Looking to buy a mid-size SUV Ford Edge, Honda Pilot, Kia Sorento or?
 

Looking to buy a mid-size AWD SUV, thinking about the ones in the title, anyone have good or bad experiences with any of these 4 or 6 cylinders? Any know issue I should look for?

Looking at 2016-2019 models with around 30k miles.

Thanks, Rick

30k miles you'll be okay with any of them. But long term, I would not consider the Sorrento, Total disclosure, I do not own any of them, but I see and drive plenty in my line of work. I would not have said this about 2012 and prior Sorrentos.

I haven't had any experience with them, but I see what a lot of guys drive to my jobsite. Most of them live out in the boonies and they drive for 90 minutes or more to my site downtown. They rely heavily on their vehicles. All three of those vehicles are represented in the parking area right now.

New Hyundai/Kias have 10yr./100,000mi.warranties and for what you will pay for a used Edge, you can own a new Hyundai or Kia and they have an excellent track record.

My wife has a turbo four cylinder '18 Edge Titanium and she and I both love the thing. It has about every do-dad on it and the little 4 cylinder engine boogies. Only 18k miles on it and no problems so far. Hers is two wheel drive not awd.

I used to scoff at vehicles like that. But the reality is that you can get a damn good car for not a lot of money nowadays. They may not be the coolest car on the road, but there's something cool in their value that can't be denied.

We just did the rounds in December looking for a 3 row new family truckster.

We had an ‘06 Pilot and loved it. We practically ran it I to the ground. When looking around recently, was surprised that the new Pilots are still basically the same inside. They seemed a little pricey and missing some of the comfort and features of the others out there.

We replaced the Pilot with a ‘16 Explorer. Bought it with 32k on it and it was a rattle trap that leaked water like crazy. Build quality was marginal at best. We got what seemed like weekly recalls on it. Not sure if the Edge fares better?

My daily is a Kia Optima. It’s been a great car. We looked at a Telluride. They’re getting great reviews. Seemed nice, maybe a little gaudy, but they’re a hot commodity right now and hard to find around here. My sister in law and brother have Sorrentos and love them.

I was intrigued by the Mazda 5 since they’ve got a. Little sportiness to them, but it was too small for us. I drove one as a rental in Hawaii and really liked it.

My neighbors have a Subaru Ascent and love it. They were die hard Honda people and had an ‘05 and a ‘15 Pilot and now own two Subarus.

We ended up with a new ‘19 Chevy Traverse Premier AWD that we got some great incentives on. So far, we’re really liking it. The controls are more simple and build quality is way more solid than the Explorer. I believe they were redesigned in ‘18 so that might be an option if you are up for something bigger.

We have a pilot and it has been fantastic. My wife said that if I ever take it away from her that we are divorced.

I picked up a 2019 Blazer. Had a Equinox for 9 years. Was looking for something a little bigger that road better. 305 hp. We love it. Has a whole lot of get up and go. Average 27 on the road.

We have a 2012 Highlander V6. 135,000 trouble free miles. We looked at the Pilot at the same time. Today? I'd look at the Pilot, the Passport or the Highlander. Maybe one of the Mazda's. 30K miles is not even broken in.

As was mentioned near the beginning, at 30K miles anything you are looking at should be just fine. Each brand and model has a unique feel. My suggestion would be to drive them all and choose the one that feels the best to you. As far as the GM choices, that I work on daily: The 3.6L-V6 and to a slightly lesser extent the Ecotech 4-cylinder engines all have the same issues as they get older. They MUST have their oil and oil filters changed at 50% of the oil life remaining on the driver information center. This is around 5000 miles. Always use only full synthetic oil. If you do this, they are great engines, the piston rings won't get stuck and the engine won't burn oil like the Exon Valdez at 70K miles. The timing chains and tensioners won't fail, the engine won't sound like a thrashing machine and you can expect over 200K miles of trouble free driving as far as the engine goes. If you push the oil changes, all the above will happen. See this every day. Dirty oil is death to these little engines. Good luck with your choice.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree shouldn't have a problem with any vehicle at 30K miles, I should have said do any of these drivetrains have known problems at 100-120K range. I drive my vehicle until they're dead, try to get 180-200K mile out of them or their 15-20 years old.

Thanks again.

