Family of six looking for tow vehicle

Fourkidletts wrote:
The yukon and the suburban both are not meant for tall people in the back My 6'1 teen sat in the back of both yesterday and his knees were almost in his face. I only have one child that could fit back there but hes 12 and growing. The vans seem too big for just my day to day driving. This is difficult. Researching the big cab trucks but none of us are excited about the coziness. We don't want a big trailer. What about a small ultralight of about 3000 lbs could that be pulled with expy? I would love to say we can get a 1 ton vehicle but it doesn't look likely for us. Or we are entertaining taking two vehicles camping.

A couple of comments and observations ....

1. Full sized Vans are not as big as you might think ... they just look big because they are basically shoe boxes and take up a lot of space visually. I would stay away from Vans like the 15 passenger type since that extra 2' while nice does make those one "LOOOONG" around town vehicle and you really don't need that extra room for just 6 adults.

2. Trying to go ultra light or fairly small trailers you still have the issue of finding cargo capacity between the trailer and the TV for the 6 adults, all the food and extra gear like tents, sleeping bags, etc. for sleeping and the list will grow. Also, while a much smaller trailer might be O.K. in certain situations, wait till that first trip in inclement weather where everyone wants some of the better accomodations that the trailer has like hot water, bathroom facilities or even just a place that is dry and out of the weather.

3. What can often happen is folks can pair down the weight for just short weekends, etc., but then having this trailer and a TV you will want to take that vacation of a week or two or more and then what you find you need to take goes out of sight weight wise and you find yourself coming up short and having to make major compromises. This then leaves a sour taste in your mouth of trying to fit that 10lbs in that tiny sock after investing the $$$ in your not inadequate TT/TV setup.

4. As most of us are saying, you need to make the compromises up front by getting first a capable TV that doesn't leave you too short on the TT you can safely tow.

5. If you ever plan to tow/travel with 6 adults for more than say six hours and/or multiple days traveling, a full sized van with at least 3 rows of seats (captain chairs for each would be ideal) is the only way to go IMO. The last thing you want IMO are 4 adult grumpy, tired and complaining kids at the end of 6 hours of traveling ... a really poor start to what is supposed to be a fun outing/camping trip.

Larry