I am looking at buying a compact SUV when I reside in Canada. Does anyone have any recommendations and more particularly which ones to avoid.
Reliability is a must. Thanx

I have a two year old Ford Escape. It replaced one we had for three years (90,000 metric clicks). Nothing has gone wrong with either of them. Of course, your experience may vary.

Honda CRV or Subaru Forester.

I believe the CRV to be the same mechanically as the Element I'm always having to push. That was astonishingly badly assembled and has had a long string of dengerous malfunctions. The way that the fuel line keeps coming detached spilling petrol into the road has rather put me off Hondas. I might look at a Subura; I don't mind squeaky brakes.

Nissan Xtrail, Toyota Rav4 (new model just out) or the new Suzuki Vitara would fit the bill as would a Subaru. Dont get a jeep liberty unless you like buying loadsa gas although it will outperform all of the above offroad if thats important to you.

AX

Depends if you want permanent 4x4, part time 4X4, low gear facility, worry about fuel consumption, etc.

Pontiac Vibe is a good all purpose small SUV/multi use thingy with (probably as yet unproven) AWD.
Plenty of people seem to drive those vans (such as Dodge Caravan - not an SUV but good family/kit carrier) with good winter tires on - seems as good an option if you don't want "hardcore" SUV. See thousands of them up and down to the ski hills so they certainly hack the winter weather here in BC.
Subaru's are proven 100% and better on gas consumption, the wagon (estate=station wagon here) versions double as a small SUV/multi purpose wagon I guess.
VW and Audi both make very nice plush AWD wagons as do Volvo but that's at the pricey end and IMHO overpriced and not as reliable as they used to be, certainly not in the Canadian climate extremes over here.
Going up the scale, Jeep Liberty is rock solid proven, gas consumption is high but build and reliability is 100% and fantastic 4X4 plus ability to go off road properly if you have mountains/trails. You can get the diesel CRD versions now.
Then there is a plethora of the other Asian SUV car-based vehicles as discussed above. Nissan Xterra is a big rattly beast, for example but can haul plenty of kit and peeps around. Mitsubishi Endeavour is a big bad beast but has only 2WD or permanent 4X4 as does the Outlander (smaller compact SUV) both have great warranty and a fantastic reputation over here. Kia Sorrento, Hyundai Tucson/Santa Fe are quite popular, the former is far less reliable, the latter much more so. All offer 2WD or perm 4X4 options.

Of the domestic remainders, Chevvies are generally considerered the badly fitting plaid pants of the SUV world (i.e the Tracker AKA Cacker). Saturn Vue is nice but depreciates badly and quickly. Buick make a couple of well-equipped beasts as do Pontiac (Torrent etc).

I would start your search using some of the review and driving reports avauilable online. This is most helpful:

http://driving.canada.com/

I guess it depends on price, what you want from 4X4 options, gas consumption and then what you think your lifestyle uses will be. Some people buy big nasty bad ass SUV's and then just rattle round town and mall parking lots in them while others will rack them up with kit, load up their picnics and mountain bikes and snowboards etc and haul ass off up the mountain trails with a backroads map and a GPS in whatever weather the gods throw at them regardless of gas consumption etc.

We chose the latter option here in the crazy wild west of BC - live the life eh ?

Rich.

I was going to say how happy we are with our Kia Sorento, but it seems it's officially a "mid size" so probably not what you're looking for... not sure I'd call it that but it's a great car, plenty of bang for your buck. Expensive for petrol by Canadian standards but an absolute dream after filling a Grand Cherokee in the UK

Review here - it looks far better with the beige leather interior than the grey

I don't think anyone actually does that in a late model SUV. I suppose we've now been over most of the 4x4 passes in Colorado; Engineer Pass, Black Bear, Ophir Pass, this lot : http://www.narrowgauge.org/4x4/html/4X4.html as well as many similar "roads" in Arizona. We see other vehicles, nearly all of them are swb Jeeps, Samarui's or old Toyota trucks. Few people can afford to dent a new SUV even if lease/loan agreement allows it and, besides, they mostly don't have the ground clearance and/or are too long for use on trails.

SUVs are, I think, just the current version of the station wagon, they're not intended for use in rural areas and, indeed, one never sees an SUV in Ontario outside of the cities. Besides the two Escapes and the Element I've had a Vitara and a Sidekick and have never used the four wheel drive in any of them. I think it's cute to have a station wagonish thing with big wheels but the all-wheel-drive isn't of any particular use, it's just fashion. There's never a day on which I'd choose the SUV over the Mustang because of weather; only because of dog dirtiness.

All that said, I'd get the cheapest one with leather seats and a good stereo.

Whatever. Just get the right tool for the job.

Rich.

We looked at RAV4's --too small inside
Nissan X Trails --liked these
Honda CRV -- OK

Ended up with a Mazda Tribute which I lurvvvvve. Drives nicely, light on the steering, not bad on gas compared to some, roomy inside for 2 ankle biters, buggy etc and doesn't look too girly either. It was nearly new and touch wood, no problems so far

I know two people who have rolled CRV's, neither person is a bad driver.

I'm not really a car person (hence we have a mini-van) but friends have a Toyota Highlander and speak highly of it.

My p-i-l also have a Highlander, five years no problems. They've been pleased with Toyota, their Land Cruiser burns oil but they've had it for eighteen years.

And the offical root cause analysis of each accident was?

One swerved to avoid a car entering from a junction, the other hit a patch of black ice.

Therefore both cars could have been operating beyond the design intent and the car rolling over was more a case of the incident than a design failure? Did you test other cars under similar situations to determine if they also would have rolled over?