More bang for the buck, until you need to show up at the dealership for repairs.

I suppose a Chevy Equinox wouldn't be too bad. I had one of those (2007) as a rental and like all GM products, had some good and some glaringly bad stuff. The powertrain was adaquate enough (great 5-speed auto) and there was lots of room to haul stuff around. It was fairly well equipped, and since they depreciate moderately you can get an '07 for around $20k-ish. The bad stuff was basically my base model had terrible electric power steering, and I was spoiled by the quick-reacting xDrive in our X3. As a result, I thought their part-time AWD kicked in too late and the suspension was too soft.