New family ride...Pilot, 4Runner, what else?

[Jcbama85]

I've had two Pilots and they're great family SUVs and very reliable. Highly recommend them.

[radx5m]

If sexy is out, then how about minivan. Toyota Sienna comes in AWD option. We lived in MI and had honda Odyssey with set of snow tires. odyssey did great with true snow tires. Not sure of pricing on these.

[9iron]

Originally Posted by radx5m

If sexy is out, then how about minivan. Toyota Sienna comes in AWD option. We lived in MI and had honda Odyssey with set of snow tires. odyssey did great with true snow tires. Not sure of pricing on these.

I looked into it. Siennas run about $44k new. For that price i just cant justify it. I know any car in my price range will be pretty lame, but i just freaking hate the looks of a sienna (or ANY minivan).....both inside and out. Some people swear the minivan is the most practical, and i believe it, but for some reason i just cannot do it.

Im looking into bumping my budget to the low $40's....i can get a brand new 4Runner Limited at that price. Ive never been a fan of Toyota, but they have a cult following and seem to retain amazing resale. Havent heard many bad things about the 4Runner either.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Originally Posted by FriskyDingo

You can just stop at the 4Runner. Or a Higlander. Nothing else will have the long-term reliability or resale value of those two. Not even the Pilot. If the 4Runner Limited is clean and has records, do yourself a favor and just go buy it.

+1

I love my 'Runner. They're simple, dead reliable, and hold their value very, very well.

You're right to check out the Limited if you want full-time 4WD, but honestly I think it's overrated and people think they need it a lot more than they actually do. But my intention is not to start an argument about it. Anyway, you are already considering the Limited, so you should be set there.

Check out T4R.org if you haven't already.

Good luck!

[radx5m]

Agreed. Had a 4runner limited and SR5 too and extremely reliable..no issues. Then go for it. Sounds like this is your choice. If your wife is the main driver of new car, does she care? Sliding doors are very helpful for the crumb snatchers. easy loading. Either way you will be happy with 4runner value. Just a few thoughts from a dad as well and 2 crumb snatchers. PS- I hated the idea of sliding doors/minivan until it improved my wife's daily drive with kids.

[TRZ06]

One thing to consider....

While the 4-runner is a great off roader and with great reliability, it and the Pilot are two completely different types of SUV's

The 4-Runner still uses a truck based latter frame/chassis and will never feel as smooth/refined as a car based unibody SUV.

[John Tanglewood]

You mentioned 4Runner, and that's a pretty specific type of SUV, so I would definitely go with that or the pilot.

I love my 4Runner and have been thinking about upgrading it to a newer one soon. Reliable, easy to maintain, cheap-ish to fix (relatively speaking) if something goes wrong....but rarely does something go wrong if you take car of it.

Pilot will ride a little lower and get better mileage, but the 4Runner is an adventure machine. It can go anywhere and do anything you want it to do.

[Fundguy1]

Love my Jeep GC. We have a 2012 hemi overland summit. Nothing but good to say.

[MaC-N54-E82]

I cannot think of a car based SUV with a worse driving experience than a Pilot. We sold the wife's after 2 years and replaced it with a Platinum Sequoia. I also owned a 4th gen 4Runner. Very rugged and dependable but it drives like a truck.

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Love my Jeep GC. We have a 2012 hemi overland summit. Nothing but good to say.

Your experience might be rare. Most of my friends with Jeep GC have had some sort of problems.

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by MaC-N54-E82

I cannot think of a car based SUV with a worse driving experience than a Pilot. We sold the wife's after 2 years and replaced it with a Platinum Sequoia. I also owned a 4th gen 4Runner. Very rugged and dependable but it drives like a truck.

+1 not comfortable to ride in. One of my classmates has one and we rode it to a ranch as a team building event. It was a new body style 4Runner. Plus, the rear seats are low so if you're more than 5' your knees will be in your chest.

[Route 16]

Originally Posted by TSM330i

For your situation, with two kids and wanting something that is cheap to run, you're not going to get anything better than the Pilot. Nothing else will come close for the money in terms of room and low maintenance.

Anything else anyone suggests will be smaller and more expensive to maintain.

