Favorite 3rd row vehicles to tow.

Rick Jay wrote:
What are the size of the people who will be riding in the car? The 3rd row on the smaller 3-row SUVs generally aren't comfortable for adults. Kids, fine. Teens & adults, not so much.

Oh, I also have a 2003 Suzuki XL-7 with a 3rd row seat and 4WD (such models up to 2006 were flat-towable). I bought it for that purpose should we need another option. I really like the car. I never got around to rigging it up to tow for several reasons. But one of them is that after a couple of years, the kids had grown to the point that stuffing them back there would not be pleasant for them. Plus, when that seat is in use, storage space drops almost to nil. The minivan, by comparison, is cavernous and works much better. When we are at a campground and then use the car to go sight-seeing, we often want to take a cooler with beverages, sandwiches, etc. The XL-7 doesn't even have the space for the cooler when the 3rd row seat is in use. So carefully assess how you intend to use the vehicle. Now, if we were planning on going "off road", the XL-7 would be the choice...and we'd just have stuff the kids in and strap a cooler to the roof! LOL But that's just not been our life stylfe.

Good Luck,

~Rick

For some reason, this post wasn't listed under "my forums" so I couldn't find it and thought the post never went through. Sorry to all for the no responses!!

There's 6 of us, including one car seat and one booster seat. My booster seat kiddo can sit in the 3rd row, and even my 10 yr old will fit comfortably too. But I may want a van so I can use toad while at home too. I didn't know any could be towed without getting the lube pump installed so I'm going to look into an Odyssey.

I have no idea how much I weigh loaded up. The only place I can remember someone telling me to go is at the state lines where the truck do he weight check. That's a long haul for me to trek (3 hours one way) to find out though. I'll camping world to see if they do it or know of a local place that does. Our total family weight with pets included is 570lbs.

I want to stay with 4-down so I don't have to store a dolly at campsite or at home. I'm going to get a portable brake system so I can change out the toad whenever I want. I'm going to get magnetic light kit for same reason. It seems most are happy with the convenience of flat-toad vs dolly and that driving is easier with it too. THe dolly weight takes away from the size of vehicle I need anyway.

TBH I don't really want to toad. We're going 3k miles away and wont even use the toad (unless for emergencies) until we get to SD (from FL), where I could get by without having one, then not until ID, where there are NO rental companies nearby. Otherwise I'd save the expense of setting it up until next time.

Sooo, all this said, I need to get the weight check before proceeding! Thanks for responses and sorry again for not knowing this post actually posted!