Help me choose a reliable cross country vehicle

[alicia]

Finally after years of saving and a bit of an inheritance, me and my significant other have the opportunity to do a cross country tour of our great nation. I already have a list of automobiles we are considering and would welcome any input. We are looking for something that we can sleep in and pack a few camping goods and supplies in as well as some personal items. Towing any kind of trailer is out of the question because the trip will consist of mountain driving out west with some off-roading so it will have to be 4×4 and city driving on the east. Below is a list of vehicles we have compiled, please feel free to add any that I don’t mention and critique any that I do. We want to do it all on a budget and don’t want to spend a whole lot on the vehicle. As a last resort, we will consider an economical vehicle and tent camp most of the way.

1.) 99-06 chevy silverado, 5.3 or 4.8
2.) 2001-06 chevy tahoe
3.) 02-07 chevy trailblazer 5.3 only
4.) 90-04 ford f150 with a 4.9 six, 5.0 or 4.6. not familiar with 5.4 but haven’t heard good things.
5.) 93-99 ford ranger 4.0 manual only
6.) Nissan xterra, pathfinder with the 3.5 or 4.0
7.) old hardbody nissan truck 4cyl
8.) Toyota 22re or the 2.7
9.) jeep cherokee 4.0
10.) jeep wrangler 2.5
11.) dodge dakota old 3.9
12.) dodge ram 4.7

That’s all we have on the list as of now. I would like to stay away from timing belts and automatics if possible.

Topic

[Mike]

[alicia]

[quote=”Evil-i” post=177546] lol, yea I’d really like to have had the vacation mobile in lampoons vaction..

[Greg]

Any of the domestic trucks would be great. You didn’t mention where out west you would be going so I assume that you will be in the rockies at some point. If you are going to spend any amount of time in the rockies I recommend a truck with a V-8 our high altitude mountain passes will suck the horse power right out of any of the 4 and 6 cylinder vehicles even more so if they are loaded down. If this is a one time trip with not a lot of time spent in the big mountains a smaller vehicle with a smaller engine will work just be warned that you will crawl up the mountain passes at a snails pace.

In no particular order

Chevy Silverado with 5.3
F-150 with the 5.4
Chevy tahoe with 5.3

[zero]

I would have to agree that any domestic half ton based vehicle is a good option. Even if you break down in the sticks you should be able to get parts cheap.

I would stay away from anything older than model year 2000 as at that age you might start having issues related to age. Also buying a 15 year old plus used car, you might be buying many other peoples problems.

[alicia]

[quote=”gmule” post=177649]Any of the domestic trucks would be great. You didn’t mention where out west you would be going so I assume that you will be in the rockies at some point. If you are going to spend any amount of time in the rockies I recommend a truck with a V-8 our high altitude mountain passes will suck the horse power right out of any of the 4 and 6 cylinder vehicles even more so if they are loaded down. If this is a one time trip with not a lot of time spent in the big mountains a smaller vehicle with a smaller engine will work just be warned that you will crawl up the mountain passes at a snails pace.

In no particular order

Chevy Silverado with 5.3
F-150 with the 5.4
Chevy tahoe with 5.3[/quote] Yea, we will be going to a lot of national parks out west, so a lot of mountain driving will be done.

[Author]

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