Good car to get my wife for her birthday

My wife who's turning 25 really could use a car, her current car is a 2003 Ford Taurus, she really seems to like small medium suvs /crossovers. I don't want to spend over 40k though, but I don't want to get her a bare bone vehicle either. I was thinking getting her either a Ford Edge or a chevy equinox, any other suggestions

Jeep Cherokee good vehicle… Last long in mileage… And very cheap on maintenance

Bmw

KIA and Hyundai make some good, reliable SUV's. I never cared for the Ford Edge or Equinox.

If you want her to have a car she is happy with, do not buy her a car. Take her shopping for a car and let her find one she actually likes. Tell her your budget and the two of you can find cars together. Men and women have completely different ideas of what they like to drive.

Why not let HER pick out what she wants?

A Miata. You can drive it too on the weekends lol.

Guidance is OK, but let HER choose. That's what a wise husband would do. I made this mistake. I'm 6'2 and my wife is only 5'2". I did not appreciate the little things that can cause a lot of driver discomfort in shorter people, such as how close they have to sit. I bought her a new SUV as a birthday surprise, but the sharp angle she had to hold her foot in order to press the gas pedal made her extremely unhappy with it and she couldn't drive smoothly. She also could not see out the high back window adequately, even with the electric seat raised to full height. Climbing in and out of the car was also hard for her. So, we ended up returning the vehicle and we bought one to her liking.

I think it would be really really COOL if you got her a car like this! LMAO!

I love my 2017 Kia Soul +, got it in Oct 2017 for a little over $20K.

Escape or Rav4