WOW, can I say THANK YOU all for the responses. I never imagined so much helpful advise within 8 hours of posting. So my wife and I are planning to buy the travel trailer & TV for a 6 month trip. After that we plan on selling them both (unless we like it so much we want to continue living in it short-term). So, we are hard set on paying cash, and thus would have to stick with a vehicle in our price range. However, we are willing to sacrifice the size of the trailer (even willing to go down to a clipper if necessary) so we could be potentially pulling a trailer with GVWR of 3,500 lbs if thats all we could do.
However, the Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS has UVW of 3,800 and GVWR of 5,900 lbs. Would this be more bearable to tow? My main concern is safety, if I have to go up hill slower, that's fine, as long as it isn't unsafe or because I'm on the verge of rolling back down!
Also, thanks for the tips on the passenger vans, I will look into those as I could imagine they would be plenty of those for sale. From what I see online, it looks like the 1999 can't tow near as much (maybe max 6,000 lbs) as the 2000+ models. Is this right? By the way, anything wrong with going with the suburban/large SUV over a traditional truck like the Silverado? Like I said, I looked at them mostly because they seem to be cleaner and in better shape in our price range.
