New "Mom-mobile" needed: opinions needed

Pribilof

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Slight twist on a popular thread on the forum these days.

Wife needs a new vehicle to replace our 2016 Explorer Sport. We love the setup (dual captains chairs in 2nd row, 3rd row seating, tons of room for stuff, good technology, AWD, plenty of power, etc.) but it's just not built well. Looking for something we don't need to go to the dealer to have something fixed once a month. Without going into more details, this car was a huge disappointment.

Requirements:
MUST have 4WD / AWD
Must be able to fit two rear-facing car seats in the back without having to smush the driver's or passenger seats to make room.
Power must be adequate for driving / passing on I-70 in the mountains.
Reliable / well built.
Big enough for 2 kids, dog, stroller, etc. but not too big to drive in the city. Yes, we live IN the city.

Budget:
$65k or so (new or recent model year used)

Have eliminated:
new Toyota 4Runner (car seats will not fit)
smaller crossovers from any brand (not large enough)
certified used E400 wagon (not big enough for the wife)
Range Rover (for obvious reliability reasons)
Porsche Cayenne (not large enough inside)
F150 SCREW (too large for city driving)
Toyota Sienna (eliminated quickly! Neither one of us is driving an appliance!)

Still considering:
used 2016 Toyota Land Cruiser
certified used GL/GLS450
Chevy Tahoe (might be too big)
Ford Expedition (might be too big)

The hardest part has been trying to find a vehicle that will fit these enormous rear-facing car seats they make these days without driving a beast of a vehicle. How do "normal" people fit these monstrosities into everyday automobiles?
 

black92

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Love my wife's '15 Honda CR-V Touring AWD which really would fit the bill, IMO. Since you're wanting a little more room, a '16+ Honda Pilot Touring AWD should cover your bases. Also look into the Acura MDX if you're wanting a little more "luxury."
 

Recon

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Add a Lexus GX or LX to the consideration.
Don’t buy anything from Europe unless it’s under warranty, sell immediately once warranty runs out. Or if you have deep pockets for repairs.


Pick your poison.
 

SirShaun

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Brand New Durango SRT, puts you right at your price point.

My wife loves her fully loaded Hemi AWD 2011. I can only imagine how much better they have gotten. Worth a test drive for sure. I enjoy driving it. Handles great, doesn't feel cheap, the tech is there, it's surprisingly plush.
 

7upstang

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We had an Explorer Sport two years ago (business partner). So this time I went with an Expedition. I'm happy with the choice, I enjoy driving this SUV. However, there is a bit of body roll if you live in a hilly area. I had buddy just go from an Explorer to a Expedition for car seat purposes too. I just have the regular Expedition, not the EL. I don't have any problems parking or driving any where (But I came from an F-350)

We rent a Yukon XL for Thanksgiving when we went to Tennessee, I was pretty impressed with it. Didn't seem to have the body roll my Expedition does.
 

BigPoppa

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Love my 2011 Suburban Z71

I may like Ford cars and pickups, but it's hard to beat a Suburban in the large SUV segment.
 

CV355

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Volvo XC90 T6AWD. The early 1st gen had troubles due to the piss-poor GM transmission they shoved in 'em, but the rest of 1st gen and forward have been extremely reliable and well built.

I'm somewhat partial because I've had my little Volvo for 7 years now and it's paying for itself at this point. I had one bad year with it repair-wise (in fact, half of it was covered by Volvo several years out of warranty!), but the rest has been smooth sailing.

I really should shill for BMW since they indirectly pay my bills, but I'm just not an X-series fan. I can definitely vouch for their engineering. Hell I think those things are over-engineered to hell and back and the manufacturing quality standards are close to insanity at times. I guess if you find a CPO X5M or X6M it might be what you're looking for (except it does fall into SUC categories... smaller than you may want)
 
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Malern28us

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I own a Acura MDX and love it!
I really was interested in a Maxzda CX9 Signature but did not like the color choices. The turbo 4 cyl tuned for torque was appealing.
 

RedVenom48

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@Pribilof Sounds like you need a Lexus GX460

http://www.lexus.com/models/GX

I think these features check your box nicely

http://www.lexus.com/models/GX/features

Perfect vehicle for cold climates. AWD with a Torsen lockable center differential. Hi and low range, no hubs to worry about locking because of the center differential. All AWD/4WD control operations are handled in the cabin.

Legendary Lexus reliability and customer care. Free loaner car/SUV if you need service at a Lexus dealer.

Bumper to Bumper warranty is 4 year 50k miles.
Powertrain warranty is 6 years 70k miles

Lexus in house extended warranty coverages can take that to 8 year 100k if you want (or something close).

Literally no issues with this SUV. early 2010-2011 had secondary air issues, but those were covered by warranty and Customer Satisfaction programs for out of warranty owners.

You literally cannot go wrong with a Lexus as a family car. We cover your ass. :D
 
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josephcostello

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The new yukons are super nice. The Denalis are the top dog but really the interior is slightly better and it comes factory with the 6.2, but doesn't sound like you need that. The 5.3 is a great motor that gets great mileage on the highway, and I don't see reliability being an issue


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
 

Blown 89

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Infiniti QX80 or QX60 all day long. We had the same decision to make and the Infiniti blew every other SUV out of the water. We gave the explorer a shot but it was a massive pile of shit.

The driver's aides make driving them in the city very easy. We ended up with the larger SUV and it's very easy to place and the 360 camera comes handy when things get tight. Good turning radius too considering it's built on their full size truck chassis. The third row of both are the only useable third rows we found. I'm 6'6" and am very comfortable in the third row.

We were pretty disappointed with SUVs under 60k....especially the domestic offerings. GMs being the worst. The Yukon, Denali, and Suburbans we're astonishingly bad, especially the interiors. We didn't plan on even looking at Infinity but they really stood out. The 80 tows more than my hemi Ram too.
 

Logan@Lethal

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Infiniti QX80 or QX60 all day long. We had the same decision to make and the Infiniti blew every other SUV out of the water. We gave the explorer a shot but it was a massive pile of shit.

The driver's aides make driving them in the city very easy. We ended up with the larger SUV and it's very easy to place and the 360 camera comes handy when things get tight. Good turning radius too considering it's built on their full size truck chassis. The third row of both are the only useable third rows we found. I'm 6'6" and am very comfortable in the third row.

We were pretty disappointed with SUVs under 60k....especially the domestic offerings. GMs being the worst. The Yukon, Denali, and Suburbans we're astonishingly bad, especially the interiors. We didn't plan on even looking at Infinity but they really stood out. The 80 tows more than my hemi Ram too.
Hate our QX60S.. Less than 10k miles in 3 years and was in and out of the shop constantly. They could never find out why it made clunking noises randomly. Like, really random. The NAV system went out 2 times and then they replaced it. Works now. Car rides a little rough for a "luxury" SUV.
Overall, hate it. 2 more months until the lease is up.
 

nofire

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I was going to suggest a new Raptor SCREW until I saw no F150 SCREWs. :(

They're amazing though, if you can get used to the big vehicle thing. lol
 

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