well, i'll put my vote in for the Ford Explorer. 168k on mine and nothing but normal maintenance. Good pricing these days on any of them, but if I were to buy another it would be the Explorer again. a good one coming off a lease for about 15K max, with only about 13K in miles. I got generally, in the summer about 21 mpg, even at 160K, and about 25 on the road trips. Just your everyday run of the mill SUV. The 4 runners are nice but pricey and I think it best to minimize the overall financial commitment of any car.

 

I don't know what kind of actualy need she has for all of the space for an XXL SUV...If I had to recommend an SUV for a younger person 16-25, single, no kids. I would suggest either the Murano or the Rogue. Both are great cars with great track records and they hold theirvalue relatively well.

The Rogue definately seems a bit more feminine to me than the Murano...probably because of the smaller size..

I'm a big fan of Nissan in general so that would be my recommendation.

...and with the rogue you would have the SUV feel without the SUV guzzle.

 

What are they looking for in an SUV? Many people have mentioned the SRT8..but the Mercedes ML 63 has more power...503hp. They are nice and come fully loaded and AWD.. I like the trailblazer SS and they are getting into low 20's.

 

Well she couldn't go with us to the show because she had a fever. So my friend was going to go back to the show a second time to look at the SUVs with her. He picked up a lot of SUV roadtest at the library and left them with her to study.
As it turns out, really the only reason she wants an SUV (with a 7 passenger capacity) is so she can chauffer her sister and her family around when they come to visit for 2 weeks, once a year.
My friend tried to pursuade her it would be much cheaper to simply "rent" a Mini-Van for those two weeks than to buy a "fuelish" SUV and drive it the rest of the year.
She has an older Jeep Cherokee now. So any number of smaller SUV's or Crossovers would probably suit her just fine the other 50 weeks out of the year. But Daddy told her to go and pick out anything she wants, and he's not very fond of any Japanese vehicles. So I'm guessing it's going to be something American or German since there's a giant Black Mercedes SEL parked in their garage now.
Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I'll let ya know what she finally decides on buying.