Family Vehicle Choice Predicament

eagle0800

New member
Hello all,

I’ve been reading on this forum for about 2 years now so I know there is a lot of knowledge here that I can tap for our predicament. Some quick back story on my family: it is my wife, myself, a 9 month old (planning on at least one more in the future), and two 60+lb dogs. We love to camp and do general road trips as much as we can. We love to get into the back country of where ever we are and prefer to be as self sufficient as possible for about 1-2 weeks, so I guess you can make a stretch and call it “tamed Expo".

We currently have a 2006 GMC Sierra K1500 crew cab and a 2008 Subaru Impreza. We use the GMC for random towing and hauling stuff from Home Depot. This is the vehicle we use most for camping and is the closest to an “Expo” style vehicle we have now, but we have to crate our dogs in the bed (the wife doesent like this). The main benefits of keeping this is it’s paid off and the pickup bed is great for yard work. The Subaru is just getting small for just us and the baby on trips to the store and we havent even tried to get the dogs into it. Also it's not paid off yet and we only want one payment at a time.

We are looking at something reliable to replace the Subaru in the mid to large SUV range. Our situation is do we get one that is a "around the town grocery/kid transport and road trip to see the Grandparents" only or one that has similar capabilities as the GMC (04-10 Suburban, Tahoe, or Excursion etc.) and will be used for all of the above? The wife and I like the larger SUVs because of their flexibility but she likes the midsized for the size and MPG (I'm not a huge fan of them). An example of two we are eyeing is a 2005 Excursion 6.0L Powerstroke with 99877 miles or a 2010 GMC Acadia with 28450 miles both roughly the same price. Miles are not all that important to us as long as we get an extended warranty on it and i do a lot of our own maintenance.

Thanks,
-Justin
 

crawler#976

Expedition Leader
The '05 Powerstroke has some serious problems - do some research on it. If you can, get a dealer to run a report on it to see what service work has been done on it.

The Tahoe/Suburban platform can be a great family vehicle. We used the Napier SUV tent with our truck/cap combo in the same way you could with a Tahoe/Suburban platform. We slept in the truck, the dogs in the tent, and we had a ton of room for gear.

https://us.napieroutdoors.com/store/catalogue/details/1/2/product_id:4/
 

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dodgexped

New member
Some will disagree, but I would steer clean of the 6l. The f250 I used to drive for work is on its 2nd motor and 4th turbo. Some people have had good luck with them, I have not, and a lot of people share my experience. If you are keen on the excursion I would hold out for a 7.3. I agree the suburban is a great platform especially in diesel. If its for your wife you might want to check out used 4 runners.
 

eagle0800

New member
NothingClever, i tried to get the wife to go for a diesel van, but she says there too big and won't go for it sadly.



crawler#976, I've read about the issues with the '05 Powerstroke but thought they were easy to fix if you get to it before a failure, I'll do more research! I have always leaned towards the Suburban because I'm a GM guy at heart and love the flexibility of them, but I’m willing to try anything once when it comes to any other make.

Thanks,
-Justin
 

swamp_beast

New member
i would have to agree and say go suburban while im not the biggest fan of gms ifs on thier 4x4s if your not offroading alot its a mute point but the ls engines are definitaly a huge plus for going gm. they arent to bad on fuel for a large suv and with fuel prices high they can be had for a fairly decent price
 

eagle0800

New member
Well, on everyone’s suggestion I dug deeper into reading on the Ford 6.0L and then talked to the boss, it’s looking like the 09-11 Tahoe has moved up to #1, She likes how it's about 2 feet shorter then my pickup and the Suburban, and the 09-11 Suburban is #2 only because of that extra length that she thinks will make it awkward to drive day to day.

My only dislike of the Tahoe from what I’ve seen is the lack of space behind the 3rd row. We hopefully will be looking at both on my next weekend. I’m hoping I can get the Suburban up to #1, The reason I’m for the Suburban is I’m expecting it to become our all over trip vehicle and its size fits our needs and has room to grow with the kids plus it seems like a great platform to do mods. I think that whatever of the two we get, my Cooper STs from the pickup will go on it to make it just a hair better on the back roads.

