When I was single, I had an '84 wagon. When I got married, I got a ~10 year old (92) Legacy wagon with 200k miles on it -- put another 50K trouble-free miles on it. Then I had a couple of Outbacks.
Now I have a couple of grade-school kids, who informed me a couple of years ago that "we need a 3-rower!" (to bring friends along, etc).
Our go-to daily driver is a Nissan Leaf. Around town, it's perfect ~95% of the time....but if we need to haul more than 5 people, or if we're going somewhere more than 40 miles away, or if we need to tow something, or if we both need to be in different places at the same time, then the Leaf won't work. So, for me, I wanted a second car that could do all of that other stuff -- haul around 7 people, tow stuff if necessary, and be comfortable on a road trip. I thought I was going to get an MDX, and I even test-drove a couple, and was about to buy one, but then I tried a Tribeca (the post-facelift, 2nd gen). I loved it! The MDX needed 89 octane, but the 3.6 uses 87 octane. I like the interior, I like the fact that I seldom see another one on the road. It's been great on road trips, tows 3500 pounds, and has that 3rd row when we need it. Admittedly, the 3rd row is not huge, but neither are my kids.
It's not as big as some SUVs inside, but we live in the city and I appreciate its compact dimensions. I parked it next to a newer Outback, and they look like they're almost exactly the same size...but I get a 3rd row.
We're halfway through a big road trip, and I was just thinking what an underrated car the Tribeca is. We'll turn 100k miles on this trip, and (knock on wood) the car has been totally trouble free.
