I have 4 kids, so I can't really do a jeep or a pickup truck anymore. Right now, my vehicle choice is basically minivan, minivan, or minivan. I like my minivan, but they aren't great for rough roads, and you can't tow much of anything, and if you start loading down with a roof carrier or whatever, you start to hit the limits of the vehicle. Once the kids get to all be teenagers they are going to be pretty cramped in there too. And on top of that, the minivan market is shrinking.
Ok, this is where everyone will say "what about a full-size SUV, like a Suburban?" Well the problem we have with the Suburban or Excursions is that they don't actually have any more space inside than our Chrysler minivan with Stow-N-Go seats. We test-drove them, and when we looked at where we would store stuff, we would literally have to put a carrier on them, just to carry what we currently carry in the minivan with no external carrier. And I currently get 4x8 sheets in my minivan just by folding down the seats, but with an Excursion I couldn't even do that. So a full-size SUV is moving up in cost, down in gas mileage, and actually going back in capability while being a lot more expensive to run. So I'm clinging to my Grand Caravan for the time being.
I live in the PNW and I see quite a lot of Mercedes vans with knobby tires, roof racks and ladders, etc. People use them to take their mountain bikes and kayaks all over the place, basically as a lite RV. From what I can tell the options are Mercedes, Ford Transit, Nissan NV, or maybe something else I'm missing. I think this would make more sense than a full-size SUV, but it seems like a niche market.
How do you go about shopping for a full-size van like this? I think they are targeted to fleets and less to individuals. I think a van with real 4WD would be pretty cool, but mostly would be looking for something economical and easy to maintain using available parts. Buying a mercedes anything seems scary to me in terms of finding parts. If I bought a van like this, I would be looking to keep it for 20 years probably.
Does anyone have experience with the mega-vans and have any advice?
Ok, this is where everyone will say "what about a full-size SUV, like a Suburban?" Well the problem we have with the Suburban or Excursions is that they don't actually have any more space inside than our Chrysler minivan with Stow-N-Go seats. We test-drove them, and when we looked at where we would store stuff, we would literally have to put a carrier on them, just to carry what we currently carry in the minivan with no external carrier. And I currently get 4x8 sheets in my minivan just by folding down the seats, but with an Excursion I couldn't even do that. So a full-size SUV is moving up in cost, down in gas mileage, and actually going back in capability while being a lot more expensive to run. So I'm clinging to my Grand Caravan for the time being.
I live in the PNW and I see quite a lot of Mercedes vans with knobby tires, roof racks and ladders, etc. People use them to take their mountain bikes and kayaks all over the place, basically as a lite RV. From what I can tell the options are Mercedes, Ford Transit, Nissan NV, or maybe something else I'm missing. I think this would make more sense than a full-size SUV, but it seems like a niche market.
How do you go about shopping for a full-size van like this? I think they are targeted to fleets and less to individuals. I think a van with real 4WD would be pretty cool, but mostly would be looking for something economical and easy to maintain using available parts. Buying a mercedes anything seems scary to me in terms of finding parts. If I bought a van like this, I would be looking to keep it for 20 years probably.
Does anyone have experience with the mega-vans and have any advice?