Again thank you for all the advice! From the way I guess my was searching was going, it read like the 6.0L only required studs, gasket, and an oil cooler upgrade to make it bullet proof.

Thanks,
-Justin
 

bfdiesel

Explorer
7.3 excursion gets my vote. Solid front axle and not the worst diesel ford ever used. Lots of parts as it shares a lot with the f series trucks. Gobs of room.
 

BIGdaddy

Expedition Leader
95-97 Isuzu Trooper, good mpg and tons of space.

"ton's of space" is a very relative term. Not just picking on you, more of an observation after being on this website for years. Most people consider an SUV "big enough" because it'll fit themselves, their significant other, and associated gear. But for families that include children/dogs and associated gear, a mid-sized suv simply isn't big enough to do the job comfortably...


Front row: him/his wife
2nd row: baby and baby gear (a bag or two, plus wife's purse, his backpack/man bag)
rear cargo area: Dogs

Which leaves room OUTside the vehicle for everything else. A choice, for sure, but not without it's disadvantages like having your gear open to theft, dust and water, not to mention being a drag on aerodynamics.

Not exactly TONS of room for anything else, IMO, unless he has a trailer.

And no, I'm not only talking about EXPO/overland stuff. I'm talking about trips to beach, trips to disneyland, picnics, grocery-getting after said activities where the dogs might be crated in the back. That's one FULL vehicle....lol.
 

BIGdaddy

Expedition Leader
NothingClever, i tried to get the wife to go for a diesel van, but she says there too big and won't go for it sadly.



crawler#976, I've read about the issues with the '05 Powerstroke but thought they were easy to fix if you get to it before a failure, I'll do more research! I have always leaned towards the Suburban because I'm a GM guy at heart and love the flexibility of them, but I'm willing to try anything once when it comes to any other make.

Thanks,
-Justin

No offense to your wife, but have you taken the lil' lady to go sit in one with the kid and the dog crates with you? If so, after that, did she still think they were too big?

The shorter wheelbase e350 van is very much the same size as the big SUV's you're talking about, so I guess I was wondering if it was more of a casual observation by her than an actual, imperical conclusion.

(again, no offense intended, just wondering. My wife had the same reaction to vehicles like sequoia's, expeditions, etc until she sat in one with our 3 kids, and realized how plush they are inside, and that it's like having a laz-e-boy for each passenger. haha. Very good for keeping your kids from scalping each other on long trips. :D)
 

cyclist

Observer
If you don't need 4wd/off road capability or heavy hauling (you have a truck for that) why not look at a minivan. Not stylish but more room, comfort and better mpgs than a full size SUV. Other thought is a Honda Pilot or Toyota Highlander, both basically Minivan capabilities in a better looking awd package
 

greengreer

Adventurer
Thought about an astro/safari van? If your wife likes the awd of the subaru, Astros are cheap and readily available, with parts being like wise. The 4.3 vortex motors are awesome; good torque and economy, ultra reliable. I had a rwd 01 and it was a great hwy vehicle 25 mpg with dual air conditioning on at 75 mph all day. I think mine had a 25g tank so pretty good range. Seat 7-8 or take out seats and fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood flat between wheels wells. Good interior height as well, better than most big SUVs.
Same pitfalls to any van chassis, working on them is a joke sometimes, ie spark plugs or anything else to do with removing the dog house. Typical 90's gm quality. Interior is well laid out but kinda cheap. Never could keep the remote for the barn doors working long.
Since these are old man vans, that usually means you can find nicely kept low mile specimens for a fair price.
 
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dblosch

Adventurer
The Tahoe may be shorter than the suburban, but that puts the rear wheel wells in the rear passenger doors. I've always wanted to love the Tahoe, but the fact that the rear windows can't roll all the way down is a deal breaker for me. YMMV

Dan
 

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