As I mentioned during the previous post, I already have a Suburban in the garage and it has been used for camping in the past but not to its fullest extent. The Suburban is my wife’s daily driver and it is the only two-wheel drive. The fact that its only two-wheel drive has prevented me from investing any time or effort into building this vehicle up for adventure travel.
This particular Suburban has captains chairs in the second row which means that the third row seat must be installed in order to meet my family’s minimum seating requirement. There is still a significant amount of cargo space behind the third row seat however, a lot less space than would be available if the third row could be removed.
Part of having kids means hauling additional people around. A large SUV with a modular storage system would provide a great deal of passenger seating and cargo hauling versatility. I’ve already learned a few lessons from my storage system in my XJ and I could build a better system in the future for the Suburban. A large SUV will not provide enough interior sleeping space for two adults and three kids. A camping trip with the whole family would require some kind of external shelter solution. I’m very comfortable with the process of tent camping but I am very interested in adding a roof top tent (RTT). I’ll discuss the RTT option more in the future but my main concern about camping with a RTT is that you have to break down camp whenever you want to drive somewhere.
One of the best things about experiencing the Vermont Overland Trophy was being about to see how different types and sizes of vehicles perform over the same terrain. I was able to easily maneuver my Jeep XJ through tight spaces with relative ease while guys like Team Daily Driver suffered significant body damage and numerous destroyed tires on the Ford Excursion. I suspect that the same fate would have existed for a similar size vehicle such as a Suburban or full size truck. With patience and experience comes greater capability but there will always come a time where you just have to pick a different route or know when you can’t go any farther. This is the same reason that you don’t see very many full size rigs on the Rubicon Trail.
So let’s get down to listing the advantages and disadvantages of selecting a large SUV as the adventure rig.
Advantages:
Photo from ExpeditionPortal.com forums
- Versatility of seating and cargo configurations
- Easy pass through from sleep area to seating area
- Can pull the XJ on a trailer
- No need to buy a cover for sleep area
- Comfortable space for road trips and daily drives
Disadvantages:
- No drop down tailgate (most likely)
- Not sufficient interior sleep area for the whole family
- Long wheel base
- Very heavy
- Overall large size impacts maneuverability
The large SUV option has a very familiar feel to what I’m already used to driving. Some expectation management would allow me to be happy with maneuverability and route selections. I’d love to hear what you think about the large SUB options that exist on the market and how you think they would perform offroad.
Photos from http://dirtroadtrip.com/trips/vermont-overland-trophy/ and ExpeditionPortal.com forums
