Car Buyers' Guide: Choosing the best all-wheel-drive

Mazda CX-7. Photo / Supplied

The dilemma

Richard supplies specialist control gear to the rural sector. He's city-based, but increasingly has to visit sites that are often way down a dodgy back road or up a farmer's trail.

"Despite its ESP and so on, I'm not really happy with my Holden Sportwagon on some of these roads and tracks and, as its lease ends in a few months, I'm thinking seriously about all-wheel-drive [AWD]."

Well, that's easy, there's a wide choice of AWDs, from wee wagons to large SUVs. But wait ...

"Thing is, I'm not all that keen on SUVs. I prefer cars or wagons and I really like my Holdens.

"Holden used to offer the Adventra, which was basically a Commodore wagon with AWD, and I'm wondering what you think?

"Since I'll probably buy my next vehicle rather than lease it, a low-ish mileage used vehicle is quite appealing."

The budget:

About $30,000

The shortlist

Holden Adventra
Holden pitched the Adventra against Ford's Territory, but it didn't do too well and was discontinued in 2006 in favour of the Captiva.

It wasn't that the Holden was bad, as much as the Territory offered more than just a wagon with AWD.

Back in those days, Driven was hugely impressed by the Adventra's Hummer-derived AWD system. There ain't no track Richard won't be able to climb in an Adventra. It was built as a V8 from 2003 to 2005 on the VY II floorpan and then on the VZ platform with a V8 (dropped at the end of 2005) or V6.

Today, good Adventras with about 100,000km sell in the $19,000 to $24,000 range, the VZ-based models usually at the high end of the scale.

In real-life driving, the V6 doesn't use that much less fuel than the V8.

From $19,000

Mazda CX-7
Introduced in 2006, Mazda went out of its way not to make the CX-7 look like an SUV. It was one of the first true "crossovers" and combined reasonable space with good economy and excellent driving characteristics. Despite having only a 2.3-litre four cylinder engine, the CX-7 performs well, partly because of its six-speed tiptronic-type automatic. The similar-looking but larger and V6-powered CX-9 might better suit Richard's needs, but it's out of his price range.

From $33,000

Subaru Outback
Although Holden's AWD wagon was a marketing failure, Subaru's take on the same theme has been a big success since it appeared back in 1995.

We're looking at third-generation 2003 to 2009 models here, with either the 3-litre flat-six engine or the 2.5 flat-four.

Outbacks have a fine reputation and, of the two engines, Driven would probably go for the 3-litre, even though it uses more fuel.

The Outback is a confident performer on back roads and highways.

From $20,000

Driven recommends

Here's the maths:

Big + thirsty = Adventra.

Medium + fairly thirsty = Outback.

Lean + fairly thrifty x sporty = CX7.

So long as its carrying capacity meets his needs, Richard should go for the Mazda. It's lots of fun to drive, too.

However, if capacity is everything and Richard can't get into an "SUV mindset", an Adventra would be no bad thing - as long as he's first taken a hard look at the Outback.