First I will set the scene. I’ve had stupid cars. I bought the stupidest car which left me stranded multiple times, but I expected that and love it. I thought the CX-9 could tow an enclosed trailer which would serve as my rescue vessel, but between the drag and the tongue weight after the Morgan is winched in the trailer is too much for the Mazda. I got rid of my Accord DD for other reasons and have been looking for 5 months on what to replace it with. Here were the contenders. My goal is to stay sub 40k$
Wishlist - Full adaptive cruise control, AWD/4WD, minimum 6k towing, comfortable ride, sunroof, reliable
2019 Ram Limited - Fulfills every want except for reliability and price
2017 F-150 Platinum/Limited - I’m not overly impressed with the interior and the backseats are torture for long drives.
2016 LX570/ LC 200 - Look I get it, but 45-55k is to much for me to justify because I don’t overland and that’s that. (I don’t find the tacoma/4runner comfortable in anyway and the GX 460 is in the same boat)
2017 Grand Cherokee Summit - I like them, but I don’t want to deal with the FCA reliability
2019/20 Honda Ridgeline- I don’t understand why they didn’t add full cruise onto this vehicle, and the 5k tow limit means 500ish tongue weight and that is too close.
2016 X5 - This came in a close second
So I arrived at a 2016 GLE 350 4Matic. 35k for a CPO 7k towing every piece of tech I could want and from every long-term review I’ve read this year is near bulletproof. I can get one in red too! This isn’t the sexiest car but this will allow me to pay it and the Morgan off in 3 years which means I can get another toy and that will be an Atom or Viper ACR.
Vehicles I discounted - Tundra(for tech and mpg), Chevy(for tech), anything that doesn’t come stock with a 7 pin so palisade twins, highlander, pilot.
If there is a vehicle I skipped over and you think hits the criteria let me know though!