Best setup for a family of 5
- Thread starter Cirrus
- Start date
Ray Hyland
Expedition Leader
Our D110 is what we use for local hardcore trips, but to be honest, our Ford Explorer is also pretty great for long trips with the whole family. (3 kids, and 2 dogs)
7 seats, DVD player, locking Diff, takes bigger tires with no mods (we have BFG ATs on it and they are great all around) plus a factory roof rack.
The 4 L V6 is decent on Gas, and they are darn near free second hand.
Ray
7 seats, DVD player, locking Diff, takes bigger tires with no mods (we have BFG ATs on it and they are great all around) plus a factory roof rack.
The 4 L V6 is decent on Gas, and they are darn near free second hand.
Ray
I guess I'm all backwards here! We just had our first kiddo, and I'm already thinking about what the next upgrade will be when Boomer gets too small :bike_rider: I prefer comfort to roughin' it...I'll admit that right now. My feelings are this: If you can make it fun for your wife and kid(s) to enjoy the outdoors with you, than do whatever you need to do. If they are fine crammed in the back of SUV, great! Nice and cheap. If they require an Earthroamer to be comfortable and PLEASENT to be around during the adventure, than do that. I was able to still go camping with a 7mo pregnant wife last year without any issues at all. Had we been tenting, well...we would't have been tenting. I am probably pickier about my "habitat" than my wife is, and probably more than my daughter will be, but by having an arguably extravagant adventure machine, we can take off in full comfort, never worry about the weather or where we can pitch a tent, and have enough space to spread out a bit and not get into each others' "personal space" any more than necessary. To each his own....just make sure everybody in the family is accomodated and enjoys each and every moment you're on the road or the trail.
Spence
Spence
Nay
Observer
80 series Land Cruiser (FZJ80). I spent years building up a Cherokee, which had to go at child #4 (we cried 
). My kids are now 11, 10, 6, & 5 and I've had an 80 for almost 5 years. It is an ideal triple purpose rig (expedition, technical crawler, mail crawler) unless your first criteria is fuel economy or modern V8 power.
You will love the 80 because older kids (not teens, mind you) can climb through the sliding rear windows in and out of the 3rd row, so no gear packing issues for ingress/egress.
I had five kids (my older boys had a friend along) plus our Bernese Mountain Dog puppy on this day trip. The two hour drive to and from the trail was in total comfort, and included having to descend the back half of the trail for emergency repair parts for another vehicle including another passenger and some pretty technical wheeling in dark, then back up for the repairs, then back down again.
80's wheel a lot smaller than they look (you have to add a middle seat belt in the 3rd row to get to 8 passenger capacity). Coming from a XJ I was worried about that, but it's been no issue and I wheel in some very tight spots. The factory dual selectable lockers are a nice little feature, too :ylsmoke:
Some vid showing the family crawler side of the equation - 3 older boys in the 3rd row for the ride, the one who talks at the end is the friend who had never been wheeling before. I need an expedition trailer now for longer trips with the kids finally all old enough, but I wouldn't want any bigger of a base vehicle since I like to crawl and only want one rig.
http://www.vimeo.com/7950670
). My kids are now 11, 10, 6, & 5 and I've had an 80 for almost 5 years. It is an ideal triple purpose rig (expedition, technical crawler, mail crawler) unless your first criteria is fuel economy or modern V8 power.You will love the 80 because older kids (not teens, mind you) can climb through the sliding rear windows in and out of the 3rd row, so no gear packing issues for ingress/egress.
I had five kids (my older boys had a friend along) plus our Bernese Mountain Dog puppy on this day trip. The two hour drive to and from the trail was in total comfort, and included having to descend the back half of the trail for emergency repair parts for another vehicle including another passenger and some pretty technical wheeling in dark, then back up for the repairs, then back down again.
80's wheel a lot smaller than they look (you have to add a middle seat belt in the 3rd row to get to 8 passenger capacity). Coming from a XJ I was worried about that, but it's been no issue and I wheel in some very tight spots. The factory dual selectable lockers are a nice little feature, too :ylsmoke:
Some vid showing the family crawler side of the equation - 3 older boys in the 3rd row for the ride, the one who talks at the end is the friend who had never been wheeling before. I need an expedition trailer now for longer trips with the kids finally all old enough, but I wouldn't want any bigger of a base vehicle since I like to crawl and only want one rig.
http://www.vimeo.com/7950670
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Box Rocket
Well-known member
Yep, without question the 80 series Land Cruiser would be the top of my list, and not just because I own one. The versatility is unmatched and it is extremely capable in just about any terrain. I have 4 kids (10,8, and twins 18months) Our 80 series has the third row with a center belt so I can seat 8 if I need to. But since its usually just the family, we have two carseats and one of the older boys in the middle row and only use one half of the third row for our other boy which leaves half of the cargo area open for gear or our dog which comes along occasionally. I have a cargo bag that I use on the roof sometimes. For day trips we can fit what we need inside the truck. For multi-day trips that involves camping it gets a little more complicated, and I'll either have the roof-top bag or I pull my small offroad trailer with the extra gear we need.
The nice thing about the 80 series is Toyota reliability, durability, capability and comfort. In my opinion the 80 series get very high marks in all those aspects.
The nice thing about the 80 series is Toyota reliability, durability, capability and comfort. In my opinion the 80 series get very high marks in all those aspects.
SFROMAN
Adventurer
I would have loved a fully built 80 but for our family of 5 I went with an F250. I based my decision on the versatility of the truck thus far. It drives like a cadilac pulls like a tractor and fits us all very comfortably, even with the kids in car seat.
here is is a pic of my rig
here is is a pic of my rig
RiverCityDave
красный октябрь
F250
Nice truck dude.
