Next Vehicle SUV Poll

[speedracing944]

Our aged family hauler, 2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette with 260K miles, is in need of replacement as the engine is showing low oil pressure and a slight rod knock. At this point we are not willing to do an engine rebuild or swap. In addition we have an '93 Ford F-150 we use to haul a light weight 20' sailboat, make runs to the home improvement store and get us out of our dead end country road during winter time. The F150 maybe gets driven 1000 miles per year but has 185K miles with a recent engine rebuild about 2000 miles ago. The truck runs fine but is slowly rusting away. I have a 2002 Mazda Protege with 152K miles which I use as my commuter vehicle. We tend to keep our vehicles for a long time and use them until they are used up so ease of maintenance and reliability is important. I either repair them myself or hire the work out to my fairly talented farm neighbor. None of my cars ever see a dealership.

We are considering selling both the minivan and truck and purchasing a single replacement vehicle for my wife to use as a stay-at-home mother and to handle the larger chores such as towing, home improvement and small farm.

Need-to-haves include
1) Haul 2 adults, 3 kids, 1 collie and weekends worth of gear for trips to my mother-in-laws 3 hours away.
2) Good 4 Wheel drive as we live on a dead end country road which drifts quite badly, up to 6 foot deep of snow. Frequent snow falls of 8"- 10" at a time. Approximately 100 inches of snow per winter.
3) Good towing capacity to handle a larger 24' - 26' foot cruising sailboat in our near future, Approximately 6000 - 7000 lbs.
4) The best fuel economy, or better yet, best fuel cost dollar per mile as possible given the above constraints. Diesel has been less appealing lately due to price differential between gasoline and diesel as well as the upcharge for the vehicle purchase. I have looked at Mercedes Benz ML320 CDI and Grand Cherokee diesels in the past.
5) Good reliability with 95% of the maintenance able to be carried out either by myself or my neighbor.
6) Used
7) Purchase price under $20,000
8) My wife must like it as she will be driving it 80% of the time


Nice-to-haves include
1) Seating great than 5 incase one of our children wants to bring at least 1 friend or if our mother-in-law rides with us.
2) Combined unloaded fuel economy greater than 17 MPG (gas). Less concerned with towing economy.
3) Rugged and able to handle the daily abuse that family haulers normally see with children.
4) 2006-2007 vintage
5) Less than 75,000 miles, 60,000 miles is more ideal
6) Major components, engine, transmission, able to last at least until 250K miles.
7) Good rust resistance

Given the above criteria, what would you recommend from the below choices.
BMW X5
Porsche Cayenne S
Land Rover LR3
Chevy Trailblazer
Saab 9-7X (same as the Trailblazer)
Mercedes Benz ML350

Speedy

[85eurocarrera]

used yukon or tahoe.
quad cab p.u.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Speedy, you made some great criteria then seem to have ignored it with your suggestions. Very rational criteria, then some much more fun (except Trailblazer) suggestions. Maybe a left brain vs right brain conflict?

Seriously though, you'll be lucky to even fit three kids into everything but the Trailblazer/9-7X. Going from a minivan to a midsized SUV (like your list above) is going to royally suck. Everything but the Chevy is going to require specialized maintenance, and much more so than the average appliance type car. None of the above are really safe for towing of a 7000 lb boat, my guess is you'll exceed the tow rating on at least a few of your choices. Of the bunch, the Trailblazer/9-7X is the only one that offers a 3rd row seat. But sadly the Trailblazer is a steaming pile of crap that you couldn't pay me to drive. By the way, I don't think any of your choices meet your MPG target. None of those are particularly efficient SUVs.

Seating for 5+, towing 7000 lb and 26', good ground clearance, reliable and easy to repair - you need a domestic or Japanese crew cab truck or full-sized SUV. It will be a hit to your MPG, but I can't think of anything that meets your criteria and MPG requirement. SUV: Chevy Tahoe or Suburban, GMC Yukon, Ford Expedition, Dodge Durango, Toyota Sequoia, Nissan Armada. Trucks would be the Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Nissan Titan, Ford F150, Toyota Tundra. On the upside, you can find all of the above for under $20k, though the Toyotas will be higher mileage examples.

I'm actually in a really similar spot, I needed a vehicle to haul our three kids (2, 5, 8) with at least one spare seat, all of their stuff (don't underestimate this one), haul our 4000-ish lb boat, handle the occasional lumber run, and offer 4x4. I ended up with a 2012 F150 XLT SuperCrew 4x4 with the 5.0 V8. MPG is average at 14/19, but it offers a huge backseat for the kiddos, a front bench that gives us one extra seat, we covered the bed with a tonneau cover so it's now a huge trunk, and easily tows our boat. We went with a truck over an SUV because of the bed hauling ability, my house is a work in progress and I hated hauling materials in the back of an SUV. It has worked out very, very well. Our previous vehicle was a Nissan Armada, which was also a fantastic and super reliable SUV and worth considering if you go that route.

