@Ken Anderson Anti-Skid Brakes (ABS) have undergone significant additional development after they were added to new cars sold in America; it was mandated by the government, of course. The concept is similar for all the schemes unleashed; front wheel speed is continuously compared to rear wheel speed, and should a large discrepancy between the two appear, the front or rear brakes are "biased" to eliminate the wheel "slip". That was how they worked initially. Later, all four wheels were compared speedwise and control of the braking function was TAKEN AWAY from the driver..... each wheel's brake was then applied electronically by means of solenoids controlling high pressure valves; the fluid pressure is generated by an electrically driven pump independent of the vehicle's foot brakes. This is how it works since about 2002. When ABS initiates, high pressure fluid is instantly directed against the driver's foot pedal, making it locked and ineffective. The ABS then "pulses" the wheel brakes independently of each other, until the "skid" condition disappears. Testing has proven conclusively that ABS stops a car more quickly than any driver-applied brake system. If you can believe that. Personally, I don't care for ABS, because along with it, the computer (PCM) was empowered with taking control of the vehicle, going so far as to even kill the engine. This happened to me when the main memory chip in our ABS Module burned out. Frank
Since we're leasing, we'll be trading our 2020 Ford Escape in for a 2022 Ford Escape, if all goes well. They didn't really change anything between 2020 and 2022, so we won't have to relearn anything. We have a couple of other cars that we own, but the Tracker is pretty much used only when I am going into the woods somewhere these days, and, although the Nissan Rogue seems to be in pretty good shape, it's an older car (2010), so we feel safer in a newer car on long-distance trips. The Rogue is used for most of our in-state travel, though.
I bought my Mazda in 2019 for the same reason...long-trip reliability. There are no car rental places near me for trips, and most everything here in the country is at least medium-trip. Regarding model year changes...I just had my car in the shop for a bunch of maintenance stuff (brakes, tires, inspection) and had a loaner. My car is the 2 row SUV. The loaner was a 2023 model 3 row SUV. The interiors, controls, computer systems are the same across the models...except they changed the software since I got my car. The NAV system interface and the Entertainment System interface were all different. My car lets me scroll through stations using a button on the steering wheel. That same button on the 2023 lets you Fast Forward/Rewind the song (I guess the memory buffers the signal), but there is no setting so you can change stations using it. I guess they are pushing you to use the Voice Recognition (which does not load properly for the radio function maybe 10% of the time.) I didn't have it long enough (nor did I drive it enough) to experience other differences. The experience was off-putting. Many of the changes make no sense.
Some aren't trustworthy for sure. We were lost and the navigator told us turn into a pasture. But it worked good to let us know how fast we're going since speed ohmmeter doesn't work in the old truck.
The late model Subaru Forester I got as a loaner felt like it had a mind of its own and that I wasn't fully in charge. I was getting warning dings etc. and I didn't know why.
The Other Half just traded in his Ford Edge SUV for a Ford Explorer. He needed something that could pull a motorcycle trailer dependably, especially up mountains. It's a good vehicle, but a lot "stiffer" than the Edge, and louder.