I have an 80, I also have four kids. The inside of the truck is basically full of kids, but we have a nice roof rack.
I would have loved a fully built 80 but for our family of 5 I went with an F250. I based my decision on the versatility of the truck thus far. It drives like a cadilac pulls like a tractor and fits us all very comfortably, even with the kids in car seat.
here is is a pic of my rig
Nice truck dude.
I have an 80, I also have four kids. The inside of the truck is basically full of kids, but we have a nice roof rack.
JCMatthews
Tour Guide
We/ve always done it.
When we got married we both owned Cherokees. I would joke that we could not have more than three kids because we could not fit more than that in the back seat. Once all of the seats are buckled in they are just fine. Now that our oldest is eight we only have one car seat and a booster. :smiley_drive:
When we got married we both owned Cherokees. I would joke that we could not have more than three kids because we could not fit more than that in the back seat. Once all of the seats are buckled in they are just fine. Now that our oldest is eight we only have one car seat and a booster. :smiley_drive:
TrailTrackers
Observer
That's a hoot!! My wife and I thought the exact same thing and actually "fixed" it so we won't have anymore than the 3 that we have now. Here's our current setup and it works great for our family of 5; kids are currently girl:9, girl:7 and boy:4.
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john101477
Photographer in the Wild
Thats actually not a bad setup and I am a toyota guy lol.
I would have to go with the 80 myself. good solid reliable rig. I kick myself in the butt for not buying one 3 years ago when a buddy was in a bind to sell cheap. I still drive the 1st gen runner and while it is a PITA to get our 18 month old in and out, it is not undoable. we packed for a weekend and I now realize i need to start building a roof rack lol
taco2go
Explorer
I have to add another plug for the 80 series. We have three children, and if you are looking at any type of off highway travel and camping with your family, it will soon become your home away from home- with so many configuration options. Finally, cost wise they are a bargain- I'm seeing some great deals nowadays and my recommendation, if you have more than 2 children is to pass on the roof top tent, get the uber robust Oz Tent RV4 or 5 and head out.
i have 4 kids, we do alot of long distance travelling and along with that, we hit some trails along the way. i had a ford excursion, up until i lost my job and had to sell it, but it had the 6.0 diesel, it was reliable, had plenty of room, and it got 21 mpg on the highway. yeah it was big, sucked in the mud because the darn thing weighed 8100# with a full tank of fuel, but this past summer we ended up doing the alpine loop in colorado, then we made our way into moab utah, and did a few trails there...they can do trails ok, just have to pick your routes carefully...but for comfort, you can't beat it. i just bought a 2004 suburban, while it is comfortable, i miss the power and fuel mileage of the diesel, but i don't miss the maintenance costs of it either...plus i was told by a real good friend of mine who is a ford diesel mechanic that did my work for me, that if i end up having any issues with the diesel, and have to take it to a shop for work to be done on it, that i should expect at least a $1000 bill when it was done...just because of the amount of computer controlled stuff on it. good luck on your hunt for a new vehicle.
Hannibal USA
Adventurer
Family Rig
Hi there-
We've got two young boys (3 & 5). We've built up a 2010 Tacoma TRD double cab such that it can haul a TON of gear (quite literally). We've got a Hannibal rack on the roof, and a custom aluminum tent rack over the bed (with a 1.6M tent on it). We've got aluminum gear decks that mount to the bed of the truck and convert into heavy-duty camp tables. All the heavy stuff (kitchen box, propane tank, water, cooler, etc...) is stored underneath the gear decks. This is a great set-up for hauling gear, but is already a little tight for passenger space. We've also got a 2008 4-door Tundra, and as our kids (and/or family) start getting bigger, I definitely want a similar set-up on the Tundra, except with the Hannibal Family Tent rather than the 1.6M tent. The back seat of the Tundra is HUGE, and has plenty of room for 3 kids. The wheelbase on the Tundra is longer than I want for off-road driving, but given the type of stuff I'll be doing with my family in the foreseeable future, I don't see that being a huge issue. We've got a pretty strict HOA, and haven't heard too much guff from our neighbors about parking our rig in our driveway.
Here's a few pics of our Tacoma posted in a different thread:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43628
Hi there-
We've got two young boys (3 & 5). We've built up a 2010 Tacoma TRD double cab such that it can haul a TON of gear (quite literally). We've got a Hannibal rack on the roof, and a custom aluminum tent rack over the bed (with a 1.6M tent on it). We've got aluminum gear decks that mount to the bed of the truck and convert into heavy-duty camp tables. All the heavy stuff (kitchen box, propane tank, water, cooler, etc...) is stored underneath the gear decks. This is a great set-up for hauling gear, but is already a little tight for passenger space. We've also got a 2008 4-door Tundra, and as our kids (and/or family) start getting bigger, I definitely want a similar set-up on the Tundra, except with the Hannibal Family Tent rather than the 1.6M tent. The back seat of the Tundra is HUGE, and has plenty of room for 3 kids. The wheelbase on the Tundra is longer than I want for off-road driving, but given the type of stuff I'll be doing with my family in the foreseeable future, I don't see that being a huge issue. We've got a pretty strict HOA, and haven't heard too much guff from our neighbors about parking our rig in our driveway.
Here's a few pics of our Tacoma posted in a different thread:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43628
One rig not mentioned thus far is the first generation Sequoia. Almost as long as an Expedition or Tahoe, and I tend to remove one of the rear seats to fit all the gear in the back. About to do a drawer setup, or possibly a drawerless shelf option with a slide out platform. The aftermarket forgot that rig, but there's now some support. Not much bigger than a UJZ100 and with a 4.7V8. Better gas mileage and the rear seat passengers actually have legroom. Not bashing the 80 or 100 as that's the gold standard, but the Sequoia gets better mileage since it's not full time 4wd.