timmymacnj wrote:
Bill & Kate wrote:
X2 on the vans being the best bang for the buck - the big chevy v-8 or ford v-10 are very capable tow vehicles, and have plenty of present and future room for family, friends, and camping stuff. I much prefer the driving position and visibility to pick ups. The kids are grown and gone, but we had a series a vans ever since they we little, and still tow with one ....
I searched on these briefly but the majority I found were only 2 passenger?
Passenger vans today are going to be either 8 passenger (1/2 ton) or 12/15 passenger 3/4 and 1-ton, extended length having the extra row of seats. Cargo vans might be one seat, two seats, or five seats (crew van, one row of passenger seating in back).
1/2 tons are hard to find, and are usually coming off 2-3,year leases with 50k to 80k miles. 1-tons come out of rental fleets about 1 year old, 20-30,000 miles, about 55-60% of price when new. They wii be full of seats, you may want to take out a row or two to carry stuff. 12 seats in four rows regular length, 15 seats in five extended. Regular length is a little harder to find, the rental companies prefer the biggest van.
All will have rear air, rental vans will be LT trim Chevy, XLT Ford. One-ton Chevys will be the 6.0 V8, about 9000 towing capacity. Fords will be 5.4, about 6000 towing capacity. The V-10 can be 9000-10,000 pounds, but rental companies don't use it, you have to find the rare van bought private owner. One-ton passenger vans are about 5800-6300 pounds empty, GVWR 8800-9600, so carrying capacity and tongue weights are typically not an issue.
I just found a E-350 12 pass with 20,600 miles, for $21,300. Prices are starting to go up on these now on the "last chance, they won't make these anymore" concern. The Transit will probably be a better van, lighter and more fuel efficient, with high-output V6 engines repacing big clunky V8s and unibody instead of heavy duty rail frames. Ecoboost will likely pull as much as any V8, but at the prices being asked I want the old van while I can still get it, until the new one proves itself.
Go back far enough, you can find the occasional Express van with Vortec 8100 or Vortec 7400, and you can still buy a new one with the Duramax, if you will pay for new.
Back to the basic question, if you are weekending and doing vacations, you might do quite well with a 4000-4500 pound 19-22 foot TT or not much heavier 24-25, the first of which might tow quite well behind an Expedition.
