 Shopped for a variety of vehicles that could be an answer to a variety of situations. The RAV4 checks all the boxes.  Oil consumption issues deleted the Subaru Forester from my list; the Crosstrek was a strong contender but the lack of room deleted it from my list as well. Vibration issues with the new Honda CR-V crossed itself off my list.  The Subaru Outback had a strong lead, but something in my gut said no.  The RAV4 meets most of my criteria. It's a sharp vehicle and Toyota has done its homework in tweaking aerodynamic features to maximize efficiency (vortex generators, anyone?).  I came out of a Nissan XTerra, which I loved but was killing me on ergonomics, and was a poor carpooling choice.  The RAV4 has a huge rear seat, room to drop the seats and sleep in this vehicle, good cargo carrying capacity, an AWD button that turns all four wheels up to 25mph on demand, a traditional 6spd transmission, great fuel economy (averaging 27mpg mixed, but I did replace the standard air filter with a K&N filter), revised IIHS crash test scoring, expected resale value, and (let's hope) Toyota reliability made me land on the RAV4.  The Limited is a rough rider, but 18" wheels and a taut suspension are the reason.  The sport button adds life to this machine, and the eco button drains any pep - nice to know those features are there, though.  The navigation screen is dismal (best in class for navigation goes to Ford and its SYNC system - miss my C-Max, too!) Stop griping about the lack of a place to store your sunglasses - if that's all you have to complain about, life is pretty good.