Long time reader, first time poster. Thanks Bill for hosting such a wonderful site, & to all of you for the info here!
So my Honda CR-V finally died after 510,000 miles, & I’ve been looking at getting a new car. I’ll mostly use it to head up into the mountains and occasional long road trips, but as you can see I hold onto my cars & drive them to death so I’m going to purchase a new or late model car.
My two brothers work at different car dealerships: one sells Hondas, the other sells Ford & Mazda. Both of them can help me get a superb deal (I’ll donate a small portion of my savings to the site

I’ve narrowed it down to the following cars:
Mazda CX-5 (2013-new)
Ford Escape (2011-new)
Ford Edge (2011-new)
Honda Ridgeline (2011-2014 used)
Volvo XC70 (a friend from out-of-state offered to sell me their 2013, but I have no idea how it performs compared to the rest)
Ford F-150 (2012-new)
What do y’all think?
I’ve already ruled out the standard 14ers.com responses of Subarus, Toyotas, & Jeeps; my family’s had terrible experiences with them & won’t try again, plus I won't get a deal they way I would on a Ford/Mazda/Honda. Of the above vehicles, which ones do you think will perform the best heading to trailheads or dealing with snow? I’m sure the Ford truck will be best, but they’re expensive to purchase & don’t have the best fuel economy. I’m not looking to do any serious off-roading up lake Como or bouldering, I’m automatically going to upgrade the tires, & I always carry a shovel & emergency supplies. Essentially I’m looking for whatever will equal or exceed a Subaru when it comes to AWD performance without the stereotypical “Colorado” look. I'm also not interested in making any upgrades or changes aside from tires; it's a car, not a house.
In short, does anyone have one of the above cars or know how they perform on some of the rougher mountain roads?