Truly the Outlander is better for escorting you and four of your friends to the club to find a partner, who becomes a spouse, who bares you 3 children to occupy that back seat - or vice versa. OK, sorry to kill your party so quickly and by the way, maybe it's not the best idea to find your significant other in a nightclub, but we'll leave that one to Dr. Laura.

Where were we? Oh, yes. Lots of room for passengers is equaled by substantial carpeted cargo area with 1,708 L (60.3 cu ft) of space available when the easy-to-fold 60/40 split rear seats are flat - 691 L (24.4 cu ft) when the rear seatbacks are in the upright position. The rear liftgate is hydraulically-assisted for ease of access and acts as a shelter from the storm while loading. A bin under the cargo floor holds the spare tire with space enough for small valuables like cameras, a purse or what-have-you. A tonneau-cover comes standard for hiding larger valuables.

So what does it cost? Its base price comes in a bit higher than I initially expected at $26,757, but you have to factor in a lot of standard features optional on its competitors. For instance, as I mentioned previously the Outlander is available with an automatic transmission only. If you add the autobox together with the B-package that includes standard air-conditioning and cruise control to the RAV4, the price jumps from the base $24,485 to $28,770, more than $2000 over the Outlander and the Toyota still doesn't include the trick sequential shifting automatic feature. How about Honda? It starts $143 higher to begin with, and comes with a standard 5-speed transmission. Add $1,000 extra for its 4-speed automatic and, well you get the picture. Even the value priced Hyundai Santa Fe with AWD, A/C and cruise and an automatic transmission, also with a manual mode, comes in at $26,795, $28 more than the Mitsubishi. To be fair the Hyundai also includes a 181-hp V6. Of course more carmakers produce compact SUVs than just Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Mitsubishi. Actually, there are few manufacturers who don't. Keep in mind when shopping to compare feature for feature, as the majority of competitors SUVs come standard with manual transmissions and 2WD.