Wife & Kids Safe Vehicle List:

346' and we're still working on that. Mailbox penetration test results continue to exceed our wildest expectations.

@Elkhunter

 

No love for the Abrams? Or just availability and budget considerations? I’d be fine with a Bradley to be honest.

 

I’m not the most knowledgeable on them but preliminary research and looking found it’s less spacious and we camp a lot so just assumed the Pilot would have more space for similar vehicle. I could be wrong, I’ll go look some more!

 

I have a 2011 Pilot and a 2023 Pilot Trailsport

AND

I have a 2013 Tundra and a 2021 Tundra

We passed the older Pilot and Tundra to our kids in school. Well maintained and running strong as ever.

 

MDX usually has the third row for 2, I think the Pilot will take 3 back there?

 

I believe all of your above options are safe, though the newest Pilot is probably at the top. My mother in law currently owns both of the Pilots you have mentioned and they are both fantastic. The new pilot is a joy to drive on the highway, but the old Pilot has the best 360 degree visibility of any car I have ever driven. 250k on the old pilot and they live on gravel, that car looks remarkably good. Yes the interior space in Pilots is that good.

I am as much a diehard V8 body-on-frame truck fan as the next guy, but there is something to be said about a modern unibody SUV - they really are fantastic for just putting miles on paved roads. I would be commuting in our Highlander if I didn't work in construction and have to carry so much crap around all the time.

 

Yeah I think you can't beat the space of the Pilot unless you just go full Minivan. And friends don't let friends go full Minivan.

And yes the Forester certainly isn't the biggest which is a downside, but there's ways around that pretty easily. Rear cargo with a hitch, or use the factory rails to throw stuff up top! That may in the cards for us on the next family trip once we have 2 kids in the car and need some more space. Our does have the CVT which the wife doesn't mind. It does drive surprisingly well, even better than the CVT the one is my Outback that I'm selling. But yeah man......get that 6 speed!!!! I've been dead inside driving an Outback for the past 5 years lol

Picture of when I got our old, beasty cargo carrier mounted up for the first time.

 

You know, that 360 visibility is a major factor for us I didn’t even think to list until I saw your post. That’s what we loved about our old 99 4Runner and my brothers old Subie as well as mom’s Pilot. The new 4Runners we drove felt like you couldn’t see out by comparison. Thanks for that insight, sometimes you don’t have a “duh” moment until someone reminds you!

We will pay closer attention to this next time we’re in a new Pilot vs. the older one we drive all the time when my mom leaves it at our place when they need a ride to the airport.

 

We looked at 2016 Sienna AWD and just couldn’t get behind the ground clearance for how much snow we get and the places we go camping. Nothing will get us there like our ‘99 Runner used to, but we need better than minivan clearance for our uses ha.

 

How many kids again? We have 3 kids and found the 4-Runner and GX to be way too small. Even the LX feels like it is pushing it. I'm guessing if only 2 kids, then those would be fine.

Once you get up to 3, your options greatly diminish on the SUV side with Japanese makes. It's not on your list, but did you consider the Grand Highlander? I've found you are basically limited to that, a Sequoia or looking at the "Big 3".

 

We plan to keep poppin em out and have a dog, may get another, big families, etc. so maximum space is the main reason we want the pilot over the fun little rally car. If it was just us we would be leaning the other way. We do very long (distance and time) trips and the Tundra is great but we’d like her car to fit that role as well.


EDIT: I’ll carry everyone in my arms before trusting Chrysler products. Have spent infinitely more hours fixing my two sister-in-laws Jeeps over the years than the entire extended family fleet combined. The only time we go GM is when we need a 1 ton truck for work.

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. What I'm getting at is in my area, driving a Subaru or a unibody SUV wouldn't be as safe given the likelihood of a collision with a heavier/bigger vehicle. If your area has a lot of Subarus, for instance, then you also driving one has better probability that you won't get creamed by a lifted truck. Kinetic energy is simple: 1/2 x mass x velocity^2. I wanted my family in something which, sorta, leveled the field.

 

FYI - the Grand Highlander is made by Toyota.....just making sure you know, not referring to the Grand Wagoneer. It's one of their newest SUV's, so a lot of folks aren't aware of it.

2024 Toyota Grand Highlander | Toyota.com

 

"Feeling safe" is not a quantifiable metric. I'd feel safe driving a school bus but I'm not going to buy one.

