Used 4X4's with room to spare?

[Crinkle]

After a weekend of camping and off-roading to get there in my Maxima, my wife understands our need for a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Me, my wife and my 2 dogs (not lap dogs at all), all the gear just for camping, we were loaded to the gills.

Looking for a 4X4 with a 6cyl or bigger.
Don't care if its late model or not, just needs to be less than $13,000.
Looking for something that will be able to carry 2 dogs, 2-4 people, and gear (and possibly a kid in the not so distant future )
Main concern is reliablitly, it will be a secondary vehicle that won't get as much use as my Maxima does.
I will be the main driver, so mainly used for skiing and mtn biking transportation.

we talked of a smaller SUV kinda thing, like a Honda CRV, but we figured that it won't be big enough.

I am thinking used Tahoe or something along those lines.

[BobMc]

Think you're loaded with the two dogs? Wait till you have kids... Get something big.

BobMc

[frozenwater]

you have pm, BUY MY TRUCK!!!

[Snow Dog]

It depends how "off-road" you want to go. An AWD minivan has lots of space. At the other end a full-sized pickup with crew/quad cab and short box can haul a lot of stuff. If I was buying an SUV, a Toyota 4Runner or Jeep Cherokee would be my first choices. But with 4 adults, 2 dogs, and gear you might want a trailer too.

[Snow Dog]

Originally posted by frozenwater
you have pm, BUY MY TRUCK!!!

Not the Dodge!

[frozenwater]

heh, I have 3 dodges. It is the one you saw at hood. Not my new heavy duty.

[Snow Dog]

Originally posted by frozenwater
heh, I have 3 dodges. It is the one you saw at hood. Not my new heavy duty.

You had a Dodge at Hood? I though you rode in the motorhome with GT40.

[Crinkle]

Originally posted by Snow Dog
You had a Dodge at Hood? I though you rode in the motorhome with GT40.

focus here people.

[rightcoast]

older subie??
i might be a little biased...but I had my '90 loyale wagon offroad in some places where i was following people in tacomas and CJ's.
That little thing suprised the hell out of me. it would be in your price range, should be enough cargo space if you were in a maxima.
<edit> holy shit, weekend gear, up to 4 adults and 2 big pooches?? forget the subie. youd be hard pressed to fit all those tiems in an older 4-runner. how about a '78 power wagon with a trailer <edit>

[drugged_monkey]

FRZ, you know I'd love to trade you my dodge for your dodge plus some cash. I've found that not having the extended cab can suck at times. Then you can use my smaller dodge for dragging deer carcasses or trips to the dump.

[Crinkle]

"deer carcauses" synonym for "dead hookers"????

[BobMc]

Originally posted by Crinkle
"deer carcauses" synonym for "dead hookers"????

Bums, at least get your victims right.

BobMc

[Snow Dog]

Originally posted by Crinkle
focus here people.

Focusing...
A Dakoda extended cab like Frozen's is a nice choice. With a V8 it can haul a decent trailer too. A friend has an older model -- 2 adults, 3 kids, a dog, gear, and a trailer -- no problem.

[EPSkis]

Originally posted by Snow Dog
If I was buying an SUV, a Toyota 4Runner or Jeep Cherokee would be my first choices.

But finding one of those that's $13k or less means you're looking at one that's 10 years old. Ugh.

[Ski to Be]

You can get a really nice AWD Astro van 2002 or so that has tons of cargo space & can haul a 6000 pound trailer in the budget your talking about. I use them in my business and they are very reliable.
Only downside would be clearance issues if you are doing serious off roading.

[Crinkle]

Originally posted by BobMc
Bums, at least get your victims right.

BobMc

my appologies.

[Castro's]

You can get Jeep Grand Cherokee's that have les than 70k and are around 7 years old easy for less than 13k. I've owned a 94 model and a 97 model with V8's. The 94 had a lot more power and better gas milage. (i have no idea why this is, but it did) It hold a lot of gear when the seats are down, but I do use a Thule to carry my skis. I also have a 98 Yukon. The Yukon/Tahoe has much more room than the Jeep especially if you have two dogs. The gas milage is very similar to my Jeep so if you are looking for space the Yukon/Tahoe is the why to go. The only downfall is that they are more spendy than the Jeep. There are a lot of good SUV's out there so you'll be happy with many of them. I had a lemon of an Explorer and because of that I will never buy a Ford for the rest of my life. I've drove some killer Pathfinders and really like them, but I still prefer my Jeep. Good Luck!

