9 Passenger Overland/Safari Vehicle for a Family Guy

ktm360mx

New member
Hello everyone- I've been reading the forum off and on for the last several years. I hope this is the right place to post this- I couldn't think of another place that would work.

My wife and I need some suggestions on where to look next. Let me explain- we have 5 kids (two teenagers) and are very active. We run, mountain bike, kayak, ride motorcycles and sometimes take our two crazy dogs with us too. With the kids getting older, the size of the stuff we take with us continues to increase.

I read the super lux thread - www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/67005-Project-Super-Lux-Safari-Vehicle in hopes of finding good solutions. The Prefix solution is perfect and I plan to contact them Monday, I am certain it's completely out of our budget.

Here's what we have-
2005 Z71 Suburban with 150K miles 4x4, roof rack for 5 kayaks and seats 7
Likes-
Seats 7, but more and more frequently we want to take 1-2 friends
Great MPG- 20+ on the highway w/o kayaks
Very comfortable and good for long trips

Dislikes-
It has 150K miles and it's a Chevy- (no offense, but it's been the least reliable vehicle we have ever owned) and the trans is starting to slip.

Here's what we absolutely need:
Seating for 9
Gear storage inside (the suburban is great)
Good MPG 20 on the highway (again with the family budget thing)
The ability to be towed with 4 wheels on the ground - either a transfer case or manual transmission (very important)
A large roof for a 14' raft or 7 kayaks
Ability to tow a trailer

Here's what we need/want:
4x4 (We just don't use it like we did when we lived in the west)


Considering:
Sprinter
Another 2002-2006 Suburban and no extra seats.

Out List:
E350 and Express Vans- I used one for a week- can't live with the MPG - averaged 14....
07 and new Suburbans-the 07 and up's rear seat has a split rear seat which makes passenger 7 sit on the crack
Sequoia's - smaller than the Sub and terrible MPG
Excursion- not enough seats, gas mpg sux, 7.3's are a consideration, but no 6.0's...
A small hummer or excursion type limo- they look terrible and the MPG is worse...

We have looked at Outside Vans and others like that- I can't spend $75K on a car- our money tree isn't that large. The budget is more like $20K-40K.

We would love some suggestions and help. We are really open to custom solutions, they just have to work in to a real world budget.


Thank you again for your help!
 

overlander

Expedition Leader
You are a perfect candidate for two vehicles to spread the load, instead of trying to limit your choices and be in one vehicle. With two vehicles, you have redundancy, more flexibility and since you have teenagers, there shouldn't be an issue with drivers long term.

The bigger you get in a vehicle, the more limited you get in where it can go, and having 9 people in one rig, plus all the gear is going to be limiting and not economical. Plus, if you get stuck, that's a lot of weight to pull out. When you spread the load, you have a second vehicle to assist in recovery, or to go for help if there trouble.
 

ktm360mx

New member
Overlander- you bring up a great point and it's something we have considered. Besides, if we do that, I can finallly get the Rover/Land Cruiser I have always wanted! For local use, which is the majority of the time, this would work.

The undisclosed issue driving the 1 vehicle decision is this- we have two asmatics in the house that have to have the ability to get out of the elements quickly therefore much of our travel is done by motorhome pulling a vehicle. I know, I know, not much by way of serious overlanding here, but with two severe asmatics we do the best we can- ya know? We are firm believers in not letting somehting prevent you from reaching your dreams. We usually estabilish a base camp and then explore, or we day trip from home. We also travel 30-60 days a year depending on the year.

So, a few times a year (this year will be the month of August) we get the MH in as far as we can then go from there. We have drug, ripped off, and crunched the rear of the motorhome many times. We have pulled it out of the mud, ripped off the exhauste twice, and still pull the Suburban or the F350 behind the motorhome.


