7-8 seat tow Vehicle?

That Jayco X18D should be fine for half tons as long as you don't have eight 200 pound adults. I was thinking you wanted something more like the X23F or X254. I realize you are in a popup now, but I'm not sure how fun it would be for 7- people to live in an X18D on rainy days for example.

I bought our fully loaded 2000 Yukon XL 2500 with the 6.0L for $7500 with ~125k miles and in excellent condition. It will seat 8 with plenty of cargo space left. There are deals out there if you look hard enough. High gas prices drove down big SUV prices because nobody wanted to feed them. I average 14ish city driving, but I bought it to fill a specific need, which it does easily.

Sequoias and Armadas are nice, but if you are going to buy a dedicated tow vehicle, you may as well go 3/4 ton right off the bat. I am speaking from personal experience here, I went from a 1/2 ton Avalanche towing a hybrid to a 3/4 ton Yukon towing a bunkhouse TT because I spent a miserable rainy weekend stuck in our Aerolite with 3 kids that were trying to kill each other.

APT wrote:
That Jayco X18D should be fine for half tons as long as you don't have eight 200 pound adults. I was thinking you wanted something more like the X23F or X254. I realize you are in a popup now, but I'm not sure how fun it would be for 7- people to live in an X18D on rainy days for example.

We don't camp far, always 3 days 2 night (weekend) at the lake,
and only camping when the weather is good (mid summer)

We are 4 adult and 2 small kids (2,5) and sometime have an adult guest.
Grandpa like to sleep outside in a tent anyway, get up early set a good cup of coffee on an open fire.

Dream Girl wrote:
"Any other restrictions? Budget? New/used? "

No, not really.
At the moment I am just researching what is out there...

I really want HTT, but we are 4 in our immediate family, and always go camping with our relatives.

Right now we are using 2 vehicles
The Mini get everybody to the destination, and the Jeep tow the Pop-up.
- the Van and the Jeep towing capacity is only 3500lb.

It will be great if we could trade the van for a 7 seat car that can tow a mid size HTT. (~4500lb loaded)

The Yukon XL 3/4 ton SUV that was suggested look promising (and VERY expensive), so I will look into that (used?), I don't see myself driving a full size van or 6 door pickup truck...

As you're from Winnipeg, check the ads in the WFP on Friday. Often there are ads from dealers for used 1-2 year old GM one ton, passenger (3500 series) vans, for reasonable prices. Many have low mileage on them.

I also want to add that right now we are camping 7 people in a pop-up, and we are doing great (no too crowded as we spend most of the time OUTSIDE),
so I am sure that ANY light HTT that sleep 6 will work for us :)
EVEN the small X17Z or X19H.

Also:
We only camping 3-4 time a year so it is not the end of the world if we have to keep using 2 cars.

You guys are awesome, I except and value your answers even if it is not want I wish to hear.

Thank you.

Why don't you like vans? A 6.0L Chevy Express is exactly what you need and probably reasonably priced. Be sure to get one with the trailer wiring already in place as it can be a pain for a full 7-way set up.

My Daughter & Son-in-law have a dressed up Nissan NV3500... I bet it would tow your load... I think it seats 10 or 12 comfortably...

I paid less than 9,000 for my 2001 Ford Excursion Limited with 150,000 miles. Limited edition with the v10. Bought it for the same reason you are talking about. Next year we are getting back into camping and its the wife,son, two golden retrievers and almost someone else from the family coming. Keep in mind you can find Excursions for much less in the States, Alaska is a supply and demand market.

I car pool with my wife 70% of the time to work so the X stays in the garage. Using this year to go through and replace everything that needs updating. In the end I'll have less than 13k into a permanent tow vehicle that has all the goodies of a newer rig and best of all its paid for.

I have owned a Chevy 2500 with the 6.0 motor, if you do go the Chevy / GMC route try and go with a 2008+ model year to get the six speed transmission it makes a difference with that motor.

My k2500 has quad buckets and rear bench removed. You will need two vehicles to continue camping as a water polo team. 7 in a pup? Insert gun in mouth, boom!

Any full size sub with 3rd row seats within the last 15 years or so will fit the bill for pulling the camper and hauling 6-8 people as long as at least a couple are kids.
To keep your camper options open and not max out the tow rig, my preference would be a newer Suburban 2500, but most of the 1/2 ton models foreign or domestic will get the job done.
The newer Expedition XLs with Eco boost are pretty sweet and a friend hauled his 30'+ cargo trailer back to GA from AK, not full, maybe 8klbs. Said it pulled with ease.