2009 Ford Edge Sport vs. 2009 Nissan Murano SL vs. 2009 Toyota Venza V-6 - Venza Four-Cylinder and Unsprung Weight - Comparison

MINUS TWO
Four-cylinder Venza represents less dough and go but more MPG

At $26,695 to start, the four-cylinder, front-drive Venza costs $1825 less than its V-6 sibling. Yet, in this case, fewer greenbacks means more miles per gallon -- 21/29 versus 19/26. But it's slow, right? Well, slower, but by no means a slug. With an all-new 2.7-liter engine producing 182 horses and 182 pound-feet, our all-wheel-drive tester, which dented the dirt with a rather hefty 3942 pounds (31 more than the FWD V-6), needed 9.1 ticks to hit 60 and 16.9 at 82.2 mph to nab the quarter. That's well behind the speed freak V-6, but well ahead of a Honda CR-V or a Subaru Forester 2.5X. Plus, in front-drive guise, the four-cylinder Venza would weigh in closer to 3700 pounds, probably dropping a couple tenths from those times. For routine, everyday motoring, the 2.7 is perfectly adequate and, given its friendlier cost of entry and subsequent fuel savings, is arguably the wiser purchase compared with the 3.5.

THE DETAILS
Base price: $26,695-$28,145
Powertrain: 2.7L/182-hp/182-lb-ft DOHC I-4/6-sp auto
Vital stats:
0-60: 9.1 sec/quarter: 16.9 sec (AWD)
EPA: 20-21/28-29 mpg

UNSPRUNG HEROES
Sure, Dubs look cool...but weight

Unsprung weight, or parts of the car the suspension is not supporting -- e.g., wheels and tires -- is the enemy of high performance. The heavier the wheel/tire combination, the less responsive it is to steering inputs and the less adept it is at absorbing bumps. If you've ever wondered why elite sports cars, sport sedans, and race cars feature the lightest wheels possible, this is the reason. But just because crossovers aren't intended to spend all day hot-lapping at the racetrack doesn't mean they should be burdened with huge and heavy rolling stock, even if it makes them look cooler than a penguin wearing Oakleys. As luck would have it, our three crossovers came with big and even bigger wheels -- 18-, 20-, and 22-inch-diameters -- allowing us to examine the weight penalty as size increases.