 My wife needed a new car and we wanted something that could haul 5 comfortably, and occasionally squeeze up to 2 more.  Reliability was also very important.   In addition, my wife loves all the little comfort features, so these were the main 2 criteria.  After extensive research, I narrowed down the list to:  Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Toyota Highlander.  
 Personally, I preferred the Santa Fe, but there are way fewer of these on the market (we were looking for a late model lightly used vehicle to not take the big depreciation hit).  So, it was between the Santa Fe and Highlander.  I like the Highlander, but I was able to get a newer Sorento with less miles and more features.