Sport 4X2 M/T because of the looks and the ride quality, but he's somewhat concerned that the bigger tires might affect fuel consumption. Plus, my in-laws aren't too keen on vans (since they don't want to be 'conscripted' into ferrying relatives at events), and no Fortuners either, since an uncle already owns one.

[Titleist983k]

My father-in-law is in the market for a new vehicle to replace his aging Adventure. He was initially eyeing the new X-Trail, but decided against it since it does not have diesel and M/T. My wife suggests the Tucson, but it only seats 5 and the base CRDi variant is only available in A/T. So what else is out there? We're looking for other choices based on the following non-negotiables:

Budget: 1.3M - 1.4M

Mandatories: Diesel, M/T, can seat 7, third-row seatbelts (not lapbelts)

The most probable choice at the moment is the Montero Sport 4X2 M/T because of the looks and the ride quality, but he's somewhat concerned that the bigger tires might affect fuel consumption. Plus, my in-laws aren't too keen on vans (since they don't want to be 'conscripted' into ferrying relatives at events), and no Fortuners either, since an uncle already owns one.

You pretty much ruled out everything you can buy locally.

[Titleist983k]

My father-in-law is in the market for a new vehicle to replace his aging Adventure. He was initially eyeing the new X-Trail, but decided against it since it does not have diesel and M/T. My wife suggests the Tucson, but it only seats 5 and the base CRDi variant is only available in A/T. So what else is out there? We're looking for other choices based on the following non-negotiables:

Budget: 1.3M - 1.4M

Mandatories: Diesel, M/T, can seat 7, third-row seatbelts (not lapbelts)

The most probable choice at the moment is the Montero Sport 4X2 M/T because of the looks and the ride quality, but he's somewhat concerned that the bigger tires might affect fuel consumption. Plus, my in-laws aren't too keen on vans (since they don't want to be 'conscripted' into ferrying relatives at events), and no Fortuners either, since an uncle already owns one.

You pretty much ruled out everything you can buy locally.

You eliminate the following by requiring gasoline engine and/or 3rd row seats;

CR-V
X-Trail
Tucson
Sportage
CX-7
Forester
and the like.....

You eliminate the medium sized suv's simply by not wanting big tires unless you will change them to smaller ones which I do not recommend both on aesthetics and performance. Fortuner, Montero, Alterra, Sta Fe etc.

An Innova is a logical choice, smaller tires, 3 rows.... but your father in law wants an SUV.

What you are looking is simply not in the market

[OTEP]

Bigger tires don't affect fuel consumption that much. Its the bigger car itself that does. The gearing is always optimized to the tires installed. Hence the need to regear a vehicle when you do any significant tire upsizing as a some 4wd enthusiasts do.

[Titleist983k]

CORRECTED: Did not have a chance to edit my post last night due to forum maintenance.

You pretty much ruled out everything you can buy locally.

You eliminate the following by requiring a diesel engine and/or 3rd row seats;

CR-V
X-Trail
Tucson
Sportage
CX-7
Forester
and the like.....

You eliminate the medium sized suv's simply by not wanting big tires unless you will change them to smaller ones which I do not recommend both on aesthetics and performance. Fortuner, Montero, Alterra, Sta Fe etc.

An Innova is a logical choice, smaller tires, 3 rows.... but your father in law wants an SUV.

What you are looking for is simply not in the market

[Titleist983k]

Bigger tires don't affect fuel consumption that much. Its the bigger car itself that does. The gearing is always optimized to the tires installed. Hence the need to regear a vehicle when you do any significant tire upsizing as a some 4wd enthusiasts do.

Agree. Replaced the 205's in my Navara with 265's. If there is a difference in fuel consumption I hardly notice it at all.

[OTEP]

And if having to change a flat tire is another concern against 'large' tires, just buy a portable air compressor so you can at least drive to the nearest repair facility or at least some place safer.

I also went from 31" tires to 33" (that's height) and increased width by 2 inches. Fuel economy is just as bad

[GTi]

diesel M/T that can seat 7 for 1.4M and you don't want the Montero and Fortuner? I suppose you're left with the Isuzu Alterra then. A robust and reliable truck it is. Performance and fuel economy is surprisingly good as well.

And then again, if you are OK with grey market imports, you can always consider getting a grey market base model Santa Fe with the 6 speed manual transmission and 2.2ReVGT engine. Now that is a blast!

[SiRbossR]

^i was also about to say the Santa Fe from the Grey Market but i don't think the Father-in-law would like the idea of getting an import.

[Bogeyman]

Much obliged by the responses. Just to be clear, the Montero is actually the leading contender among his choices since he likes the looks and the ride quality, plus there's the brand loyalty from being a current Mitsubishi owner.

Titleist983k: I thought as much, so it'll most likely be the Montero. The Innova is out of the question since it somewhat defeats the purpose of upgrading from an MPV.

Doc OTEP: We suggested that father-in-law take an MS for a test drive, to see if the added rolling resistance of larger tires would be offset by the torque of common-rail diesel; that was the only concern he had on the MS. Mine was the lower headroom, higher floor height and weird handbrake placement. But hey, I'm not the one paying for the thing, much less using it as a daily driver. Yes, he does have a portable air compressor on his Adventure, so flats aren't much of an issue.

GTi: I don't know, but Isuzus have been a no-no ever since we've, well, started to own cars. Chalk it up to those noisy, vibrating Crosswind units we used to ride as part of our daily commute. Of course, one can argue that they didn't have common-rail powerplants. And to be perfectly honest, the Alterra's design doesn't exactly sing to the family's tastes. Personally, I think there are only two vehicles locally that are able to meet my technical requirements, and one of them is the Crosswind (as long as it's not the Sportivo variant), but I digress. The wife has her heart set on the Tucson (a radical switch from the ASX a year ago), so the ReVGT mated with the 6-speed stick is certainly an attractive proposition -- however, again, it's not our money on the line.

SiRbossR: Exactly. My in-laws want vehicle maintenance to be as easy as bringing it to the casa, at least for the duration of the warranty period; that's one less headache for them. Plus, I don't think the budget could be stretched any further if we were to look at the pricier grey market imports.

Funny, but the Everest didn't seem to come up in this discussion. It's in the same price range as the MS, both have common-rail diesel, and for a difference of 40k, we get LSD on the Everest 4x2 variant, as opposed to the open differential on the '12 4x2 GLX-V MS (tama ba?). I'm not sure how relevant LSD would be to my father-in-law since he very rarely gets off the pavement, though. And the longer bonnet looks a little scary from a safety standpoint. Still, a test drive is in order.

Heck, if my mother-in-law had her way, she would rather spend the money on a new house instead of a new car.