^^ In fairness, “family car” in West Texas means a pickup with an extended cab.
Compact or mid-sized. Full in the city is a nightmare.
Personally, I’m a Ford guy. So I’d go with an Escape, Edge, or Explorer.
If you only have one car, I’d go with Explorer. Since my wife has her car and I have mine, I’ll take the Escape and she can have the Expedition.
Nissans also make good SUV’s. The Murano is a good size and should last a long time.
You asked a random guy in the middle of Texas and expected him to pick anything other than an American brand? Anyway, any 20-year-old Ford car that the mechanic would see today is likely to be junk - Ford made really crappy cars in the US until 2008 or so, when they went bankrupt and reorganized. Newer Ford cars are basically European imports and have much better quality - but they have not been around long enough to have proven reliability.
Pickup trucks are another story, and people have Justin Bieber like fan loyalty to the F150, which they will claim is the best truck ever, despite any reasoning.
paging hpracing.
^ I thought Ford avoided bankruptcy?
We have a Murano and a Pathfinder and recommend both. Pathfinder is probably bigger than OP is looking for, but Murano is a good option (caveat: our Murano is not the most recent version, so can’t speak to a brand new one).