Overland/Camping Vehicle for Family of 6

[Nay]

I think this much is clear, and you'll need to make a major decision before continuing a search:

With 3 rows of seating in service, you're either going to need a mid-size truck, like a Disco2, LR3, FJ100, Armada, etc AND towing a trailer to carry the gear. OR, you're going to need a FULL SIZE truck, like the Excursion. That's the only way you'll have enough room. I doubt you could get all your gear on a roof rack on a mid-size.

This is good advice. However, much of your success will depend on how you pack and how much "roominess" matters to you for back country adventures. It also matters how old your kids are - the 80 is an 8 seater with small kids (if you add back a center belt in the 3rd row). It is a four seater for adult sizes over material distances.

I personally do not want a full size rig in the back country. Heavy rigs beach badly when they hang up on things (the 80 is bad enough) and my personal approach is I'll pay the compromise in having to really pack every inch while retaining far more basic offroad capability than I should need than having a lot of extra room and wondering if I will make it across the stream bed.

I like to design for the 1% situations, knowing that this compromises the 99% to some degree. This gets into tire choices, lift choices, suspension and armor choices, and so forth, after choosing the base vehicle.

I also love being able to look down an unknown trail and say "let's check it out" (words that make my wife's palms start to sweat :sombrero - I have a standing 15 year affair with "around the next corner" and I just hate not having the equipment to push it a bit even when my family is onboard. This is an expensive affair, but it does make some choices very easy because most equipment options don't meet the standard.

I do need a trailer and I am going to be starting a ground up project soon. I should really just get a popup (and a supercharger to go with :Wow1, but then the next corner will only be seen from camp, and you just gotta know what is going to work for you and that you'd better make everything else right to pack the family into a RTT another 10 miles down the trail just to satisfy a fix you gotta have :smiley_drive:

 

[R_Lefebvre]

If I understand you right... my problem with your packing suggestion is safety. I don't like having lots of crap stuffed in the vehicle, unrestrained.

 

[Nay]

If I understand you right... my problem with your packing suggestion is safety. I don't like having lots of crap stuffed in the vehicle, unrestrained.

I hear you. Although for me it is mostly clothes for the kids and food items, it would not be good to have a roll with a heavily packed vehicle.

There are many views to safety: reliability, capability to handle unexpected terrain and/or weather conditions, recovery, cargo security, and so forth. Suspension lifts, tire choices, and other factors are all compromises in this area.

One could argue that the safest vehicle in all regards is stock, because it is operating as engineered onroad and will get stuck close to that road before you really use your dual lockers and big tires to get really badly stuck somewhere far from anything.

I really like the trailer idea, because you are detaching cargo capacity from the base vehicle. This gives you the best of both worlds, but I also have a really sweet minivan for road use so I have avoided the "solve both problems with a fullsize SUV" approach (I've come close a number of times but it just never felt right). It simply won't work for me, but that is not true for many other people whose needs are very different from mine.

 

[05LR3AZ]

What to choose?

The LR3 was a great choice for us...

You can find a pre-owned one for around 20k and room for seven is an option. It has a split 3rd row so you can opt to keep one seat folded flat for storing items when out and about and still seat 6. The traction control works well off road and there are some (HD package) with the available rear locker. Towing a trailer isn't a problem either. It takes us anywhere we've wanted to go so far.

We also checked out the Armada and 4Runner which made it a tough choice but the LR3 seemed more capable off road (in my opinion) than the Armada and had more room than the 4Runner. No regrets here. The LandCruiser could be cool as well.

 

[orionkhan]

I've got 3 kids and a mother-in-law that lives with us. A couple of years ago before the birth of our 3 child, we had a full size Montero. We loved it, but it didn't have enough room. We sold it and bought an '07 Yukon XL. Love it more. Only wish we had held out for a 4wd one. The problem with most full sized SUV's is storage space behind the 3rd row. You'll know what I mean after one trip to Sam's Club/Costco. With the Surburban/Yukon XL's you still have plenty of room with the 3rd row in use. We went up to Tahoe last year and had no problem packing. That's with 3 kids in car seats, the wife, mother-in-law, and father-in-law. Everyone was comfortable. We've got a DVD player with headrest monitors and headsets. It was a very quiet drive.

Last year I also bought a fairly well modified '97 LX450. The main reason was for off road excursions. Places that the Yukon wouldn't do well. It seats everyone, but storage is an issue. I'm adding a roof rack and looking into possibly getting a trailer. Next month will be the first camping trip with it. I'm trying to limit gear and pack well. Only 5 of us are going on the trip. But with 5 people you're going to need stuff. So we'll see how it goes.

If you don't plan on doing serious off road trails, a Suburban/Yukon XL is a great option.

 

[nwoods]

I'm trying to limit gear and pack well. Only 5 of us are going on the trip. But with 5 people you're going to need stuff. So we'll see how it goes.

Oh how I know that feeling.... Here is my LR3 loaded up for a 10 day solo vehicle trek through Utah with a family of 4

 

[njtacoma]

Suburban observation

My wife are looking at fostering another child or two ( we have two bio kids now) and one of the criteria for us is everyone in a three point belt.

This naturally leads to discussions about suburbans, etc. When you look at the measurements they are surprisingly close (if 18" is close) in length compared to our 04 DC Tacoma. And they look closer in real life.

My wife said she didn't want something as big as a suburban until we parked next to one and got out to compare side by side. Yes they are bigger, but her "mini" truck wasn't really that mini.

I like this option because I have an unhealthy attraction to wagons!

Food for thought.

 

[speedtre]

My wife are looking at fostering another child or two ( we have two bio kids now) and one of the criteria for us is everyone in a three point belt.

