Hi Scotty. Enjoy your shows. Appreciate your sage advice. My wife and I have two cars since we both work. We will both retire this coming year and we want to get down to one car. We are 70 years young and want to travel on short trips. What vehicle would you suggest for us to consider?
thanks
TerryU
Almost anything Toyota.
Camry and Venza for comfort and reliability.
RAV4 for versatility and reliability.
+1 for Venza, either first gen or current. Tailor made for this use.
I would ask myself some specific questions about the vehicle's application:
- Does this vehicle need to tow (camper)? If so that will narrow your search.
- How many people do you have to carry? Just you and your wife? Or are Grandchildren or friends tagging along?
- Payload. How much weight (passengers and cargo) does the vehicle need to carry? If your are towing you will need to deduct the tongue weight of what you are towing from payload capacity (example: Assuming a 10% tongue weight towing a 5,000lb trailer will take about 500lbs off your payload. My Dad's Ram 1500 has 1,318lb payload capacity so that 5,000lb camper would leave him with 818lbs of payload for passengers and cargo).
- Fuel economy. The vehicle needs to get the best fuel economy possible while still accomplishing all the above tasks.
- Reliable. Nothing worse on a weekend getaway than a mechanical breakdown. Ideally vehicle has full size spare (getting hard to come by)- flat tires happen, especially in summer months.
My picks (I'm assuming you are buying new):
Vehicle does NOT need to tow:
- Toyota Highlander Hybrid (2-4ppl) ,
- Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (2ppl) ,
- Lexus ES 350 Hybrid (2ppl)
- Toyota Sienna Hybrid (5 + ppl)
Vehicle needs to tow 5,000lbs- 7,000lbs :
- 1/2 Ton Truck (Toyota Tundra or Ford F-150).
My Dad, older brother, and I recently drove from Minnesota to Reno, NV for Hot August nights. We took my Mom's Honda CRV (5 passenger vehicle, similar in size to RAV4) and it went okay, but something we forgot to check until we already on the road- PAYLOAD CAPACITY- it was only 850lbs. Each of us weigh over 225lbs - that left us with only 175lbs for cargo. To say the least we were well over loaded lol. We stopped to put more of our stuff in the middle of the car to get more weight on the front axle so the steering wasn't so light. We averaged 28 mpg which is great, but we all agreed we are taking a larger vehicle next time with a better payload capacity. A Toyota Sienna Hybrid would be great for us since it has 1335 payload capacity, gets 36 mpg, and we are NOT towing.
Hope that helps! Have fun Traveling ( I recommend Lake Tahoe! Its Beautiful!)
