2013/14 Infiniti FX

Originally Posted by TXSpeedDemon

I went SUV shopping about 8 months ago (needed something bigger before my daughter was born).

If you want something that still has a performance feel to it then the FX is your best bet in that price range. If I had not been able to keep my Z I would have bought an FX. It had the best aggressive handling and acceleration of anything I tried under $55K.

My wife and I decided to go with a Cadillac SRX instead. It's not as fast as the FX, and has a lot more body roll in the tight corners. That being said it is A LOT nicer in the inside. The interior is PIMP with a nice modern layout, subtle mood lighting, great leather throughout, much bigger sunroof than the FX better non-premium sound system and although the FX looks a little bigger the interior space is a bit better in the SRX.

Exterior wise it's all personal taste. I think the SRX has a more modern look while the FX is looking quite dated to me. We have a pearl white one with the beige and brown interior and couldn't be happier. The only car I would have rather had was a CTS-V Wagon but couldn't find one under $55K and my wife hates wagons so i would have had to give up the Z for it.

The only minor complaint with the SRX is car seat back-seat room. While people sitting the the back seat have a ton of room, my infant rear-facing car seat doesn't allow the driver's seat to go all the way back. It's only a problem if you keep the car seat not in the middle position, and only if you have an infant rear-facing seat (when the same seat is facing forward there are no issues so this may just be an issue with Graco infant seats).

Our third runner up was the Acura MDX.

other ones we tested:
Haundai Santa Fe (SURPRISINGLY NICE)
Acura RDX
Nissan Pathfinder
Infinity JX
Honda Passport
Toyota Highlander