I would say, 99% on road, 1% off road on beach driving on soft sand. so, 4wd is a must. AWD won't work.
Towing doesn't matter to me. 3rd row is a must. i haven't give much thought to domestic vs Japanese. I only started looking at next gen pathy R51 since it still has 4WD.
since most of time, it is doing family hauling, so, i dont want too old. I am thinking 2009 to 2012, at least for Pathy. Pilot is the other suv I am looking into.
thanks for any advice .