Realize My Life Has Changed Help

[jronwood]

I am no off-roader and your looong comment doesnt offend. It is an old school 02' 7.3 with 19.5's . Just doing some long term durability upgrades (filtering tranny and coolant, and some light engine mods. including a 6.0 cooler), HD brush guard just completed. I do road trips and get in the canoe/kayak, enduro, mtn bike, or hike to adventure. We have three, 4-5-10 who love camping and the outdoors. I drag my enduro along and run dirt roads here in the East while they swim or whatever. This was a UP Michigan trip. I have not gotten the trailer figured out yet. Likely a swing out little crane hoist to put the bike on the tongue. And perhaps kayaks (barely visible) on the side of the trailer for easier access. I may have a adapted hardsided Hummvee box on a trailer soon and one on the truck for the adults as an option....we'll see. I will "lo-pro" the bed so the shelter is just about 4" off the frame unlike the high shot in the pic from when I went to pick them up. We just want to get out of tents, especially during storms etc.... As our needs change the truck should be able to "graduate/morph" with our other equipment. It is an around town and delivery "driver" for my family and small business needs as well. I work at home so it diesnt go excessive miles annually.

 

[LACamper]

Car seats are why I suggested the Xterra. Not to mention the other day to day issues with little ones that your wife is going to ask about. An open backed truck is going to bring up questions about stroller storage. Squeezing into an extended cab pickup isn't going to make her happy either. Those first few years are rough! The bronco isn't a bad suggestion though. Tell her you're worried about street flooding, getting stuck, etc... and want her and the kids in a capable vehicle.

 

[resqd1]

Ok yeah here are a few things I found we will see where it goes, saw a video of a 4runner all loaded down for expedition doing desert stuff and I thought he was going to break something, but it did look cool

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Lance mentioned a Suburban on the second post. Although still young, your kids will quickly grow up, have friends, and you'll need to be hauling more than just the immediate family. Plenty of full sizes worthy of your consideration, we chose a Suburban for the seating (8) and cargo capacity. Crew cabs can hold six, and then you have the bed for gear. I use a topper on my truck for dust/weather protection and security. You might want to think longer term...just sayin'. :sombrero:

 

[resqd1]

yeah this is jsut the "family toy" Wife drives 4runner, I drive a bench seat supercrew with 6.5 ft bed daily, so we can haul plenty, just not haul @$$ in the desert

 

[wanderer-rrorc]

I had the same realization a few years ago..after a camper van and a slide in camper on the fullsize (best option honestly)...but I wasnt trying to wheel them too...

get a trailer and set that up for base camping..I wish I had done just that when I had my JK unlimited...that way I could have wheeled it a bit and pulled the trailer...right now Im very slowly building a new insert for my 4x8 utility trailer so I can drag it behind my 02 explorer..thats what I figured out was my best option here in the mid west...try a few diffrent approaches and see what works best for your family!!

and enjoy the kidos and wife....I have an 8yr old tomboy and the twins are 2.5...they love the outside and I love not spending my days turning wrenches and missing out on them growing up!!

 

[resqd1]

post up some pics of the explorer

 

[haven]

"two little boys 6 months and 2.5 yr old"

And in two years you'll be hauling a minibike for the older boy. The pile of gear only gets higher as the kids get older. I think you should use a big comfortable vehicle like your F150 crew cab for the family and camping gear, and tow a trailer for a rockhopper Jeep and the trail bikes.

 

[cruisertom]

Had a 97 4runner thought that would work with 10yr old and 2yrs old plus gear and do some wheeling. I was wrong, after small lift and 33's when loaded up with everything we needed was less than impressive offroad and on and mileage was shot as well. (I love Toyotas)Looked for a fj80 cruiser but mileage is bad but now have a 96 crew cab long bed Powerstroke and throw a topper on that for trips. Now plenty of room, power, exceptable mileage for it's size and also two labs plus gear comfortably. Not very nimble, but can haul anything I have and am looking for another cruiser project that will get towed behind it for wheeling time. I couldn't find a vehicle that would do everything I wanted to do so the truck will do 90% and the cruiser will do the rest.

 

[dirty Bakers]

We really enjoy our 87 grand wagoneer. Amanda andI have four kids and a dog, I added a 3rd row and its working out great.

 

[Bdiddy11]

My wife and I will be in a similar situation in the future and from what I've read/thought about I'm leaning towards a Taco/Frontier and a full size Montero 98/99 gen 2.5.

Currently we only have a 1 1/2 year old girl, but plan on adding a few more down the road. Owning two XJ's will be a little bit rough once we have the second child. I'm 6'3" so anyone that sits behind me doesn't get much legroom. Fortunately, we plan on spacing the kids out 2-3 years apart so we shouldn't have two space consuming infant type seats at the same time. We currently use an infant type booster seat that can go from 5-50lbs and has a variety of positions that go from more of a recline to almost straight up like a true booster seat.

We had a 96 Tacoma access cab before having our little girl, but sold it due to lack of a backseat, hence the 2nd Cherokee. We don't do any serious off-roading so I'm only sporting a 3" lift on 30.5" tires. I used to have the desire/plans of having a 4.5" lift with 31/32s all decked out. Realizing that that would only cause me to go on harder trails, my plans soon changed seeing as how I'd have my family with me. Without having a proper roll cage, I don't want to be on any trails where I could potentially break something or get us stuck.

