Wandl

My wife has a 14 Pilot Touring 4WD that she loves and I...dislike.

Anyway we are in the midst of considering a roomy 2nd row SUV, with the requirements:
- 4WD/AWD (family is in WV, fun winters and hilly terrain)
- leather
- plush comfortable ride
- middle row needs to be able to seat 3 kids (4yo in car seat, 9 yo and lanky tall 11 yo) with 2nd row legroom of high importance

I'd like something of high reliability, so we started today at a Highlander (maybe), Sequoia (way too big), Landcruiser (she loves, but $79 ugh), RAV4. We also tried the Rx350 (too small), GX (rides rough), LX (she loves but $92k ugh).

may explore the Acura MDX, maybe the new Mazda CX? Any other thoughts?

davyjordi

something from audi?

mmarshall

Might want to take a look at the Buick Envision or the larger Encore. The Envision is Chinese-built and is basically brand-new in this country, without a previous reliability record, so you'd be rolling the dice some, but Buicks, in general, rate pretty high in the reliability apartment. They also give you the same warranty-lengths that Cadillac, Lincoln, Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti do.

I recently sampled an Envision, and found no real problems with it except for a rather odd smell instead of the usual new-car smell inside.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

what about a new pilot?

mmarshall

He specifically stated, in the opening post, that he disliked the last Pilot they had, although you have a point that the redesign for 2016/2017 might (?) be a little more to his liking. Probably wouldn't hurt to look.

Sulu

If you found the RX 350 too small, you will find both the RAV4 and the NX to be too small. Both the RAV4 and the NX have a very narrow rear seat (much narrower than the RX) that you will likely find too small, especially if one of your children is still in a car seat and one is tall and wants to stretch out; your middle child will feel squeezed in.

mmarshall

Not only that, but I don't think he would like the NX's road-manners. I found it rather unrefined, especially by Lexus standards.

JDR76

Don't have much to offer other than to state that we absolutely love our Highlander. Ours has second row buckets but you can get a bench.

SW17LS

Where in WV is your family? I'm from Fayetteville.

What price point? If I were you I would take a hard look at a new Audi Q7. If thats too much money, I'd give the new CX-9 a good look. Infiniti QX60 is also a solid vehicle with a great seating setup, but I don't like the CVT powertrain.

I *really* liked the Q7, as in liked it enough to consider getting one to drive myself.

Toys4RJill

What about a Lexus LX or a range rover?

SW17LS

If he's willing to pay $100,000...

Wandl

Thanks for the suggestion all; budget indicatively is in the $50s. Found a few 2013 L Certified LX's that fit in this price range, have not tried the Q7 (while I'll research, what kind of reliability?). Really this would ideally be a vehicle that we'd keep up to 150k miles, which rules out a couple of vehicles (i.e. Range Rover...Doug Demuro!)
Wife tried the new Pilot and was "meh" so we're moving past that.
I considered a Buick Enclave but they don't age well...I can see 5-6 years down the road hating it (drove a CPO 2012 Enclave and a friend owns a 2010 Traverse LTZ, they rattled and rode horrible).
Rav4/RX/NT are all too small.

Aron9000

Jeep Grand Cherokee would be a great choice, although I really think you should look at something with 3 rows of seats. Your family is growing, if one of your kids wants to take his buddy along, you're out of seats in a 2 row SUV. Plus your middle child can go in the 3rd seat and not be constantly smooshed in the middle and bickering with your older kid.

I'm also going to throw it out there, minivan!!!!

SW17LS

CR's projected reliability for the Q7 is as high as the scale goes. Audi has really been doing well as far as reliability goes, I know quite a few people with late model examples and all are very satisfied.

Hard to beat an LX for reliability though. I actually vastly prefer the way the Q7 drives though.

Loved our Grand Cherokees, but 150k miles? I'd still be dubious,.

BrownPride

I'm surprised the RX is too small for y'all, seems like a pretty decent size to me. Was gonna recommend the Q5 but I guess not.

MDX is a pretty solid option. Maybe the new XC90 too? XC60 is an option but it's pretty dated.