What should I get? Give your opinion HERE

Pretty much any of the SUV's out there will fit your description. I prefer the GX470. But of course it comes down to what you like.

I think any medium to large SUV or truck will do that. Shouldn't be too hard to find. You have requirements that aren't really unique or specialized so you should have plenty of options.

However, from what I see on the roads there seems to be a correlation between the size of wife to the size of SUV. In your case probably nothing less that an Escalade, Hummer H1, or Excursion will do. Be sure and put 22's on it and that she is on her cell phone at all times, especially when executing a lane change.

begone said:

Pretty much any of the SUV's out there will fit your description. I prefer the GX470. But of course it comes down to what you like.

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Caplax40 said:

I think any medium to large SUV or truck will do that. Shouldn't be too hard to find. You have requirements that aren't really unique or specialized so you should have plenty of options.

However, from what I see on the roads there seems to be a correlation between the size of wife to the size of SUV. In your case probably nothing less that an Escalade, Hummer H1, or Excursion will do. Be sure and put 22's on it and that she is on her cell phone at all times, especially when executing a lane change..

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Maybe I should have been clearer. My wife is not going to drive anything that is the size of a Hummer or large SUV, and especially not any sort of truck (with a bed). At max she would consider driving something the size of a Touareg and to be honest I don't want her to kill someone trying to drive anything larger.

4Runner or GX470

Touareg was a great truck for the money, able to do anything I threw at it expect fitting in the driveway. My poor relatives were elated when it departed, it must have upset them that I took their truck out more often than drove my own cars. I miss it. My dad had the Cayenne Turbo and I do not see the daily value in it over the other models in the range.

You will love either one as long as you get a warranty and read all your manuals; otherwise you will be seeing some expensive visits to a guy like me for it to be fixed.

4Runner, GX470, V8 Pathfinder.

VW's piss poor reliability would keep me far away from the Toureg.

Let me try this again since people are obviously missing my earlier post on the subject:

NO TANKS!

That includes 4Runners, Pathfinders and GX HOGmobiles.

My wife won't drive anything that large and God knows I don't want her to.


The Touareg is actually a highly rated auto (with the exception of the 2004 model years). Right now this is at the top of my list with the BMW X5 coming in second due to its larger size.

I'm not sure what your price range is but I drove the Range Rover Sport and felt more comfortable in that then any other SUV. It really does drive more like a car than anything and can still tow 7000lbs. The only down side is the fuel economy...

Pathfinders and X5 are not that different in size...4runner either

IansMKIV said:

I'm not sure what your price range is but I drove the Range Rover Sport and felt more comfortable in that then any other SUV. It really does drive more like a car than anything and can still tow 7000lbs. The only down side is the fuel economy...

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I thought about the Range but I'm not sure about how reliable they are compared to the other vehicles mentioned. Also, it is on the outer edge of the size limit of anything the wife would be comfortable driving.

URNDWAY said:

The Touareg is actually a highly rated auto (with the exception of the 2004 model years). Right now this is at the top of my list with the BMW X5 coming in second due to its larger size.

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Get one then, just remember they are rated high by magazines that drive them for a few hundred miles. VW tanks all the reliability surveys.

One of our sales reps returned a Toureg under the Lemon Law. He had it for 2 months, only drove it for 2 weeks, the other 6 it sat in the VW shop.

Honda Ridgeline if you can deal with exactly 5000lbs towing

URNDWAY said:

Let me try this again since people are obviously missing my earlier post on the subject:

NO TANKS!

That includes 4Runners, Pathfinders and GX HOGmobiles.

My wife won't drive anything that large and God knows I don't want her to.


The Touareg is actually a highly rated auto (with the exception of the 2004 model years). Right now this is at the top of my list with the BMW X5 coming in second due to its larger size.

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Sounds like you found your vehicle - now go buy it!

If you want to actually listen to anyone - then take our suggestions with an open mind. Obviously you think the Toureg is "Small" However if you do your research - it isn't all that small of an SUV....

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/nvc/edm...100851261&maxvehicles=5&refid=&op=3&tab=specs

Get a International CXT

Your best bet is just to have your wife drive your 2 favorite SUV's back to back. Me personally I'm all of 5'6" and I felt better in the range than in the toureg to be honest. Its intimidating at first, but you get use to it very quickly and didn't seem to have as much body roll as the toureg did. All the specs can comparisons are great but it really comes down to her own personal preference and you'll never know till she trys them. Last time I car shopped for a woman the only response was "I like the red one" which narrowed it down to 3 cars! haha Good Luck!

We have an '05 V8 Touareg that my wife drives. I was in the same boat as you; wife needed a new car, wanted something about the same size as her '01 Durango or smaller and I wanted something that could tow my cars to the track. I thought the Touareg was the best fit; she loves the way it drives (I gotta admit, I really like driving it as well) and it's rated to tow 7700lbs (without WD hitch). Handles great, plenty of power and brakes very well (big Brembo 6 piston front calipers, 4 piston rear). It's even pretty strong offroad; I just got back from a week in the Outer Banks and drove it offroad in deep sand a bunch and it did better than my '01 Durango R/T had done in the sand.

As for reliability, I haven't had any problems yet. I'm all over the various Touareg boards and there are some who've had issues, but it doesn't seem like it's worse than any other car boards. The general consensus is that most of the Touareg issues were with the '04 model (mainly early VIN's).

T66Dawg said:

4Runner, GX470, V8 Pathfinder.

VW's piss poor reliability would keep me far away from the Toureg.

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Does anyone know the tow rating (without a weight distributing hitch, just plain tow rating) for the 4Runner and Pathfinder? I looked at both some, but I seem to recall their tow rating being a lot lower than their listed 7k; I thought the 7K rating was with a weight distributing hitch setup?