Correction
In the Wheels July issue’s Gold Star Cars feature, we incorrectly awarded Mitsubishi’s Outlander VRX as the best-value compact SUV. The award should have gone to the Subaru Forester XS. A data entry mistake meant that the Subaru was not awarded the correct points for its 3year/unlimited kilometre warranty. With the full points awarded, the Forester leap frogs from third to first place in its class.

1st - Subaru Forester XS Premium
The compact SUV class saw X-Trail, RAV4, CR-V, CX-7 and Freelander 2 fall by the wayside in a field that was separated by a nine-point overall spread. Strong resale values typified the group with Freelander 2 the only exception – down in the 50s. Less than two points separated the podium sitters, with the Mitsu shining brightest on warranty. The Subaru is cheaper but has relatively short 12,500km service intervals, while the BMW offered the highest resale ranking. Both toppled the Outlander on annual fuel costs. The Forester’s strong resale and relatively low insurance costs are augmented by light fuel bills – less than the Outlander and the diesel BMW. The fact the Forester offers an outstanding driving experience just sweetens the deal. This is the cheapest way into a good SUV; buy without regret.

2nd - BMW X3 3.0D
The Beemer’s big price tag (almost twice Forester’s) is somewhat offset by great resale, provided you can keep up with the payments. Massive insurance proportional to price, but unbeatable on service intervals and strong on unlimited-kilometre/three-year warranty.




3rd - Mitsubishi Outlander VRX
Standard ESP and a five year/130,000km warranty helped Outlander make up some of the ground it lost by being thirstier than both the Subaru and BMW. Without the fitment of this potentially life-saving technology, the Outlander would have been a Gold Star back-marker.