I hear ya, and thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate it.
 

overlander

Expedition Leader
Well given the constraints, if you are basecamping with a MH and need a 9 seater for local excursions from there, I can say that a Defender 110 in station wagon configuration can seat 9. You can get a legal import 25 year old 110 from Europe for the $25k range. Installed with a bench 2nd row and 2x inner facing bench or folding jump seats in the rear area..you have 9 (that's 2+3+4 seating). That how mine came from the factory. If you have boosters and/or car seats, it's gonna be tight. With a TDI, you are going to get around 25 mpg. When towing, you can put all the gear in the rear area with the benches or jump seats folded up, and then once encamped, you can move all that to a full length roof rack for local excursions.

Some luxury SUV's have HEPA filters in the air conditioning system which would be great as a retreat for your asmatic children, but fitting 9 in any of those is going to require creativity.


Best of luck!
 

Mark Harley

Expedition Leader
This is what you need! and it is a ford.
 

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shortbus4x4

Expedition Leader
I think about the only vehicle that fits your requirements is a fullsize van of some sort. Yes they don't get the greatest mileage but look at how much stuff/people you can haul. A Sprinter with a diesel in it would be pretty sweet, not sure about the 4x4 part though. Don't know if any van companies are converting them still. A Ford E-series with a diesel would work. You can actually find them in 4x4 versions or buy a 2x and do the conversion yourself.
 

Ponyracer

Adventurer
Buy you the new deisel ford van thats coming out this yr and throw some d60's or a set of aam super duty axles at it! Add a stak or an atlas stand alone case and your done! Sure it will hit the mileage you want and prob can be bought new/built for your 40K pricetag if your thrifty.
 

bansil

Adventurer
How about an E350 "short bus" or transit bus w/7.3 and drop it off at U-joint to make it 4x4?
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just a few examples
 

ktm360mx

New member
I'm in, now I just have to talk to my wife.... Don't think she will go for it. If you think about it, it's not much different than this:

http://www.prefix.com/Trekker/


We keep coming back to the full size vans. I really like the E350, but can't stand the milage..It hits on the other side of not practical. We go to the to a river just about every weekend, so 3-4 hours up and 3-4 hours back. It's about $45-50 difference each week, and $300 each time we "run" out to Colorado or Utah for a 5 day trip. Even if we decide to go with it and try to make up the difference in gas by offsetting the payment ($20K van vs $40K sprinter) - using it in town as a quasi daily driver negates all benefits.

I guess that's why most people use their expo/adventure vehicles as that and try not to cross over into the everyday world- too expensive/not practical.

You know, I really appreciate your input. Good, bad, and down right crazy ideas are welcome!
 

ktm360mx

New member
Love it!

i love the truck- it's funny, back about 2000 or so, we were living in Flagstaff and there was a local that had a 6 door dodge. It was outfitted like any other, not set up like a show truck, like the blue one. I have always loved those and have a Dodge 3500 quad cab now. I wouldn't know where to begin to look at adding 2 more doors. Very cool though.

As far as the excursion- sorry, I don't think too highly of those. I've driven them quite a few times. The gas versions are awful on gas- best I could get is 10-12. The diesels are a complete rip off- either $20K plus for a 10+ year old 7.3 or a 6.0 and all that goes with that-- no thanks! Besides, they don't haul 9.


Actually, we are trying to narrow it down to a trekker (link above) or a sprinter and dealing with some of the constraints there. The trekker probably won't work out, it's pretty expensive. Looking to see if we can do it on my Dodge 3500 that's paid for- That may help!

Thanks for the suggestions- I welcome them.
 

scrubber3

Not really here
A camper on the back of a truck that has a sliding rear window. This gives you a climate controlled rear if you can fit a small box fan in the window opening. I am sure you can find a way to put some seats in the rear and some carpet in the bed right? I had a buddy that owned a Mazda pick up back before ford made them and it was a 2 seater. He wanted room for more people so he put a camper on the back with sliding side windows, put a small electric heater back there, layed some carpet down and installed some cushioned side benches over the wheel wells. Looked like a nice troop carrier back there. Maybe this can give you some ideas.
 

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