We did the whole research and test drive on smaller SUV's back in Dec/Jan. Many of them were still limited to 1500lbs. We basically looked at features, price and then test drove them all and ended up buying the one that had the most features and that we enjoyed driving, a Jeep Liberty. It has a 5,000lb towing capacity too which is a plus.
We laughed at the Mazda dealer. He didn't have a new Tribute for us to test drive, so he took us out in a well used 2003. It drove like an old farm truck! This is no way to sell someone a vehicle.
We went in to our own dealer and looked over the Jeep twice. I called looking for some more info and got no response. After another call I figured they didn't want to sell me the SUV, so I went elsewhere. I even told them I was ready to buy, to no avail...
Using a dealer is still a must in my opinion, especially when dealing with trade-in and negotiating price, and extras etc. Luckily we traded in our PT cruiser about 2 weeks before Chrysler announced a $5K decrease in the base price of new PT's!
Also go to one of the web sites that gives you the dealer invoice price. It can save you several thousand dollars when you know what the fair price is for the vehicle you choose.
The lesson I learned this time was to shop for a sales person first before checking out a vehicle at a dealership. We found that 85% of the sales people don't have a clue about what they are selling! They knew hardly a thing and usually didn't know the answer to basic questions. One Jeep sales person didn't even know that the Jeeps are rear wheel drive!
Good luck and enjoy your shopping!