mid-full size crossover/suv recommendations?

ya I wouldnt tow shit with my Xterra LOL
so useful I am

Thanks for the advice.
Xterra, rav4, escape are all too small, not much bigger than our little car.
Budget is about 30k, but hoping for less.
We tow a 17' bigfoot trailer in the summer, 2400 lbs dry and empty. Nissan frontier pulls it easily but drinks 20 L per 100 km instead of usual 13 when not towing.

ticklebox is pretty stoked on his tahoe. can get them for cheap too

Best thread ever. Looking for the same vehicle, and have gone through the same emotions.

Lots of nice used Germans in the budget, but terrified at reviews for few year old X5's and running costs past the warranty period.

Ford Escape, brand new, seems to offer the best value. Can get them nicely equipped with all you need for around $25,000.

Also struggling with the idea of buying new vs used. Always have bough couple years old to not take the depreciation hit, but these days you are faced with much higher financing costs vs the free money offered on some new models + incentives. Tough call.

Personally love the new Durango's on the Benz platform, but they seems to keep their value, resale prices seem quite rich.

Still sitting idle and undecided.

Some notes on the Mazda CX-9s or 7s. They're a turbo, so keep premium petrol in mind for post purchase costs. Aside from that, look up the TSB's for each model and make sure they've been addressed. If you're looking at 06-08s, thats pretty much the same block as my Speed6 - some things are to be leary of.

My gf's family is thinking about selling their 2010 Sante Fe. 3500lbs towing. Silver. Could work?

ford Flex AWD…

/endthread

deceptively huge inside…

are you joking? Those things are massive on the ouside too…

are you joking? Those things are massive on the ouside too…

That was our experience with the Ford's, drove like a tank and seemed tiny inside.

are you joking? Those things are massive on the ouside too…

hmmm i guess we have differing idea of what large on outside is..i consider the Flex to be midsize outside but really roomy inside..

Best thread ever. Looking for the same vehicle, and have gone through the same emotions.

Ford Escape, brand new, seems to offer the best value. Can get them nicely equipped with all you need for around $25,000.

Have you test driven anything yet? We looked at a new escape before we got our highlander, and it seemed smaller on the inside than our old toyota matrix. The new versions seem quite small, the older rav 4 by comparison had way more room. As much as online reviews of cargo volume and such let you know, the actual useable space seems night and day between domestics and the import brands.

I have a 2005 Honda Pilot right now and am quite happy with it. If you find Rav 4 too small this is just a bit bigger. Keep in mind there are Rav4s with fold down third row seating as well.

• Our Pilot has 3.5L V6 engine-great motor. Smooth, quiet and plenty of power (270 hp)
• towing capacity of 4500 lbs-tows our little 2000 lb trailer with ease, even to Tofino.
• fold down third row seating
• 4 lock drive system that locks in the all wheel drive to 4 wheel drive up to 50 KM/H

Milage in town isn't too good but HWY driving is decent

We looked at a few Pathfinders as well which we liked but were scared off by this: http://www.nissanproblems.com/trends/coolant-leaks-destroy-transmission/
was a VERY common problem

I think the new Pathfinder (2013+) would work for you.
-decent fuel economy (best in class, whatever that means)
-more refined/quiet ride than the old one
-usable third row, second row slides forward even with a front facing car seat, tons of room with the third row folded down
-good towing capacity
-base 4wd can be had new for around 30k, loaded 2013s for around that price too

Lol automatic transmissions.

I drove the new Highlander (non hybrid) and it was really nice. Gets good mileage too. That will probably be our next car once the van completely shits the bed.

I drove a new Exploder and wasn't too impressed with it. Something about the way it shifted (or didn't) climbing hills made you just want to stomp the gas pedal to gear down. Compared to the Highlander, no comparison.

We ended up with a 4Runner limited because we needed the towing capacity. Its mediocre on gas, but a massive improvement on the shitty Dodge truck we had beforehand.

Avoid the new Pathfinder hybrid is that was an option. There have been some major issues with it from what I have read.

We made a similar decision a little over a year ago when we found out #3 was on the way. The only cars on your list that I didn’t test drive were the Durango and the BMW. We settled on a 2013 CX-9 AWD. I’d never owned a Mazda and wasn’t overly enthused at the idea, but coming from someone who doesn’t like automobiles, it’s a great car. Our needs probably differ in that we needed the third row seating. Additionally, my wife bike commutes and I work from home, so it’s primary use is family road trips and riding excursions. So, while we wanted good fuel economy, it wasn’t our first criteria.

IMO, the only real dogs were the newer Explorer and Pathfinder. Having driven older models of both, it seems like the conversion to the crossover class has left them pretty gutless. We ended up deciding between the Highlander and CX-9. In the end, we basically traded a slightly more spacious third row setup and a (IMO) significantly more powerful/nimble ride for the Highlander’s better fuel economy ~1.3 kml (3-4 mpg). Though, we use a car top box, so we’re running a little further behind the listed kml. The car-like ride quality coupled with the 273 hp V6 was really what tipped the scales. It does great in the snow and I think the AWD model towing capacity is 3,500 lbs. I’ve towed a loaded down U-Haul trailer that weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 lbs and barely noticed it was there. The one unanticipated hassle of owning a car with third row seating is that with two car seats in row two, you have to manually slide the seat up on the rails each time someone enters the third row. We only use one of the third row seats, so I let my son climb in the rear like a dog.