Hi folks - I'm in the market for a new car for me, my wife, and our two year old. We live in the NYC area so we do some city driving, but will mostly use the car for road trips, tent camping, out to the beach etc.

For size, we aren't planning more kids so we are thinking the compact SUV size is the right for one kid's worth of stroller/gear, groceries, camping trips, 1 week road trips etc.

We went and looked at a few, and I've always been told to stick to Toyota/Honda/Mazda because we prioritize reliability. We felt the Rav4 and the Mazdas were a little tight inside, but the CR-V felt like exactly the right size.

So then we were thinking ok Hybrid or gas... but we drive a lot of highway, plus I straight up can't imagine not having a spare tire, and the hybrid doesn't have one. I don't do a ton of offroading or anything, but want to have a car that can go on some forest service style dirt roads for camping etc, and I feel like I need a spare. I've also read the gas can carry a little more weight.

So that left me with the gas option, but now I'm seeing people say "never get a CVT, the 1.5L Turbo is trash" etc etc

So now I'm lost -

Should I get over the spare tire deal and get the hybrid because it's more reliable (but also is it?). Should I get the gas because the reports of doom surrounding the CVT 1.5L are overstated? Or should we go back to the drawing board and find a different vehicle altogether?

I thought Honda's were supposed to be better than most though, so not sure where to go!

Any thoughts / suggestions welcome!