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Author Topic: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?  (Read 2500 times)

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Offline Tallinn Trad

Re: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?
« Reply #10 on: June 15, 2021, 09:36:07 AM »
If there is ever a year for a local vacation, then this is that year.

I cannot stand all of the bullpoop that goes with travelling on planes.

Give me a little farm with a nice view and a lake to swim in 30 mins drive away from my house.  Let the masses have their mouth swabs and queue up for airplanes.

Why people want to go away anywhere now I have no idea.  What a hassle!

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Offline DigitalLogos

Re: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?
« Reply #11 on: June 15, 2021, 09:40:14 AM »
Quote from: Tallinn Trad on June 15, 2021, 09:36:07 AM
If there is ever a year for a local vacation, then this is that year.

I cannot stand all of the bullpoop that goes with travelling on planes.

Give me a little farm with a nice view and a lake to swim in 30 mins drive away from my house.  Let the masses have their mouth swabs and queue up for airplanes.

Why people want to go away anywhere now I have no idea.  What a hassle!
Amen to that. My wife and I just went up north to Washington Island this past weekend and stayed in a little cabin for a few nights. Much easier than trying to book a flight and resort or anything like that.
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Online Ladislaus

  • Supporter
Re: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2021, 09:54:48 AM »
Quote from: DigitalLogos on June 06, 2021, 10:38:48 AM
Car camping-wise, you'd be pretty good with a 4Runner. They're honestly some of the best SUVs on the market right now, especially with Toyota reliability. They can be a little pricey in the used market, which is why I didn't get one now, but plan to in the future. Another option is a Honda Pilot. I have a 2010 and it has tons of room in it and is great as a camping/road trip vehicle. It has a V6, so it's capable of towing up to around 3,500lbs too. If you can get one with less than 150k miles then you should have absolutely no problems. Mine has 185k on it now, with some noisy cams/lifters, but it still runs great.

I would stay away from modern Jeeps, at least after 2014 when Fiat bought them out. They're good offroad vehicles still, but the reliability is very questionable with the crappy Fiat engines in them. So long-term maintenance costs are going to be far beyond anything like a Toyota or Honda. My wife has a 2021 Wrangler Willy's and I don't particularly love it (even though she does).

Jeep's V6 engine is still very good, hasn't changed much from what I've been told, but those new 2.0 liters I would avoid like the plague.  With that I don't like the new Wranglers either (and I used to be a big fan) because at 6'2" I can barely get into the thing without hurting my neck to avoid hitting my head.  I lowered the seat as far down as it would go, and I feel really claustrophobic.

I'd just check the SUVs to see which ones have seats that fold down FLAT ... so you could put a mattress on it.  Many of them don't fold down all the way flat.  Then I would just look at the vehicle's specs to see if there's sufficient length in the cargo area (with seats folded down) to accommodate the mattress.

Of course the old conversion vans are the best for camping ... though not idea for going offroad.
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Online Ladislaus

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Re: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?
« Reply #13 on: June 15, 2021, 09:59:10 AM »
Quote from: DigitalLogos on June 06, 2021, 01:02:52 PM
I third the opinion against Mini Coopers. My sister was foolish enough to get one and has had nothing but high maintenance costs on the stupid thing since then. And now she's looking at buying another Mini, this time a Countryman  :facepalm:

I forgot about Subarus. They're pretty good too, I have a coworker that swears by them if you live in a place that gets a lot of snow (they're very popular here in WI). And they don't really break the bank used (at least from what I see in my area). Ford Explorers are still very good, as well as the Escapes, I just barely missed an opportunity to get a 2010 Escape for $9k with only 25,000 miles back in March! I can't speak to everything being good from Ford, I know F150s across the board are some of the best trucks outside of Toyota Tundras right now, but I'm very skeptical about their turbo-charged eco-boost engines and longevity (longevity being the main selling point for a cheap-o like me). My wife had a 2013 Ford C-Max Energi and it was a rolling piece of garbage.

GM is generally crap nowadays. So if you look at something like a Blazer or TrailBlazer, go for one from the early 00's or earlier. I just ended a Lease on a 2018 Silverado that left a bad taste in my mouth after the starter went out after only 36k miles.

I'm totally down on Ford.  I had an Expedition and it was total garbage.  One mechanical issue after another, 12MPH, and it was RUSTING OUT on a lot of panels ... even though it wasn't old enough to be rusting.  Others who have had Expeditions told me the same thing.
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Offline songbird

Re: What is the best SUV for car camping (and just overall)?
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2021, 10:25:59 AM »
I love my 2005 Honda Pilot.  My husbands, cousins husband, was over Honda in Phoenix since 1967.  To this day he said, your Honda Pilot's engine can go to 300,000 miles. I am at 97,000 now.  I saw a pilot at 200,000.  Just saying that their engines are very good.
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