This naturally leads to discussions about suburbans, etc. When you look at the measurements they are surprisingly close (if 18" is close) in length compared to our 04 DC Tacoma. And they look closer in real life.

My wife said she didn't want something as big as a suburban until we parked next to one and got out to compare side by side. Yes they are bigger, but her "mini" truck wasn't really that mini.

I like this option because I have an unhealthy attraction to wagons!

Food for thought.

It's not the length of the Suburban that matters, it's the extra 2000 pounds compared to your Taco that will make it feel like a bloated pig...

 

[orionkhan]

Oh how I know that feeling.... Here is my LR3 loaded up for a 10 day solo vehicle trek through Utah with a family of 4

Heck, that's not bad considering you were going out for 10 days. To bad you've got the spare in the cargo area. A swingout bumper mounted one would have saved you gobs of space. You give me some hope that I can get by without having to go the trailer route.

With regard to the weight of the Suburban/Yukon XL: They are no doubt big and heavy. They handle great on the road. The weight isn't noticeable. Now, I'm not saying they're the best option for serious off road adventures. But there is no denying their ability to carry a lot of passenger and gear...comfortably. Try getting 6 people in a Taco, especially if a couple of them are in car seats.

 

[Ford Prefect]

( we have two bio kids now)

WOW!

So your kids are made out of corn? How does that work? How does it work out for you? How do I get one? If you are starving in the woods can you eat one?

:victory:

As for the intent of this thread originally. I have seen 4x4 vans do extremely well! I would seriously look into one of those. If you are looking for long trips out in the middle of nowhere, then an RTT or even two, would be an easy thing to do, plus people can sleep inside the van. Seems as though most Sports Mobiles do not seat the requisite numbers for you, but the simpler 4x4 vans, you can do that easily. Get a smaller full-size van and you would be set.

I believe the Ford Astro van came in 4x4, and they do rather well I understand off road. There are even 4x4forums for them. (been a while since I was on one, but they are out there.)

Just a thought for you.

Cheers
Brian

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

We are in the same boat with our 4 kids. We have a Suburban and a Jeep TJ and are trying to figure it all out.

We're gonna try towing the Jeep behind the Suburban for the long highway miles til we get to the Park/Campground/etc., filling it up like a trailer. Then when we start off-road unhitch the Jeep and split up kids and gear. It might be fun with the CBs, and it will be some peace of mind to have some redundancy if one of us gets stuck.

 

[JumpJ]

Excursion Makes for Great Family Off Road Mobile

We have a Range Rover Sport and a 4x4 Excursion Diesel. The Excursion is like a limo off road-hue interior, all the features, tons of space and so far we have not encountered anything we can't go through. I'm a debvoted Land Rover guy but love this thing. Our family is smaller that yours but we have space for all and the stuff kids like such as DVD etc. for getting to the dirt.You can see pictures of ours in the vehicles for sale. Forget it being for sale but the thing is a monstor in terms of size and making you feel safe with the family off road. Always a personal choice at the end of the day.

 

[Airmonger]

I am looking at a 1997 Lexus lx 450, with a trailer, I am thinking I can put a fridge in the back were one of the jump seats are( next to one of 4 kids) and then keep most of the gear on the roof/bumpers and trailer. I am planning on making this my wife's dd for a few years until we get another vehicle for her, then this will be my dedicated trail ride. So if any one wants to buy her Subaru and help move this along that would be appreciate. Ill keep you posted on what happens up until I start a build thread.

 

[orionkhan]

I am looking at a 1997 Lexus lx 450, with a trailer, I am thinking I can put a fridge in the back were one of the jump seats are( next to one of 4 kids) and then keep most of the gear on the roof/bumpers and trailer. I am planning on making this my wife's dd for a few years until we get another vehicle for her, then this will be my dedicated trail ride. So if any one wants to buy her Subaru and help move this along that would be appreciate. Ill keep you posted on what happens up until I start a build thread.

I have '97 LX450. I just picked up an off road trailer last weekend on CL. Went camping this weekend. We had 7 people in the LX, 4 adults/3 kids. Couldn't have made it without the trailer and roof rack. My trailer is about 5x4. I had some stuff loaded in a cargo bag on top of it as well. I kept the stuff on the LX roof pretty lite. Stuff like chairs and the canopy. The set up did well off road. I wasn't a trailer guy until this weekend. Now I'm fully on board with them.

Based upon you're plan, I would consider putting the fridge in the trailer. You never know when you'll need that extra seat for friend, relative, etc. You can always store stuff like sleeping bags, tent, a dog, etc, in that extra spot. I'm planning on adding some load bars to the top of my trailer so I can put either a cargo basket, bike mounts, or both up there.

 

[gotmud]

My family includes 4 kids (3-14). I have a '94 FZJ80 that serves as my DD, Expo Vehicle, Family Hauler, etc... We also have a '06 Corolla that is my wife's DD and all around errand runner.

Typically, if we go camping, we are towing a trailer. For us, this makes sense because we can load what ever we want on the trailer and have more room inside the 80 for the family. But the trailer also serves as a great platform for our camp stove, ARB fridge, spare parts, tires, tools, etc...

Even when it is only my son and I camping, I am likely to still tow the trailer because it is so handy. I've tried the fully self-contained approach, and it is possible (we remove one of the 3rd row seats) with some creative/minimalistic packing.

For non-expedition road trips a larger SUV/Van would be nice. However, after I got my 80, we sold our '07 Sienna and '06 Tundra DC, because the 80 was a great comprimise.

As our kids get older, we will likely get another SUV for my wife's DD and I'll use the Corolla as my DD.