[Brian in VA]

I'm biased but... Love my LR3
Great seating for 5 plus a dog and stuff or pull up the back seats for 7
Drives thru snow with no problems, could drive up the side of a mountain if you want
Tows
I get about 17 mpg
As far as reliability....well, seem to either be good (mine) or terrible so check the service records and you'd be ok

The interior is a nice place to be, great high seating position & visibility, looks good, sturdy as hell.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Maximum tow ratings - all 2006 models to make it simple

BMW X5 - 6000 lb
Porsche Cayenne S - 7716 lb
Land Rover LR3 - 7716 lb
Chevy Trailblazer - 6700 lb
Mercedes ML350 - 5000 lb

I'm sure you know that most would not recommend that you max out your tow rating on a regular basis.

[PorscheGAL]

Have you considered a Cadillac Escalade?
It covers all your needs:

Tows 8000 lbs,
7 passenger
Gas mileage at 19 hwy 12 city
Easy to get parts

As a woman, I would drive it.

[Dana Norris]

Well I voted before I read your requirements, none of the units that you named will be large
enough think bigger.
Dana.....

[UconnTim97]

We have a 2008 Envoy Denali with 75K miles. Similar to the Trailblazer and Saab.

It appears to meet most of your requirements. This is my wife's DD. It has been trouble free and we have only done the routine maintenance, oil changes, etc. We just changed the brakes for the first time. Prior to this, Mary thought brakes were a yearly requirement, so I was very impressed with that.

The 5.3L V8 has plenty of torque and has been trouble free so far. We are getting about 17 mpg combined. The truck sees a lot of city driving which doesn't help the mileage.

Let me know if you have any specific questions about these trucks.

[stealthn]

Why an SUV?

I just went through this dilemma and chose a quad cab Dodge Ram 1500 sport, even traded my Cayenne turbo on it.

The Cayenne was great at everything except gas mileage, but I just needed more room, with hauling two kids a dog and camping with a trailer I needed more room. I looked at the escalade's, suburbans, etc., but for the price a pickup was a better choice. Now I can haul everything in comfort and use the bed on weekends for stuff.

Good luck on your choice

[LakeCleElum]

Quad Cab Toyota P/u......

[onewhippedpuppy]

Quad Cab Toyota P/u......

Gotta be a Tundra. Tacoma tow rating is more like 5000 lb.

[Paul K]

+1 for the Land Rover LR3. Ours has been fantastic.

[porsche4life]

Fwiw, the chev trailblazer is a POS in comparison to the rest of the list.... I have an '06 that is company issued.... The interior is very cheaply built, the tranny is crap, it's a gas hog, the ride kinda sucks..... Need I go on?

For comparison, I had an '11 dodge Durango for part of the year.... Both v6s.... The Durango pulled our demo trailer way better, and got ~17-18mpg doing it... The trailblazer struggles to see 11-12mpg....

[varmint]

not to derail but it is sort of on topic, my truck has seen it's last winter. am hearing good things about the toyota FJ. any opinions?

[porsche4life]

My folks had a Tacoma, which shares many parts with the FJ. It was a damn fine truck, and I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

[Seahawk]

We bought my daughter a used FJ four years ago. Very capable, roomy with surprisingly good on and off road manners.

Zero issues to date.

Aftermarket parts and upgrades are readily available.

Nothing about the truck I don't like except the gas mileage.

Concerning the OPs question, I would look at a four door pick-up. I love mine.

[RWebb]

what about dealers, parts, service in Evansville, Wisconsin?

Honda Pilot fits your capacity issues; not sure if it will get in & out on the road you describe with the snowfall amts. you give

[grendiers]

We just bought a low-mileage 2010 Jeep Commander Limited. Tows 7500#, Hemi engine, Awd, Low range as well, DVD player for the kids with HEADPHONES, leather interior, sunroof, etc., spendy, but there are older ones out there for half what we paid. Seats 7, even though there's only two of us, but have two dogs. Also, Sat/Nav is a nice option. Reverse camera, lots of windows, and, wife loves it. Priceless. Check it out:

[onewhippedpuppy]

Pilot/Ridgeline also won't cut it on towing, both are rated for 5000 lbs. As you can see, the tow requirement is going to push towards a 1/2 ton truck or SUV.

[gprsh924]

Tahoe or Suburban. Done.