Background: Wife wants a 3-row vehicle (with an adult-sized third row) to replace our 4Runner, which is admittedly small inside for family trips with the kids, dogs, etc.
I have a need for occasional towing of an e30 (either my rallycross car or our Chumpcar), so this has caused a major dilemma (and major arguments as we look at cars). I'm not interested in renting trucks for towing. I want to have my own vehicle properly set up for towing.
Let me say first off that a full-size fan (E350, etc) is out of the question.
So that leaves us down to minivans and LARGE SUVs that have big third rows (Sequoia, Tahoe, etc).
I will also mention that the wife strongly prefers the minivan since 95% of the time she will be driving it, and 98% of the time it won't be towing anything. So even though something like a Sequoia is very nice, I fear that once she test-drives one she's not going to be happy with the 6k heft, and the fuel mileage is admittedly lousy....5-8mpg worse than a hard-driven Odyssey.
THe popular crossovers are ruled out by her for various reasons as ugly, too small 3rd row, whatever, and some also by me for low tow capacity, ugly, etc...so those are not in the cards. A crossover is just a compromised minivan or compromised "real" SUV anyhow, IMO.
Now, pretty much every minivan has a tow capacity of 3500lbs, which I find odd since my POS old 1987 Voyager could tow that much with 170hp and tiny brakes and wheels. So why does an Odyssey or Sienna, which are long-wheelbase, 250+hp engines, much larger brakes, and 1000lb load rating for cargo, have such a low tow capacity? Is it so it doesn't pilfer lucrative SUV sales, or is there more to it? I've been doing a lot of reading on RV trailer (airstream) forums, and seems a ton of poeple with minivans are towing well over the manufacturer's stated max, with the vans rigged with tranny coolers, trailer brakes, load-distributing custom hitches, etc.
So as much as I really despise the idea of owning a minivan (it's the last surrender to suburban boringness, in my book), in the interest of keeping the wife happy.....what think the collective wisdom here of setting one up to tow ~4500lbs on occasion?
My options here are: 1. Get a sequoia, which is thirsty and big, but otherwise does fit our collective needs in all manners, including reliability, space, and towing. 2. Get a minivan and try to maximize its tow capability + maybe find a light aluminum trailer to keep the overall weight as close to 3500-4000 as possible if towing an e30. 3. Get a minivan and just buy a beater tow rig (with the additional maintenance, insurance, etc that it carries while only using it very occasionally). I don't really like this option since I have 5 vehicles here at my suburban house already.....but it's still an option
I personally want #1 for many reasons, but if she doesn't like the 08 Sequoia we're driving on Sunday I'm not going to press the issue. It's the only large SUV that we can (borderline) agree on and afford. My wife still resents that I "picked" the 4Runner, even though she says she likes it and it's been 100% trouble-free for 5 years of ownership; and that I am trying to "pick" this car for my own purposes (as well as hers, though she doesn't realize it). So, eliminating resentment is never a bad thing.
I know I won't get any semblance of a unanimous answer here, but I'm finiding myself thinking about giving in to her wishes and trying to make lemonade over what I perceive as lemons (minivan). e.g. #2 on my list. Figure an aluminum trailer maybe around 1000-1500lbs with a ~2500lb car on it?
Thoughts? berkeleying minivan... .I spent my whole childhood riding on damn minivan bench seats. Do I finally surrender to inevitability?
Alternatively, tell me why I don't want a minivan and why it's not that great - particularly a newer Odyssey :)
...but other than the gas mileage (21 mpg when you're used to ~50 mpg is hard to swallow), it's been good for the past couple of months.
