Choices of TV for a family of 6

I’d stay home if one of the kids had to ride b*tch for 1000miles next to me!
This is yet another argument for a HD SUV again. There are so few left, that the first mfg to pull their head out of their arse will make a fortune on them!

deltabravo wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
tallest two were 5'16".

5'16" = 6'4"

Nope, I'm 6' tall, so boyz are shorter than me at 5'16" tall. We all know 5' something is shorter than 6' something! I have another friend that is 5'23" tall. He's shorter than me too! lolol

Marty

blt2ski wrote:
tallest two were 5'16".

5'16" = 6'4"

Because I did not like 6 in my crew cab, I bought my wife a CTS. Then I sold the crew cab, and bought a 3500 Express. Then I sold the CTS, and leased her something cheaper.

The Express has been a dedicated family hauler and trailer puller. It has been used for spring break trips for 10 people. It has been used to take 8 adults on a brewery tour.

It is not the coolest vehicle in the drive, but the most useful.

We are starting our third camping season with a GMC Sierra Crew Cab Diesel. Kids are now ages 5, 7, 9, and 11. We've done a TON of traveling with this set-up. I am thinking next year will be the tough year as our then 6-yr old will be out of a high-back seat...which now acts as a divider for the three sitting in the back seat.

All in all...wouldn't do it any other way. Unless we move into a motorhome in a few years.


Our Set-up

I can't speak for the other brands, but the front center position in my Ram only has a lap belt. I wouldn't want to have one of my kids in that spot regularly on trips.

Ford stopped making the Excursion in 2005, and GM stopped making the 2500 Suburban in 2012, or something like that.

Suffice it to say, there are no 8-lug SUVs being manufactured anymore. Newest one you can get is >5 years old, and if you're a Ford guy you are on a real unicorn hunt as you're looking for 13+ year old vehicle that hasn't been driven to death, isn't completely rusted out, etc.. I suppose they are still out there, if you're willing to wait any length of time, pay any price, travel any distance... Finding one close to home, before camping season 2018 really gets underway, that isn't grossly overpriced.

You are going to need an 8-lug tow vehicle for the size trailer you're going to get, no ifs ands or buts. 4 kids are going to want their own beds especially as they get older, and that means a bunkhouse travel trailer.

Your only choices are to squeeze into a crew cab truck, or get a full size van with 3-4 rows of seating. If you have to put up with "Mommmmmm! He's touching meeeee!" on a trip now, you will *NOT* like traveling in a crew cab truck. If you claim you don't then either you have unusually well-behaved children, or you're lying.

Really the only practical choice is a 350/3500 series van. I suppose you could probably sell your two youngest (I'm sure you're sorely tempted on some days, LOL), so your wife could have her "cool" SUV to tow a much smaller travel trailer that only needs to accommodate four.

Is a new(er) truck in the running? I like the Ram 2500 Tradesman crew, but Ford has what I think is a good value for a 6-passenger tow rig. Check out their F-250 Crew 6.2L gas. Look for the STX appearance, power/equipment group, FX4, etc. They will have trailer brake controller, often optioned up for a really good "plug and play" tow rig at a price often below the equally optioned F-150.

Example:
2018 F-250 XL Crew, STX etc.

This dealer shows 2 similarly equipped:
F-250 6.2L crew with STX

There are 6-passenger full sized pickups in 2 rows of seats. You will need to evaluate how comfortable your family will be when traveling with that seating arrangement. We started out towing our TT with a crew cab pickup when all three of ours were in 5-pt child seats. We also had a minivan with 2+2+3 seating for daily driving which offered a more comfortable traveling experience with some more space per person plus kid separation. My wife said if our family was going to spend 3-6 hours at a time towing the TT, it should also have 3 rows of seats. 6 years ago we purchased the Suburban and have enjoyed it ever since. You will need to evaluate for your family as we are all different.

Please understand the complication of larger families traveling while towing travel trailers. Large families tend to exceed at least one other rating well below tow ratings, such as rear axle and GVWR. Typical half ton Expedition (Max) and Suburban/Yukon XL have about 1500 pounds of payload and 8000-9000 pounds of tow rating. If the family weighs 800 pounds, you have 700 left for trailer tongue weight. TTs are generally more stable with 13-15% tongue weight vs. some other types of trailers, such as boats which can tow well with 8-10%. So, 700 pounds of TW means 4600-5400 pounds loaded trailer weight, well below the advertised max trailer weight. Half ton pickups are in the same situation. Crew cab Rams tend to have less than 1500 pounds of payload while the Ford and GM twins have a little more. These are still quite limiting compared to the 10-12k advertised tow ratings.

There are plenty of 3/4 and 1-ton pickups that will meet your towing needs while providing a lot more comfort and stability when towing. There are no HD SUVs since 2013 model year. Well, GM offers a 1-ton Suburban starting at $80k, but I believe that is for fleets only (think government armored uses). Ford, GM, and Nissan offer HD passenger vans with good towing and payload for RVing.

Rover_Bill wrote:

pappcam wrote:
SWMBO? What's with the acronyms on this site? Is it an RV person thing? I see this on other sites I frequent. You can't say spouse, husbnad, wife, etc.?

See for yourself

:W

Thanks. I always love how guys are so scared of their wives they cant make an informed decision on what`s safe and or comfortable to buy!