In case anybody is curious about everything else I test drove, here's a quick recap:
What I had: 2015 Toyota Highlander XLE
It was a competitive vehicle when I got it, but almost all of its competition has since received a major refresh, so the current gen highlanders are feeling pretty old. I'm told the 2019 is going to be a redesign year, but since I haven't seen anything about it, it might not be until mid-2019 at this point. It was comfortable enough for my driving posture (more on that in a second) but the interior definitely left a lot to be desired from a refinement standpoint (cheap plastics and such)
Honda Pilot
This one checked all of the boxes from a feature standpoint (Android Auto, ventilated seats, etc), but pretty quickly got crossed off the list because I didn't find it comfortable to drive. I like to have a fairly large center console to lean on the right side (which the Highlander has) and I need enough width on the door panel to rest my left arm/elbow on and still reach the steering wheel. My highway cruising posture is just to have my left hand barely on the steering wheel with my arm resting comfortably on the door panel.
Not possible on the Pilot. The door panel was so thin that my arm just slid off so I couldn't rest my left arm anywhere. They also made the maddening decision to put the center console down low, and give each front seat individual arm rests instead of using a properly sized console as one large armrest. The arm rest was thin, and I had to keep my right arm in tight to even use it. It just didn't fit my driving posture, so out it went.
Mazda CX-9
The one I drove I believe was the first year of their redesign, and this car looks fantastic both inside and out. The interior is one of the best interiors I've seen in a non-luxury car, and it was quite comfortable to drive. There were a couple issues that made me pass on this one, first was the lack of features that I wanted. At the time they didn't support Android Auto, though I hear that's coming in the 2019 model (with available upgrades for the 2018s or something like that). But they also didn't offer ventilated seats at any trim level, which wasn't a dealbreaker in itself but added to the list of downsides.
The biggest downside was the feeling of my legs being a bit cramped while driving. I usually (unknowingly I guess) lean my left leg out a bit, but it seemed like there was less open space across the width in the driver's seat than I'm used to, and I noticed this when I tried to get in my normal driving position. It was something I probably could adjust for in time, but that coupled with the features it was missing was enough to keep looking.
Subaru Ascent
This is the one that for the better part of 2018 I was convinced it was my next car. It's Subaru's brand new 3-row crossover, and offered everything on my list from a company I've considered previously, but in general are behind the curve in technology so I hadn't been considering it. Well the Ascent had all of the technology I was expecting covered, so for once Subaru didn't seem to be lagging behind the pack in features. I was 100% convinced this was my next car, and I was so excited when I finally got word from the dealership that one came in to test drive. I run to the dealership, and wait for a while as I was unannounced and waiting for the saleman to finish up before I got to try it... and then I finally got on the road.
Instant disappointment... don't get me wrong, the car handled fine and was very responsive, but the same driving posture issues I had with the Pilot surfaced in the Ascent but in different ways. While the door panel was plenty wide enough to rest my arm, it's almost like the steering wheel diameter was much smaller than normal and I couldn't reach the wheel with my arm on the door. The center console was also a little lower than I was hoping for, so instead of providing natural support I had to lean over to even touch it.
*sigh* so much for that
I then went down a spiral of wondering what I was going to do. I was only a couple months away from my lease ending, and while I had my wife's older malibu to get by it certainly wasn't comfortable. I considered an old lexus to keep payments down and start saving for something down the road, I looked into replacing the head unit on the Malibu to make it tolerable, all sorts of things. Then I stumbled across an option that wasn't even on my radar.
2019 Hyundai Santa Fe
I honestly don't remember how I came across it, but I found an article about the new redesign of the Santa Fe and loved how it looked. As more info came out, I got more and more excited. I started badgering my local dealership about it, and he didn't know a thing about it. They finally got one in to test drive, and he still couldn't tell me anything about it because they "hadn't had their training yet". He said this was one of the oddest roll-outs he's seen, as they were getting vehicles in without notice and without getting official training to sell them properly. I was still able to take it out for a spin which answered a lot of my questions.
Could I rest my left arm on door properly? Yes. Was the center console where it should be, and provided a good arm rest? Yes. Did I have enough leg room? Sure did. The rest of my questions couldn't be answered yet because this was a lower end model without the other features I wanted. Another few weeks go by and the finally get an Ultimate trim that I got to drive as well. Everything I wanted was there. This is it, finally after long last I found what I've been looking for... and it's a good $5k cheaper than all of the other options I had looked at to boot.
Now that I've locked in and found the color I wanted, now it's probably another 2-3 weeks of waiting since it hasn't been delivered yet. At least there's an end in sight... I'm going to an impatient SOB until it gets here though.
