Driving from Cabarete to Jarabacoa to Punta Cana area...?

We're going to be making this trip in late March over an 8 day period. We're going to rent a car. A couple questions:

Do we need to rent an SUV, or can we get by with a smaller car?

How long will these trips take?

Finally, we're not sure where we're going to stay in South East DR yet, we just know we're flying out of Punta Cana. Any suggestions for cheap, non-all-inclusive places to stay? (Looking to get away from the resorts!)

Thanks HB, that gives us a good idea of what to expect! Are maps generally pretty reliable outside of the main roads? (I don't mean that as a slight against DR, it's just that I've been to plenty of places where roads change often enough or maps are updated infrequently enough that they're not always so useful!)