[tibaher]

get a box, and the vehicle is secondary.

you'll never look back, and if you're like me, never take it off the car.
Packs camping gear, wet dirty dog towels, stinky ski boots, muddy bike tires, and antyhing else you don't want stinking up said rig-
we wouldn't have been able to make the summit this year w/o ours (two adults(6 pair of skis) and one non lap dog in a '92 Legacy)we were lovin it!
also, go big or wish you would have later...no reason getting the small box IMO
You can cram a whole trunk-load plus into a full size box~and everything up there is out of dog-eat-dog range if you ever leave 'em behind for a day on the hill.

[fiddler]

Originally posted by Ski to Be
You can get a really nice AWD Astro van 2002 or so that has tons of cargo space & can haul a 6000 pound trailer in the budget your talking about. I use them in my business and they are very reliable.
Only downside would be clearance issues if you are doing serious off roading.

I drive these daily as a driver shuttle and the front seats SUCK. Not a comfortable ride for any distance but especially long distance.

[lemon boy]

Used old style cherokee, an exploder, 4bummer, pathfinder, xterra etc....

Personally, I think that a jeep cherokee (the old style) with the inline 6 (4.0L) are tough to beat as a good sports utility vehicle. They have decent space, decent power are reasonably well put together and priced.

Additionally, they have the added bonus that in the future you can start jackin it up and turning it into a trail vehicle.

[glademaster]

Older Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0L 6-Banger. A friend of mine has one of these with 200,000+ miles on it, all origincal parts and no rust, they can't kill the thing. Great 4x4 too.
Or a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, they stopped making them in 1992, but they're great cars, big, big engine (5.9 Litre V-8), very spacious inside, super confortable for long trips and prolly one of the best off road/snow vehicles ever built. You can find one of them in great shape for under 5 or 6 thousand, so it would fit your budget nicely.

-Ben

[frozenwater]

Man you guys are ALL wrong. He needs a truck, something he can store a TON of gear in the bed. He needs room in the back for a child seat, he needs a newer model that is reliable, a big engine that gets good gas mileage and he needs to look good doing it.

DODGE DAKOTA BABY!!!!!!

[sandytheskier]

I like those Ford escapes. Not too huge, off road capability, blah, blah, blah.

[365wp]

Originally posted by Crinkle
we talked of a smaller SUV kinda thing, like a Honda CRV, but we figured that it won't be big enough.

I am thinking used Tahoe or something along those lines.

Friend has a '99 or so Tahoe with the 8cyl...pretty sweet ride. Old roommate had a '96 or so 4Runner...that would be my choice. If you want power, get it with a 5spd and the TRD supercharger...you can accelerate up Floyd Hill in fifth. With the naturally aspirated 6cyl. and the three spd auto, it's not a speedy rig, but extremely capable off road.

If you're open to it, check out the Subarus. My friend got a nice '00 Outback for $11k with 80k on it...mine is going strong with 130k, planning on keeping it another 4-5yrs at least. Driven up Mt. Princeton to the towers with a full load of camping gear and four people...I got it to go over Berthoud every weekend and it was awesome for that. There were about three times a year when I wished I had a 4Runner for off road, but 99% of the time I was really happy with it.

[Buzzworthy]

Originally posted by frozenwater
Man you guys are ALL wrong. He needs a truck, something he can store a TON of gear in the bed. He needs room in the back for a child seat, he needs a newer model that is reliable, a big engine that gets good gas mileage and he needs to look good doing it.

DODGE DAKOTA BABY!!!!!!

Crinkle, this is a good idea. I have one too, put a topper on it and can haul the Danes, all the gear I want and the club cab comes in real handy. 4WD, relieable. Plus FRZ is much newer than mine. Hell, we have slept in it even with the dogs.