My wife's company just notified her that she is due for a new car and has to pick one out of a list by tomorrow afternoon. Neither of us has time to take anything for a test drive before then, so we'll do some online research but I thought y'all would have better input. The company pays for the car, insurance, all maintenance, and fuel (personal and business use) and she'll probably have the car for 2-3 years (60K-80K miles) before they give her a new one. We don't have any kids now but probably will have one within the time frame of owning this car. Here are the cars on the list.

1) Chevy Equinox FWD or AWD 4dr LT
2) Chrysler Pacifica - ALREADY RULED THIS ONE OUT
3) Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium
4) Subaru Outback 4dr 2.5i Premium
5) Toyota Camry Hybrid LE CVT

There is also a Hyundai Sonata on the list but for some reason we'd have to pay something out of pocket for that one.

She doesn't have a strong preference but we travel quite a bit between Houston, South Texas, Oklahoma, and Denver in her car and we usually have our dog with us, so she is leaning toward the Equinox or the Outback. She is currently in a Volvo XC 60 which is a bit tight, but has overall been a good car. What do y'all think about ride quality, reliability, etc?

Outback and worry about the CVT and it being a smidge underpowered, or Equinox and worry about it being a Chevy Equinox.

Outback or AWD Equinox.

Those are all very very slow cars, without any real fun factor, unless you take a subaru off road.

Not sure where you are, but if they're offering the 'nox as AWD then I assume it's somewhere icy/cold. If so, I'd go Outback, if not, Camry.

outback, bike rack, and some flannel. call it a day.

Outback.

Newer Subarus have supposedly gotten some noise mitigation -- they tend to be pretty loud.

Which might be an issue when you are clocking 20-30k of highway miles in a year.

Camry is probably the most comfortable highway car.

It is worth a quick test drive of the Camry and the Subaru if you can manage it.

If you're only driving it 80k or 3 years at the outside, and the company pays maintenance, just get the one that works best for you between the Outback and Equinox AWD. If you can't go drive one then go by interior room or drive height or whatever. I am in Denver and I see a hell of a lot of Outbacks and not many Equinoxes, so I'd personally go Outback.

Outback cause I love subies (and you will too)

Outback all day errrday

outback or camry

Outback if she wants a little more of an suv functionality. And she can throw away any razors she uses to groom herself while she's at it. Camry if she's cool with regular sedan.

Outback is awesome but watch out if she gets her hair cut short and stops wearing makeup and dresses.

Outback wagon

Outback if you want an AWD system that actually works

We have that outback and it isn't fast but it is comfortable and rides nice. Haven't had any issues driving up into the mountains and it's great in the snow. I've found that it is slow to accelerate from a stop going uphill. If you are already moving and need to accelerate it is fine.

Outback but make sure she keeps in mind she always needs extra time pulling into traffic and don't bother trying to pass on two lane roads. Those things are so slow.

Outback. My last company car was a Legacy and I really wished it was an Outback.

Outback, no question. They drive really really well, have plenty of room in the cargo bay for a dog, and are low enough to the ground for the dog to easily jump in and out themself. Plus they are designed to make car seat installation very easy, and have top notch safety ratings.

I had concerns about the speed after reading some feedback on this board, but it has plenty of power for anything you would use an Outback for.

aggieforester05 said:

---

Outback but make sure she keeps in mind she always needs extra time pulling into traffic and don't bother trying to pass on two lane roads. Those things are so slow.

---

Our 2018 has plenty of pick up. When is the last time your drove one?

Another vote for Outback

Prediction - OP will end up with an equinox.

If you have at least 6 cats and a BETO bumper sticker.....It's a no brainer....Outback

Haha, thanks for all of the input!

Agreed, these aren't the most exciting choices but a free car is a free car. She's going with the Outback.

SweaterusVestus said:

---

Haha, thanks for all of the input!

Agreed, these aren't the most exciting choices but a free car is a free car. She's going with the Outback.

---

This might be the second time someone took the advice of this board!

I'm just impressed that no one piled on the minivan being preemptively ruled out, though that's probably only because it was a Chrysler.

This may be the first time the auto board agreed on something!

Two girls I know in the medical sales industry, both have luxury cars as their personal, got Outbacks in the last couple years as work cars. Both of them made sure to tell me how surprised they were with how much they liked the Subies.

No, they didn't hook up.

Another vote for the Outback.

Rule #1 on both the new car and...

OP, I think you are mistaken, there is no trim level for the Pacifica of "ALREADY RULED THIS ONE OUT".

John Francis Donaghy said:

---

aggieforester05 said:

---

Outback but make sure she keeps in mind she always needs extra time pulling into traffic and don't bother trying to pass on two lane roads. Those things are so slow.

---

Our 2018 has plenty of pick up. When is the last time your drove one?

---

My mother has a 2015 model 2.5L, I've driven it from time to time. Is your's a 3.5L?

I wanted to make a quirky remark about the Outback, but I see they're all taken. Well done auto board.

drumboy said:

---

Two girls I know in the medical sales industry, both have luxury cars as their personal, got Outbacks in the last couple years as work cars. Both of them made sure to tell me how surprised they were with how much they liked the Subies.

No, they didn't hook up.

---

Why even tell us this story then?

She is not a lesbian, thus outback should be out.

Doubt its an option for your wife, but they are making a diesel equinox that gets 39 mpg.

I'm always surprised by the respect for Subaru on this board. We had a Crosstrek(?) as a rental one time in CO. You would assume a car named like that would be ok in that locale considering how many they had.

Biggest POS I've ever driven. We literally had to pull over on ascents to let people pass us because the car was so underpowered it could not maintain the minimum speed level even in the right lane.

Terrible car. Trusted the guy at rental place on that one. Won't do it again.