So... my decision on a Monty + midsize truck:

Having a larger family requires more seats. Monty has a third row, albeit not a huge amount of space but with spacing the kids out, the smaller ones can go in the back where they require less leg room.

Hitch basket, rocket box, or small pull behind trailer can accomodate the loss of space utilizing third row seating for longer trips that require more gear.

Due to not needing a big lift/tires, a fairly stock Monty can accomplish the things we need on the trail and the types of trails we'll most likely be doing.

IFS isn't the best for off-road, but our trails will be fine with it. Plus it'd be nice to have a big cushier of a ride on longer trips.

Factory locker with the Monty

MPG is roughly the same, if not better (from reports on here) than my current XJ averaging 15.1mpg w/mixed driving =/

Now for the Taco/Frontier... we run a lawn business during the summer and miss having a truck for hauling purposes. Originally I thought a F150 would be nice to have, but realized that we wouldn't utilize the capacity of a full size truck as much as I thought to warrant the extra loss of MPG.

Either truck technically fits 5, but realistically it gets cramped with 2 car seats. The middle part of the rear seat becomes almost useless, but by spacing our kids out in age, we shouldn't have two big car seats at the same time (unless we're blessed with twins).

If we ever need extra seating in the truck, I like Box Rocket's idea of adding two bucket seats into the bed with a topper on. This would allow for a family of 6 to comfortably be in the truck.

A full size truck would be great for space, but doesn't fit our needs. My in-law has an F150 and I feel like I have a ton of room when sitting in the back, but they're also 5'0" and 5'1" so their seats sit forward a lot.

If contemplating on a Gen 1 or Gen 2 Frontier or Tacoma, the Gen 2 is definitely the way to go in terms of rear seat space. I've looked at Cars.com comparing both Gens with one another to see which is the better one to get, and the Gen 2 of both makes is better on space.

As for the double cab Taco (gen 2) having more rear space than the double cab Frontier (gen 2), I'm not 100% sold on that unless you've tried to fit carseats in both.

According to Cars.com, here is a comparison of interior space of the Gen 2 Frontier and Gen 2 Taco double cabs

Frontier:
Front legroom 42.4”
33.6" Rear legroom
40.0" Front headroom
38.7" Rear headroom
55.6" Front hiproom
58.0" Rear hiproom
58.3" Front shoulder room
58.3" Rear shoulder room
101.1 cu.ft. passenger volume

Tacoma:
Front legroom 41.7”
32.6" Rear legroom
40.1" Front headroom
38.5" Rear headroom
53.6" Front hiproom
55.2" Rear hiproom
57.7" Front shoulder room
59.3" Rear shoulder room
98.9 cu.ft. Passenger volume

The Frontier comes out on top in just about every category with regards to interior space, even if it is a slight advantage. When trying to work in carseats, ever little bit counts. Not to mention that used Frontier's are typically a little bit cheaper than used Tacos. Each truck has their own little quirks, but which vehicle doesn't?

We don't really like Suburbans or Expeditions so those are out of the question, hence settling on a Montero and Taco/Frontier. I've also thought about the newer Pathfinders, as they have a third row too... just haven't done enough research on them.

Finding the right vehicle for a growing family that you like and for outdoor recreation sucks =)

 

[Jamacee]

I am in the same boat. I have a family of 5. The Mrs. and I, 12yr old son, 4yr old daughter, and 2yr old son. I dutch shepherd and looking to get either a Cattle dog or a GSD in the next year.

We have a 99 4runner. Bone stock. Always wanted one. We just sold our 89 v1500 4wd suburban that was easy to wrench on and reliable as the day was long but the MPG's left something to be desired.

Now here we are with 2 kids in car seats and a 5'+ 12yr old crammed in between them almost sitting sideways. Forget hauling any gear. Just the baby crap going to a bday party a couple weeks ago had us maxed out.

The wife thank God wants another suburban. I found a sweet 85 in my area that the man would consider out right trading my 4runner for it. He put a lot of work into it and I don't want to be the guy who tries to get one over on him either. He is asking 5k for it and I think (I can find them for 1500-2500 all day long but once you go through them and tighten everything up etc. 5k isn't far off when they are nice.)

It is a tough call but I would have my heart set on a 4bt/6bt/nv4500 and 3/4-1ton axles on 35's and then all the overlanding outfitting in the future.

I am a huge yota fan. Always have been but....they are expensive from purchase to parts. FZJ's and the sort are my dream but they just don't have the space. Even considering trailers for my lot still doesn't give us the space for comfortable road trips without looking like samford and son coming down the highway.

Just my 2cents.

 

[78Bronco]

The biggest problem with the smaller SUV is the rear facing infant car seat and both parents 6ft and taller. We had a Montero and it proved too small although being a cool little stout truck. We flipped it for a Ford Expedition and it does everything well. Our 2004 can tow, is safer than a rubber room and has plenty of room. Keep in mind that many times during a trip one of the parents has to sit in the back to attend to feeding the kids while the other parent is driving. With a fullsize you get enough room to multi task while travelling the small SUV doesn't allows this unless you are all umpalumpas.