seeking recomendations for a towing vehicle that will seat 7

Lowsuv wrote:
Ram MegaCab with a Cummins diesel ?

For SEVEN people? :h

I'm thinking sardines here...:B

Ram MegaCab with a Cummins diesel ?
I am a duramax owner but my friend has one of the CTD powered MegaCab .
The back seat has another 15 ? inches of extra leg room .
He still has the short box to carry heavy stuff like firewood and soda pop coolers .
And he still has payload left over to pull a very heavy tongue weight trailer .
We all use a snugtop lockable canopy to prevent theft and protect the gear inside .
That new Ram CTD is very quiet inside .

5'er is out of the question unless you commission a modified truck. I know there is (was?) a company here in Utah that makes pretty nice looking 6-door 8/9 passenger trucks. You just took them the 1-ton of your choice and $10-15k and they made it for you. But that would be a monster to drive around as a daily driver.

A 1-ton van (350/3500 series) would be a pretty good choice. My wife and I are not "van people" (to quote from the Seinfeld episode), so we drive a Suburban for our 4 kids. But it is hard to beat the versatility and space offered by a full-size van, that is for sure.

Best combination of hauler and people mover IMHO is the Ford Excursion or the 1 ton vans.

I see you are from the "east". I'm not sure if you need 4 x 4 capability but if you do the Excursion would have that.

We have 4 kids so that was 6 people camping (before our kids got older), and we first had a 2000 Ford Excursion V10 and then went to a 2002 Ford Excursion with the 7.3L Powerstroke Diesel. Both were 4x4.

Plenty of room for people inside, plus cargo room behind the 3rd seat..

Plenty of power with the diesel or Triton V10, and plenty of suspension ability to haul larger campers (although the Excursions are actually 3/4 ton and don't have the capacity of the 1 ton vans).

We LOVED ours...I still miss it to this day.

My sister hauls her family of six with a 2500 van & tows a 30' TT.

E350 with v10 would do nicely.

I have really liked the GM vans since they introduced the Express / Savana series, however, I REALLY like the Nissan NV. Plenty of room, towing capacity and the best part is the more truck type front end makes driving more comfortable. So far, we have only done about 800 / 1000 miles of trips pulling our TT with the NV, but I'm happy with it.

I get a 2500 or 3500 series Chev/GMC passenger van. Couldn't beat it for the price. You can even get a Duramax in them.

B.O.

Used or new?
Used, a 2500 Suburban or Excursion would be the top two choices
New, then it is a real C%^& shoot I understand GM killed the 2500 Suburban so that effectively killed it as a credible tow vehicle.
Most pickups will configure for 5 or 6 seats only, so that ends that idea unless your taking a second vehicle.