 

Ah I see. Aren’t unibodies (the largest ones possible) actually better in collisions than body-on-frames since they’re not so rigid and have somewhere to transfer that kinetic energy? I was under the impression that a large Pilot for example would actually fair better than a large body in frame SUV for that fact. School me for sure! Open to learning always.

 

Oh haha I read too quickly at work, sorry about that! I thought you meant the Jeep!

Pilot has V6 vs a turbo 4. We favor old school

 

Fair enough. I have found the safety ratings and safety research to be sufficient and superior to other options in these vehicles listed, and more points are going toward the safer models as measured by quantifiable safety testing, hence the shorthand of saying I “feel” these models are all sufficient in safety. Cheers!

 

If safety is #1 concern, look at Volvo. They do some safest vehicles on Earth because that's their mantra, not NHTSA requirement. For example, they did partial overlap and rollover tests long before they've been mandated.

 

Another thing to consider on the Pilots, old or new,on the 3rd row you can flip only half of it or the entire bench. When you flip only half you can have one person seating in the back and have more room for the luggage. Kids love that spot by the way

 

There is no luggage room behind the 3rd row, just like in the Lexus GX.

 

Haha yup that certainly would be a downside to the minivans. I do love the Subaru AWD system as well. Outside a dedicated 4wd, it's the next best thing. It really does a nice job in the snow. Even with the wrong tires it's great lol. We do have dedicated snow wheels & tires for her car, and my soon-to-be sold Outback, and they are remarkable. I would drive that over my Tundra unless the snow was incredibly deep.

It sounds like the Pilot though may be best for your family. But I still say get the Forester to save the manuals!

 

We almost bought an MDX, my wife loved it. When the sales man said it would only lose 30% of its value after 3 years my wife whispered to me: "I think I should get another 4Runner." And we did. We basically lost 30% in depreciation on our last 4Runner after 10 years. Granted, 30% for a lux car is not horrible, but it was enough for my wife to pivot. We've had 3 4Runners (03, 2012 and 2020) and they have all been amazing. 03 I replaced front calipers around 200k miles, and the others have been solid.

If it is a keep forever car, get the one thst checks the most boxes you can get for the best discounted price. The new Pilot looks great.

 

Head says Pilot, heart says Subie! Haha

 

So this is something I don't have enough knowledge to say definitively because it's not what I do. Body in white construction is really good. Large, tubular-ish structures (IE greater moments of inertia) combined with advances in crash-specific alloys, make for some fantastic crumple zones. The pic in this thread of the Subaru shows just that. The downside to crumple zones is that they perform best when impacted in the intended direction. Body on frame have these, too, of course.

What you're getting at is something I've had to design for with underride protection (a bumper), and that's do you make something really stiff that can take a helluva hit but not deform/displace much (hitting a brick wall), or do you design for something that'll move significantly, easing the blow? Obviously the second answer is better but is pretty hard to achieve. I don't know if you can say large unibody outperforms body on frame, though. Maybe so for offset frontal, but what about 30deg side where the frame would be activated? Of course there are standards which every vehicle must pass, but real world crash randomness can't be designed for. This is where my intuition tells me "more is better."

Conversational numbers for 2020 Forester/Pilot/4Runner/Silverado are 3500/4100/4500/5000lb. I'd rather be closer to the 1/2 ton number given that's the norm for what else is on the road around here.

 

Good thoughts. I always wondered how much my sliders would help or hurt in a t-bone.

Given the size of the Pilot vs the GX I’ll definitely look closer at whatever crash testing is out there and try to extrapolate a bit. Thanks!

 

Yea, you'd definitely need to fold one of the seats down for cargo, on either. Quite frankly, my wife, 3 kids and I completely fill our 2.5 gen Sequoia on trips, with the 3rd row completely folded down and the kids all in the middle row. Now sure how others are able to make these smaller SUV's work on trips.

There's a 0% chance I would buy the new 3rd gen Sequoia, as it isn't near as efficient in space. I'd probably look at the Expedition Timberline or MAX if I was in the market for something new, but OP wants a traditional NA engine, so that's out.

 

Want safe and family space, grab a late 90's diesel 2500 Suburban and bring it back to life. Lots of space and built like a tank.

 

Parking seems pretty easy with that.

Anything in the way? Just park on top of it.