My old boss had a Torrent. After a few thousand miles it developed a lumpy idle. <_<
cant believe i forgot to mention this: the tblazer had a 100k/7year warranty. the new equnox did not. they were so kind as to transfer the balance (roughly 6 years and 82k) to the equinox
So your mom hauls the dog around and does some gardening? Sounds like she could have gotten away with a yaris, or a versa, occasionally folding the seats down.