We did the same side by side test drive, though not with the same duration, and ended up with the same conclusions.

Back when we bout our original SL2, it was a solid car. Economical, weak seats, to be certain, but great mileage.

The VUE makes the 96 SL2 look like a work of art, even at 10 years old. Noisy, cheap, and loaded with poor engineering.

The FEH on the other hand, wonderful car, ended up plunking down the money for one fully loaded, with the price still coming in at 28k, considerably lower than the comparably equipped VUE (the dealership actually wanted to argue with me as to whether it could come with a roof rack), and we get much better performance to boot.

The back is a little cramped, but more than enough room for my three daughters, and while I wouldn't recommend the vehicle for moving a household, it is fine for vacation, especially with the roof rack installed.

Anyway, yeah, what he said!