Oh, you mean the ones that have completely dismissed building EVs and small fuel efficient compacts in favor of larger and more expensive SUVs?

Oddly missing: FCA, MB, and Toyota.

Both my friend and I got Golf Rs last year. I told him to snow tire it up but he didnt listen. Then I had to listen to him complain about how many times he got stuck in his job parking lot after it snowed. Meanwhile, I cruised up the canyon during a huge storm when they stopped all cars without chains no problem. I…

Have you seen those in real life? Yuck!

So the article shows the perfect car fpr his needs and then your experts go on to suggest four entirely different cars... Uhhhh uhmkay.

There better be something awesome inside that garage while your BMW sits outside in the snow...

The CX-9 gets 23mpg combined vs 22mpg for the Pilot.

I really want to like the Ascent. The concept version looked awesome. Something about the production version’s proportions just doesn’t do it for me.

Business in the front. Party in the back. Put some jump seats in the back for the extra passengers and some snow tires on it in the winter and call it a day. You’ll look very utilitarian. ;)

Exactly. A Cx-5 is plenty roomy for four adults since there is no attempt at squeezing a 3rd row in. With a $30K budget, you can just get into a lightly used AWD Grand Touring.

Telluride time!

Better idea: Keep the 2nd down all the time, so people in the back get to lounge. This was my favorite thing to do in the old Tahoe I had in high school.

“Good impressions without being too fancy” is literally why my late father leased seven Volvo S80s in a row.

I don’t know how tall he or his clients are, but my in-laws have a 2016 Pilot and at 6'2 each I cannot sit in the 2nd row behind my father in law.

4 adults comfortably is optimistic in a Crosstrek.

Also, if you’re worried about space for luggage you could hop into it’s longer, also AWD and Twin Turbo sister:

This proves I win. 

Used Denali, ticks all the boxes and will get 18 MPG if you drive right. A good 2012 can be had for >$20k. With a set of winter tires you can push through 3 feet of snow handily. Can do all maintenance yourself, if so inclined.

Just make sure you get snow tires. Pictured: my MN all wheel drive steed actually on snow tires, unlike many many people here.

Also note in typical mall crawler fashion, the soft off road tires are burned down almost into slicks.