First time post!
We live in North Idaho Coeur d'Alene and are a very active family my wife and I are in our mid thirties with three kids 8, 12, and 15. We have been the last owner of about 6 vehicles, meaning they were near the bitter end when we purchased them. We have owned a 91 Camry wagon, 87 Surburban, 2 Outbacks, and now a 2007 Explorer.
Fortunately we only need one vehicle at this time as I have a company work car.
What we do:
Hike, canoe, white water raft, and bike.
How we do it:
We have been pulling a homemade mostly bullet proof 4x6 utility trailer with heavy axle and 15" wheels to haul car camping equipment. It works awesome I can take it anywhere with our Explorer. It creates virtually no hassle but what I don't like is fighting dust and the fact that everything ends up too wrapped up hard to access in totes and tarps and straps.
The Explorer is actually a great rig but has two major drawbacks, very limited storage space and terrible mpg with the 4.6 v8. I bought the v8 as the estimated fuel rating was very similar to the v6 but we average 13-14.
I've decided the approach to take is a 4dr 4x4 truck, I really like Toyotas and have been looking at the double cab Tundra with the regular box not the crew max as the bed is not long enough to sleep in.
I would like to set it up with a shell or a lightweight pop-up camper. I would still use my trailer from time to time for canoes, bikes etc.
I've always loved the tacoma's but am making an assumption that they are too small correct me if I'm wrong and would severely limit my ability to carry a pop-up camper. Also with the Tundra I would have the ability to haul 6 with the front bench on some trim levels.
We do a lot of exploring in the area often traveling 200 miles away from home on a weekend heading to trailheads and other destinations, I'd love to have something with 20 mpg but I don't seem to see anything out there that will haul my family and stuff and still achieve great mpg's. I will also be towing a raft trailer from time to time not real heavy under 1500 pounds.
I'm also getting a little frustrated with tent camping as often we just need a place to pull over and sleep for a night and then head on the next morning, It's getting laborious lately we've done it for hundreds of nights over the years but it just takes so much effort looking for a suitable spot for a tent and setting up and taking down. We do this with out much gear usually not even chairs etc. as all of our gear fits in the 4x6 trailer.
Anyway I'm kinda leaning towards the Tundra but am open to opinions from the forum. I've ruled all SUV's out as only the biggest are large enough to contain my family a dog and our gear and at that point I'd rather have the truck that the large suv is built on.
My kids are getting huge, its pretty much like 5 adults now!!!!!
We live in North Idaho Coeur d'Alene and are a very active family my wife and I are in our mid thirties with three kids 8, 12, and 15. We have been the last owner of about 6 vehicles, meaning they were near the bitter end when we purchased them. We have owned a 91 Camry wagon, 87 Surburban, 2 Outbacks, and now a 2007 Explorer.
Fortunately we only need one vehicle at this time as I have a company work car.
What we do:
Hike, canoe, white water raft, and bike.
How we do it:
We have been pulling a homemade mostly bullet proof 4x6 utility trailer with heavy axle and 15" wheels to haul car camping equipment. It works awesome I can take it anywhere with our Explorer. It creates virtually no hassle but what I don't like is fighting dust and the fact that everything ends up too wrapped up hard to access in totes and tarps and straps.
The Explorer is actually a great rig but has two major drawbacks, very limited storage space and terrible mpg with the 4.6 v8. I bought the v8 as the estimated fuel rating was very similar to the v6 but we average 13-14.
I've decided the approach to take is a 4dr 4x4 truck, I really like Toyotas and have been looking at the double cab Tundra with the regular box not the crew max as the bed is not long enough to sleep in.
I would like to set it up with a shell or a lightweight pop-up camper. I would still use my trailer from time to time for canoes, bikes etc.
I've always loved the tacoma's but am making an assumption that they are too small correct me if I'm wrong and would severely limit my ability to carry a pop-up camper. Also with the Tundra I would have the ability to haul 6 with the front bench on some trim levels.
We do a lot of exploring in the area often traveling 200 miles away from home on a weekend heading to trailheads and other destinations, I'd love to have something with 20 mpg but I don't seem to see anything out there that will haul my family and stuff and still achieve great mpg's. I will also be towing a raft trailer from time to time not real heavy under 1500 pounds.
I'm also getting a little frustrated with tent camping as often we just need a place to pull over and sleep for a night and then head on the next morning, It's getting laborious lately we've done it for hundreds of nights over the years but it just takes so much effort looking for a suitable spot for a tent and setting up and taking down. We do this with out much gear usually not even chairs etc. as all of our gear fits in the 4x6 trailer.
Anyway I'm kinda leaning towards the Tundra but am open to opinions from the forum. I've ruled all SUV's out as only the biggest are large enough to contain my family a dog and our gear and at that point I'd rather have the truck that the large suv is built on.
My kids are getting huge, its pretty much like 5 adults now!!!!!
