Nice new ride Frank! I'm definitely sad to see your Xterra go, but you made your point well - it just wasn't getting used as it was intended to be, and probably wouldn't have been unless you modified it like your previous one. We've been a "3 vehicle household" for about 6 years now. We have the Honda Civic, which I use for commuting to and from work. We have the Xterra, which is our "fun," or "recreational" vehicle. And then we've always had a nice "family vehicle," which my wife uses as her daily driver (her commute to work is only 4 miles each way) and typically acts as our road trip car unless we are specifically taking an off-road/exploring type road trip.
For her car, we usually lease, because we keep the mileage low overall and we can keep her in something modern that is loaded with all the bells and whistles. We went from a 2008 Rogue to a 2013 Pathfinder, then to a 2016 Rogue. Last August, the lease ran up on the Rogue and we decided to get something bigger again, but we decided to venture out to other brands and see what we thought of everything on the market. We went to nearly a dozen dealerships over the course of about a month and literally looked at EVERYTHING that was the same size or larger than the Rogue... we looked at the Honda CRV (and the Acura RDX, which is the same chassis), the Pilot, and the reintroduced Passport. We looked at the Toyota Rav-4, the 4-Runner, the Highlander, and the Sequoia. We looked at the Mazda CX-5 and CX-9. We looked at the Subaru Forester, the Outback, and the Ascent. We looked at the Chevy Blazer, Suburban, Tahoe, and the Traverse. We looked at the Ford Explorer and Expedition. And we looked at the Nissan Pathfinder and Murano. We sat in at least two different trim-levels of every single one of these cars, and we even test drove about 7 or 8 of them (if we hadn't ruled it out of our process for any other reason, such as it not being big enough or not liking the interior layout).
Some of them were cut from the list really quickly, like the Rav-4. It felt very cheap and basic for how expensive it was, especially when we compared it to the CRV and the Acura RDX. The Subarus were very unique, but a little too "utility" for our needs, and once again, the inflated price tags were not very attractive for how much (or how little) vehicle you actually get. Besides, I wasn't really sure how much granola I could eat over the course of 3 years of owning a Subaru, and my sensitive skin would probably rash up from hugging too many trees. The American brands were very underwhelming and had mixed reviews (or in the case of the Tahoe, Suburban, and Expedition- they were WAY more vehicle than we needed). The Mazdas were super fun to drive, and were definitely more "sporty" than all of the others. In the end, based on a combination of value, features, comfort, quality, and the overall experience/treatment we received at each dealership, we narrowed it down to the Toyota Highlander, the Mazda CX-9, and the Honda Pilot. She test drove all three again and decided there were some things that she didn't like about the Mazda, so we crossed it off the list. On the day that we were ready to sign paperwork, the Toyota dealer made us a more attractive offer, and we ended up with the Highlander instead of the Pilot. But it really could have gone either way, and we would have been just as happy.
Her Highlander has been on several road trips back to visit my parents in southeast Arizona so far, and we've gotten it off of the pavement a few times. On one trip, we spent several hours exploring dirt levee roads in the Oxbow BLM area along the Colorado River, and it did great. I'm sure your Pilot will take you almost anywhere you want to go at this point! I will say though that I was really excited about the Passport, and I'm surprised that you didn't end up with one of those instead of the Pilot. It is geared more toward adventure and exploring. It only has two rows of seats, but has almost just as big of a cargo area as the Pilot (with the 3rd row seats folded down). It also has higher ground clearance, and if I remember correctly, it came with an all-weather type interior and cargo area, so that you can get it dirty and not worry too much about it.
Anyway, congrats again on the recent purchase. There's a reason that the SUVs in this class (Highlander, Pilot, Explorer, CX-9, etc.) are ALL OVER the road.. They are very practical and useful vehicles that easily switch between daily-driving/commuting, family/soccer-mom duties, road-trips, and mild to moderate utility. I'm sure you'll enjoy it for many more years to come!
