Bought a 2wd auto 2001 Rav4 2+ years ago when our son was on the way. Very reliable, fits a decent load of people/luggage, but terrible fuel economy. I get about 11/17 L/100km highway/city, though I do run my AC at 3°C like a Bangkok taxi.

Does the CR-V have better fuel economy? That sounds pretty bad, but I guess one is rarely doing over 40kmh here, so city driving becomes more like "parking lot driving" speed-wise, which might explain the poor economy. I'm quite tall and I felt very comfortable when I sat in the driver's seat of my friend's Scion. I've definitely noticed a trend in smaller cars recently. I think everyone and their dog now wants their own car, but they've slowly come to the realization that cars are
A-expensive on maintenance
B-expensive maintenance-wise
C-expensive to buy
D-slow everywhere

A lot of the middle class have thus reverted to smaller cars and the importers have adapted accordingly by getting way more compact cars than used to be available. If it's really just for city driving and the occasional trip to the province, I'd go as small as possible. The OP is retired, so he can go to the coffee shop or shopping during off-peak hours, and already considers a Prius a bit too big. I'm not a big car guy, but I've also seen compact Chevrolets around, but they look way newer and $$. Not sure of the model name.

my honda civic gets 11 city, 14 kms /lt on the road, so an rav 4 at 6 city/9 highway

I think Cambodia is fucked having right hand dive when, if they were left hand drive, they could get tons of cars via thailand ( rather than the states) an the cost would be cheaper.
a 2001 rav 4 here is around $6-7,000, in Cambodia $10-12, states $4-5,000

Seems Cambodia is OLD camry's, crv's, rav4's for the mid, lower class and than all the fucking outrageous priced suv for those rich.

While in Thailand its the trusty pick up truck for the poor. New less than $25,000 and i'd bet 50% or more are brought on time
and Honda, Toyota cars for the mid class, ( $25-45,000 new) and the mid priced suv's,( honda, subaru, mazda etc) for around $45,-55,000

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote: ↑Tue Dec 24, 2019 10:18 am Does the CR-V have better fuel economy? That sounds pretty bad,

~11L/100km is the rated fuel economy for a 2001 Rav4, CRV around 12L/100. The 2020 AWD Rav4 gets around 4.8L/100km.

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Tue Dec 24, 2019 2:47 pm While in Thailand its the trusty pick up truck for the poor. New less than $25,000 and i'd bet 50% or more are brought on time
and Honda, Toyota cars for the mid class, ( $25-45,000 new) and the mid priced suv's,( honda, subaru, mazda etc) for around $45,-55,000

Prices are getting better here. A bottom rung 2020 Mazda BT50 is $29K. More of the low utes that Thailand has would be nice though, most of the utes here are monster trucks.

small car + kerb= oops
small car + pothole = oops
small + 4x4 tbone = oops
mini cars are ok in cities with decent roads. In PP you are surrounded by big 4x4, you cant see shit and will be almost driving blind and the silly litlle wheels get stuck in potholes and cannot mount kerbs easily. If you want safety get a small 4x4 like the Rav4. at least you are high enough to see whats happenuing and have enough ground clearance for the potholes