SWMBO and I went through this a few years back and ended up with a 2016 Explorer. HUGE mistake. Ours was subject to a near constant stream of recalls, and our local Ford dealerships were terrible. And then the water pump failed. We got it fixed (big $$$ since it's driven internally by the timing chain, and the chains and guides need replaced at the same time), then traded it in towards a new Pilot. Having a car payment sucks, but it was worth it to have a family hauler that she felt confident in again.
I thought there were issues with the 3.6 in the Acadia/Traverse/Outlook where they'd jump time occasionally? Maybe that was just the early ones.
At that price point, you'd probably be looking at a 2nd Gen Pilot, and they still had transmission and VCM issues in those years, so I'd avoid them. (I guess time will tell if they figured out the transmission for the 3rd gens).
I think in that price range, I'd go Highlander.
Highlander or CX-5 gets my vote.
In further searching I've found mostly up to 2012 in the Highlander, Durango, CX-9, and Acadia. I found up to 2014 in the Explorer. 2015 in the Grand Cherokees. And 2017 in the Sorento. These are mostly on the FaceBooks.
She hasn't sat in any of these yet, and while I think CarMax has some crazy prices on their stuff, I think our next move might be to go sit and test drive some of these to narrow it down.
CarMax is great for shopping multiple models. Years ago, my wife and I went to CarMax and sat in every SUV with a third row. Didn't drive anything, as we didn't intend to buy, but it was great to get the opportunity to see what would/wouldn't work for us.
In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
As it just so happens we did a lot of "dad stuff" already this weekend, kayak trip, car projects, yard work, etc. So today at 5PM we rolled over to CarMax. Now it's hot in the south and waking around on the blacktop sucked, but there was no one there. I told the young salesmen we weren't buying we just wanted to "butt test" he was like "Go sit in whatever you want."
If it is a small to midsize SUV made in the past 8 years we probably sat in it. We had my rapidly growing 2.0 with us so we could test let room, and my shorter 2.0 who pretended to rest cargo area fit for our chocolate lab. It was a good time and we had some laughs.
Things that are 100% out Nissan anything, Cadillac anything, Buick anything, Chevy Traverse, Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Cherokee, Corvette C7 Stingray manual, and Porsche Panamera. Lol.
Things that are still in, and some new contenders... Toyota Highlander, Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, GMC Acadia, CX-9 and Durango.
They didn't have a CX-9 or Durango, even though they had both on the website before we left. Somehow I don't think we'll move on before she gets a chance to test both of those. We did gain ground when I told her the CX-5 came in a manual. She had a Mazda 3 for 11 years, and still misses that car.
I will keep you all posted
Based on the earlier comment of "going to Carmax" my advice was going to be sure to avoid the recently replaced Nissan Pathfinder/Infiniti JX35 & QX60. All three are the same vehicle. In all forms it was a slow seller so Nissan flooded the rental market with them meaning there are then many on used car lots. Reason #1 to avoid is cvt.
But, I see you have already eliminated anything Nissan.
