Oriphix: The CX-5 I would love to buy but yes its out of my budget sadly. I went on a test drive on the 2016 RAV4 and the CX-5 and it was amazing. Though the CX-5 has the eco mode where the engine cuts out on the red light....that will take some getting used to I would say.

Nah, I think it doesn't take long to get used to the iStop feature; as mentioned above, it's only frustrating when you want to go as soon as it's engaged, but the answer is to not put your foot down full on the brake.

Having done 35,000 km my car reports I've had iStop engaged for over 46 hours. That's a lot of fuel otherwise wasted! I imagine it'll be more substantial if you're stuck in gridlocked traffic (eg Akld).

jonathan18:

Oriphix: The CX-5 I would love to buy but yes its out of my budget sadly. I went on a test drive on the 2016 RAV4 and the CX-5 and it was amazing. Though the CX-5 has the eco mode where the engine cuts out on the red light....that will take some getting used to I would say.

Nah, I think it doesn't take long to get used to the iStop feature; as mentioned above, it's only frustrating when you want to go as soon as it's engaged, but the answer is to not put your foot down full on the brake.

Having done 35,000 km my car reports I've had iStop engaged for over 46 hours. That's a lot of fuel otherwise wasted! I imagine it'll be more substantial if you're stuck in gridlocked traffic (eg Akld).

I recently bought a 2007 Mitsi Outlander 2.4 CVT for ~16k.  I seem to get between 10-11 L/100k on a 80/20 motorway/urban split. We knew it wouldn't be the most fuel efficient car, but we preferred the comfort and cargo space.  

If you do end up looking at the PHEVs, just be aware that they are only rated to around 750kg (from memory) towing capacity.