Mid-size SUV suggestions?

[Scrapper007]

My 40th birthday is a week from Sunday and my wonderful husband is buying me a new car (yay)!! I have been driving a minivan for 10 years (first a Toyota Sienna and right now, a Honda Odyssey). They have both been wonderful cars but I am ready to move out of the "minivan mama" stage -- my kids are older now.

DH would like to stay with a Toyota or Honda. We are currently looking at the 2011 Toyota 4Runner Limited. I also like the Nissan Pathfinder and the Land Rover LR2.

DH's biggest concern right now is the lousy gas mileage that comes with most of the SUVs. My dream would be the Toyota Sequoia but not only would he never go for the 14/18 mi gas mileage, but it is out of our price range.

Any thoughts/suggestions? I'd love to hear about what you all drive and how you like it.

PS - We are a family of 5 and a third row option would be wonderful, although not "crucial". TIA!

[misfitinmn]

I drive a Honda Pilot and I LOVE IT. Like, if it were legal, I would marry it. We hardly ever use the 3rd row of seats, but it sure is nice to have the option, and actually when they are up, there is still a pretty decent amount of space in the back. Not huge, of course, but more than you'd think! My hubby is a frequent car shopper, but this one I think will be in our family for quite some time!

Good luck on the car hunt!

[jenn7]

I have a 2006 Toyota Highlander and I love it. I got it last year and picked it over the newer models. I had other ones in mind but after I sat in them, I felt differently. I discovered it was important to me to be able to see out the rear window and some that I thought I loved didn't turn out to be so great. Anyway, love my car.

[dana]

i have a 2008 toyota highlander - love it! my parents bought one too (the hybrid version) after driving in ours .... we also have a new (2011) toyota sienna - looooove it but my kids are 1 and 3 LOL - so i'm totally in mini-van momma stage LOL! but really, i love the highlander and have used the 3rd row often, although when it's in you lose a LOT of trunk space ...

[jessica31876]

We had a Nissan Pathfinder for like 6 years. I loved it. It did not get great gas mileage but you know what? Our Dodge Stratus gets worse gas mileage then the Pathfinder did. My husband is a mechanic and rarely works on our personal vehicles and when he had the accident in the Pathfiner it had about 250,000 miles on it. So it was very dependable even with my husbands poor maintenance LOL and we would most likely still be driving it if he had not had the accident in 2006. We have had a Nissan Sentra and a Datsun station wagon so we really love Nissans.

[BrattyMeg]

We're Chevy folks..I've had my Tahoe for a little over four years now (with 3rd row) and my DH recently got a Traverse. I really love the new crossovers and when my Tahoe gets passed on to the oldest (eek next year) I'd love to get another Traverse. We are a family of 7 (with 2 carseats and a booster) and we fit comfortably in the Tahoe and Traverse (more comfy in the traverse lol)

[Milmomma]

I couldn't handle the minivan's I skipped right to the SUV. But I also couldn't handle the gas milage, so I ended up getting the Escape. I love it. We also looked at the Jeep Grand Cheeroke. I loved that one as well but was a lot more in price and less in gas milage.
My Aunt owns a honda pilot and loves it. I don't mind her car at all. She picks us up from the airport every time we fly in. 3 adults, 2 kids plus all our luggage without any problems.

[DawnMarch]

If you like Toyotas, be sure to check Kia too. I was all set to buy the Toyota Sienna minivan but my hubby had read some Consumer Reports review that found the Kia Sedona to be safer than Toyota. I was skeptical, but after looking at both, the Kia turned out to be basically exactly the same minivan, just $15,000 cheaper. So we bought it and it's been great (we've had it for about 3 years with no problems).

I forget the name of their cute SUV, but it's worth a look.

I had a Chevy Tahoe for 9 years that NEVER had a single problem, so I'm a fan of Chevy SUVs too. That thing was a work-horse, but ate gas like crazy.

[sprauncey1]

I have a 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid and I LOVE it! The hybrid system does not do well in extreme temperatures I've found (we live in a place that regularly gets above 100 degrees in the summer) but even then I get 24 mpg in the city, which is what I drive mostly and then 25-27 on the highway depending if we are going with the wind or against it. We have the third row seat which is great to have on hand and lots of legroom in the back. I would not buy another SUV without the backup camera system that it has, sooooooooooo nice and for safety reasons! It is so quiet and we've not had any problems with it.

[junebug]

i have an 07 Escape. i love it, its my baby, but i seriously wish i had gotten something a tad bit bigger, with a third row seat. we have 3 kids, chloe and emma in boosters and aidan in a 5 point harness still. and they just fit. to put the seat belt on the girls (next to the doors) you have to yank the seat out a bit to reach the seat belt thingy. such a pain. i'm pretty sure we're keeping it, about 3 years left to pay. (high interest and very high payment; you dont' even want to know what it is lol) oh well.

but if i could get anything i LOVE those GMC Acadia's. i think they are so nice looking, with a third row seat. but a bit pricey

[pam4gators]

Have you looked at the Acura's MDX or RDX, I went down from a durango to the RDX, we never put up the third row seats in our durango. I love the acura, it is such a great car. I have the tech package on mine and i love it. I have a blue tooth phone so I can answer the phone on the steering wheel. Can u tell I love my crossover.

[CA Dreamer]

I have had 3 Acura MDX's over the past several years. I love them but not sure if my next car will be another one, just because of price. I was looking at the Toyota Highlander, it is a little wider inside than the 4Runner. We had one of those and the interior is a little small--like a 4 seater car(but very nice). I had a full size Blazer in the early-90s. I loved it too.

With any SUV, make sure you test drive the car on bumpy roads(not necessarily off road, lol!) because some SUVs ride more like a truck and some ride more like a car. You need to know which feel you like( and can live with). My DS1 gets car sick on windy/bumpy/long care trips, so I know we would be in for trouble if the ride was not smooth!

Happy Birthday and good luck with car shopping!

[Scrapper007]

Thank you everyone for the replies!! We are leaning toward the 4Runner but I also really like the Pathfinder. I think (?) the 4Runner gets better gas mileage though, so it might win out for that. My DH has a hangup about SUVs being "gas guzzlers" and I certainly do not want to hear him gripe everytime I want to take a trip out of town lol

I'll keep checking this thread for more input. I appreciate it!!