Pretty much the reason I wanted a Pilot was because of this picture back in 2012. Get the touring for the entertainment system. Very essential for the kids. We still have the Pilot after 5 years. We plan to ride it to the ground. It's my wife's DD and with a kid and newborn on the way, it's proven itself to be a family car, grocery getter, road trip car. Maintenance since 55k miles, air filter, cabin filter, oil changes every 8-10k miles. The OEM rotors are prone to warping and changed them at 50k. Contributes to the shakey steering wheel. It is much better. Piloteers forum, a lot of people agree. There is a recall for the earlier Pilots regarding something about the throttle (common with the model). Wife has been in 3-4 accidents I believe, still riding "good". We've been driving with a bent front driver control arm since the 12k mile when my wife fell asleep on the wheel and met a highway cement barrier. That also contributed to a shakey steering wheel too. 450 miles per tank if you're on a road trip. 300-350 miles per tank with small drives and city. If it were any other SUV, it would still be X5 M sport.

[FriskyDingo]

I think the Pilot is massively overrated. Poor ride quality, fuel economy, power, and packaging for the segment. About the only things it has going for it are reliability, safety, and the Honda name. Just my .02. I'd much rather a Highlander, Grand Cherokee, 4Runner, Durango, or even Acadia over one.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

The CPO covers the car for another 3 years and 70k miles. Thinking ahead, we purchased an extended maintenance program for it as well. It was an additional $1500 (if I recall, that's close to cost).

It has the N20 4-cyl turbo. It does 0-60 in just around 6 seconds.

We're either gonna get another aftermarket warranty after 3 years OR ditch it after 5 years.

BMW parts aren't too bad, but labor is a bitch. You can still change the oil and fluids and there's a lot of DIY support on the forums to do more complex stuff. But you'll need a CAN tool.

ISTA/D Rheingold. I think a standard CAN tool will only read emissions fault codes.

The challenge is getting and setting up the software, not the hardware. The hardware is just a Ethernet to OBD2 interface.

[Sedoy]

Just posted it in the similar thread: I recently got used 2013 RX350 for $24,6K for wife. She loves it. Comes decently equipped:
- Double glass side windows
- Heated/ventilated seats
- Nappa leather seats
- 40/20/40-split backseat which also slide and recline,
- Navigation
- HIDs (the best headlights I have seen so far, at least 50% brighter/better than E70 X5)
- Parking sensors
- Back-up camera

The cargo is slightly larger than our previous E70 X5. Also reliability for those and resale value are the best on the market. Can't go wrong with Lexus.

[KingOfJericho]

Originally Posted by Mywifes335

Your experience might be rare. Most of my friends with Jeep GC have had some sort of problems.

We have a 2014 GC Overland Hemi and the only issue we've had is the blower motor making a squeaking sound in the footwell which they fixed without issue. I can't sing its praises enough. We will likely buy it at lease end in a few months.

My brother has a 4Runner SR5 of the same vintage and the doors sound cheap and hollow and the interior is simply horrendous. I'm not sure what they were thinking with the newest generation. It looks like it was executed without a design team at all. We had a 1998 that was quite handsome (and went 340k) but the new gen is terrible. There is absolutely zero tech in the car as well. You might get fantastic reliability but that's where the advantage ends... and ends abruptly. Just doesn't feel like something I would pay $45k for.

[Mywifes335]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

We have a 2014 GC Overland Hemi and the only issue we've had is the blower motor making a squeaking sound in the footwell which they fixed without issue. I can't sing its praises enough. We will likely buy it at lease end in a few months.

My brother has a 4Runner SR5 of the same vintage and the doors sound cheap and hollow and the interior is simply horrendous. I'm not sure what they were thinking with the newest generation. It looks like it was executed without a design team at all. We had a 1998 that was quite handsome (and went 340k) but the new gen is terrible. There is absolutely zero tech in the car as well. You might get fantastic reliability but that's where the advantage ends... and ends abruptly. Just doesn't feel like something I would pay $45k for.

That's a good experience, you should probably buy it out.

My friends have various GCs, including the SRT. Problems ranged from fading trim pieces to catastrophic transmission issues. The years range from 2013-current.

[TSM330i]

Originally Posted by FriskyDingo

I think the Pilot is massively overrated. Poor ride quality, fuel economy, power, and packaging for the segment. About the only things it has going for it are reliability, safety, and the Honda name. Just my .02. I'd much rather a Highlander, Grand Cherokee, 4Runner, Durango, or even Acadia over one.

They just completely redesigned it. Everything you said above holds true for the old model. The new one is MUCH better in every way.

http://www.caranddriver.com/honda/pilot