Family Tow

[jab0106]

Any suggestions on a vehicle to seek out for towing a 20' bass rig frequently, that also allows for 4 car seats?...And obviously of the requisite low miles, relatively newer, affordably priced variety that I dub unicorns. I have found myself in a new world of searching filled with tahoes, yukons, armadas, and expeditions. I don't have experience with any of those in any aspects.

Realistically I need something that will last as long as possible, and hopefully tow equally or better than my current Silverado, which is safely described as worn tf out. I don't have half the power I did.

TIA

[Fx20 2011]

Four car seats, wow great job. Well for once I really don't know what to tell you. My guess would be a larger SUV. What I do know my Jeep Grand Cherokee can haul the heck out of my 20 ft Skeeter. However no way are you getting 4 car seats in it. So IMHO you can rule out a mid size SUV.

[Jtreed99]

I can’t speak for overall quality and reliability of the Durango but they are lowest priced of the really tow capable SUVs. Do your own research as there may be a reason for that price point but the Hemi and the 8 speed ZF manufactured transmission has really proven itself in the Ram pickups. Everybody loves to hate on FCA but I think they’ve gotten their act together. I got a great deal on my 2016 Ram and I have been impressed coming from a 2013 Silverado. That being said if I had my pick I’d pay the piper at the dealership and the pump and go Sequoia all the way.

[n2ratfishin]

Sequoia, Suburban, Expedition. Any large SUV is going to be expensive with low miles these days. All of them are body on frame construction with parts readily available. Any of them will handle your bass boat. I’d want the 6.2 in the Burb, at least the lowest axle ratio available if you get the 5.3. Once you load one up with passengers and gear plus hook a boat up they have to work.

[gdi]

Yukon Denali. Best best vehicle I ever had. Great all around good mpg towing and around town. I have the xl so plenty of room for everything

[jab0106]

Thanks for the insights. We just left the Grand Cherokee on the wife's ride to a Caravan. What a freakin downgrade man. But, it needed doing. Any thoughts on the Armada as poor man's Sequoia? From what I'm seeing there aren't any Sequoias nearby and they are roughly 10G more. I'll look harder at Durango, there aren't many around and the ones I've found have been V6. My personal want is the Tahoe, but geez what a tag on that thing.

Either way something will be got very soon, the bow tie is near death now with tranny issues.

[Ben Danbleume]

You won't need a tow vehicle, with four car seats in use.

[ECobb91]

+1 on the Durango. It has 3rd row seating and plenty of room for car seats. Towing capacity is around 6,200lbs with the v6 and 7,500lbs with the hemi. I tow with a 2014 Durango v6 SXT (their base model) and I can’t even tell it’s back there. It gets about 25-27mpg during the summer and 19-20mpg in the winter. We picked ours up for roughly $20,000 and only had 44k miles on it.

[Transom]

A full size passenger van will fit the bill.

[wmitch2]

2009-2010 LIncoln Navigator, third row seating, DVD player to keep them all entertained, auto leveling for towing. super comfortable and quiet !!

[1stindoor]

My wife's grand Cherokee will tow my Z21 easily as would her old Suburban; but only the Suburban meets the needs of your four car seats. You're right, low mileage, dependable, affordable....sounds like a unicorn. good luck.

[FishFish]

Yukon Denali. Best best vehicle I ever had. Great all around good mpg towing and around town. I have the xl so plenty of room for everything

This is what I have. It is a towing beast and drives extremely smooth and quiet when traveling. But probably not very affordable.

[StevenMCC]

A passenger Van can be found below 10K with less than 100k all day long. For under 20K you can get a nice low mileage unit.

[guisertj]

+1 on passenger van. Drive one with no seats in it for work. Have been pulling bass boats for 9 years with them.

[n2ratfishin]

I had a Ford Econoline MarkIII conversion back in the 90's. It was a wonderful family vehicle. We pulled our little RV trailer and my boat with it and my wife made her short commute to work. The issue we found with them is you can pretty much double the price of routine maintenance. I bet front brakes were an every 25,000 mile event. It cost an extra hour labor to take off the dog house no matter what you wanted done. Seems like they always wanted to take off the darn doghouse. I started taking it off myself before I took it in. I went through two sets of exhaust manifolds in 45,000 miles. That could just be an old Ford thing?

You can't beat them for the room! I used to spend the night at the ramp in ours on the back seat that flip flopped into a bed. The one we had was a low top, same size as a regular cargo van, just had four nice captains chairs and a couch in back with a few extra windows.

If you can get one at the prices being discussed above and do some of the maintenance yourself it would be worth looking into.

[Deevooo]

+1 on the Durango. It has 3rd row seating and plenty of room for car seats. Towing capacity is around 6,200lbs with the v6 and 7,500lbs with the hemi. I tow with a 2014 Durango v6 SXT (their base model) and I can’t even tell it’s back there. It gets about 25-27mpg during the summer and 19-20mpg in the winter. We picked ours up for roughly $20,000 and only had 44k miles on it.

+1 on this as well, I have a 2012 Durango Citadel with 5.7 HEMI.. pulls my zx225 like nothing. Paid about 25k for it about two years ago with 45k on it. Super comfortable and I have four kids, three of which are in car seats!

[pops slowdog]

Pretty much Zero cargo capacity in even full size (Yukon’s, Tahoe’s, Seqouas,etc) SUV’s when third row seating is being used-just sayin’. Look for full size - Suburbans, Expeditions XL’s etc. Yukon XL’s etc. - if you need room for luggage, diaper bags, taclkle, Rod/Reels etc.

[Bob G.]

I had a Ford Econoline MarkIII conversion back in the 90's. It was a wonderful family vehicle. We pulled our little RV trailer and my boat with it and my wife made her short commute to work. The issue we found with them is you can pretty much double the price of routine maintenance. I bet front brakes were an every 25,000 mile event. It cost an extra hour labor to take off the dog house no matter what you wanted done. Seems like they always wanted to take off the darn doghouse. I started taking it off myself before I took it in. I went through two sets of exhaust manifolds in 45,000 miles. That could just be an old Ford thing?

You can't beat them for the room! I used to spend the night at the ramp in ours on the back seat that flip flopped into a bed. The one we had was a low top, same size as a regular cargo van, just had four nice captains chairs and a couch in back with a few extra windows.

If you can get one at the prices being discussed above and do some of the maintenance yourself it would be worth looking into.

My dad used to buy new full size Ford vans when my mom was alive. They would go to a campground every weekend and for a week or so after Dad retired where they kept the camper. It was only the two of them. Mom would take 2 weeks of clothes for a long weekend! I remember my dad telling me he needed brakes every 12,000 to 15,000 miles and Ford would replace them mostly for free. I told Dad that he was lucky he was retired so that he had time to go to the Ford service department for new brakes all of the time!!

[Casslaw]

I was behind a Nissan Armada yesterday and thought about this thread. It’s a pretty big vehicle, but I have no experience with them. My first thought would be a Tahoe!

I’ve wondered with how our economy is enamored with trucks these days, why no manufacturer really offers a full size van for the family anymore? When I was a kid my neighbor had a 34’ Scarab with those huge OMC 300s and they used a 3/4 ton Ford van to pull it. It was a nice vehicle, although I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. Minivans have a lot of space but are useless for towing, so why no decent full size vans anymore?

[rangervalenti]

I have a Yukon XL which is a GMC Suburban, great vehicle with people room and tow ability.