Don't know much about them but my son loves his Toyota Rav-4...very reliable and dependable.

Waiting on new Bronco (not "Baby" Bronco, bigger one). Removable doors, top, etc. I love the 2.7 Eco Boost in my F150, so that drivetrain in Bronco is cool.

OK, got it. From what I see daily through my shop. Ford Edge, no experience. Honda Pilot, no major mechanical if oil changes are kept at reasonable intervals. Other Honda engines, CRV in particular, some piston ring sticking and oil consumption. Starting around 60K miles, due mostly from poor maintenance. Honda has extended the warranty to 150K miles under some circumstances. Body hardware, switch gear, radios, wiper motors, interior bits and pieces, all pretty cheap and delicate. Expect some parts to fail. Kia SUV's and cars: they have a 100K drivetrain warranty for a reason. With average care, they make it 100K without completely falling apart. My experience is 120-130k miles is end of life mechanically for these vehicles. Expect to spend considerable $ after that to keep them running. High pressure fuel pump is a trouble spot. I replace them regularly. Parts can be pricey and sometimes difficult to source. Much prefer Honda and Toyota for long term service. But Hyundai and Kia are gaining on them every year. But also the price gap is closing and cost almost the same now new. Used, the Koreans lag dramatically in resale value. There is a reason.

I have personal experience with Hyundai/Kia. Not only have I owned them, I have sold a lot of them and a good friend is the head Kia mechanic at a large, multi-line dealership. The bulk of his work are "make readies". There is some warranty work, but not much and most of that work is due to mis-use and lack of maintenance. A few months ago he had a Sorento come in with 97,000 miles and a blown engine. Upon inspection he found the original "assembly line" oil filter was still on the engine. Yep, Kia's are junk, especially when you don't change the oil. But then, let's see how many manufacturer's vehicles will go 97,000 miles without an oil change. Oh and Hyundai/Kia steps up on their warranties, not make the customer jump through hoops in hopes to get something covered.

With all that said, Toyota has always been king, Honda seems to be popular among snowflakes but can be mechanical nightmares especially their hybrids and Nissans in my area are small market with very poor resale. Hyundai/Kia SUV's have excellent resale value, their cars not so much.

To be fair, Kia/Hyundai did have a pretty big recall a few years ago due to the engines not being properly cleaned during assembly. The 2.0 Turbo in my '13 Optima was affected, and let go of a rod bearing on the freeway at 60k. I got a new engine and turbo out of it. That said, 60k with trash in the motor is pretty impressive to me. I'm pretty religious about my oil changes though. I think '11-'14 cars were affected. Other than that, it's been a fantastic car. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Kia or Hyundai.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1...gine-failures/

I have changed several A/C compressors and exhaust systems on the circa 2010 CR-V's. They are definitely weak spots on that model.

Not the same car but we traded my wife's 2012 Taurus Limited on the 2018 Edge I mention in post #5 above. We bought the Taurus new and it was serviced it's entire life at the dealership. It had 130k on it when we traded it and we had had no problems with it at all. We traded it because we felt it was time for a new car not due to any issues with it. Of course I can't say if we will have the same experience with the new Edge.

We had almost 200k on our Pilot when we got rid of it. We bought it with 28k on it. I did have to replace the A/C compressor around 120k and I did the CV joints around the same time which I suppose is expected. Otherwise, super solid and very dependable. My wife still misses it.

One regret I have in buying the Explorer is that I'm pretty sure it was an ex-rental. Definitely won't do that again. We bought it through CarMax and I figured 32k on a '16 was still practically new, but we had so many fit and finish issues with it. Leaky sunroof and doors resulting in sopping wet carpet and a dripping headliner every time it rained. The windows rattled when going up and down, and the seat covers constantly popped off with the kids getting in and out of the car. No issues with the engine and trans though.

It's a minor thing, but I found the collision and parking sensors on the Explorer really annoying. They'd beep at you for every little thing. I imagine it's the same system for most Fords. The Traverse is much more subtle about it and it less of a nag when driving.

I find the overall controls on the Chevy more simple too. They did a great job collapsing features together so it's easy navigate. Seems like the Ford had an individual button for every thing. Even the way the rear seats fold and the way the liftgate works on the Chevy is less convoluted than the Ford.