Road trip machine, conversion van, sprinter van, or suburban?

What I am thinking about is a family hauler. 
 

Wants:

Seating for 6 

Comfortable seating, maybe some extra room to move around  

storage space for suitcases etc

can tow 5k 

This is a idea that there is a good chance that it won't happen, but if you were going to spend two weeks on a road trip, and have kids that like to bother each other on long car rides what would you choose? 
 

Since this is GRM let's say the budget is $10,000

(we just spent about 12 hours in our mini van and it drove great but not enough room)

I'm totally in love with my 2500 Suburban.  More towing than you need but the space inside is nice.

I have done suburban suburban (well Escalade ESV for the second one). The room is great but I would love to be in a conversion van. I feel like they are better road trippers due to interior volume. The suburbans are great but I would think conversion van is even greater. 
The ground clearance on the suburbans seems better and I don't think it's easy to find 4wd/awd in the conversion vans. 

I haven't driven a Suburban so I can't say how they compare, but I have lived out of a conversion van for the past year. Pretty different use case than what you are describing though. Mine has all the seats out in the back so I have never taken a trip with 6 people before. Mine is a Ford E250 and has been pretty solid even with 326k miles.

I don't think it's possible to find a Sprinter for anywhere near $10k, but I could be wrong.  I think you'd be lucky to find a conversion van for that much. Everyone is going all Vanlife these days and prices are steep. 

After writing all that, I'm thinking it's not very helpful, sorry. 

My dad owned a few conversion vans.  The hood ones are pretty good; the bad ones not so good.  A Suburban is always good and has less drag than many conversion vans.  Drag is directly proportional to frontal area.  Nice conversion almost always raise the roof adding drag.  

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

The '90s Astro / Safaris got better mileage in the raised roof conversion vans, than the factory passengers vans did. Several real world examples of that, in the mid/late '90s. 
So, absolutes are not always absolutes. 
The tallest, heaviest, longest Sprinter van (when they still had the 5cyl., got the same mpg as the shortest, lightest, lowest roof one I drove. Go figure!

Stampie said:

I'm totally in love with my 2500 Suburban.  More towing than you need but the space inside is nice.

The 'burb is an excellent choice, for his needs... except that 6 people thing 

It will seat six, and even more. But it will not travel six, all that well. Especially if several are kids!

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

My dad owned a few conversion vans.  The hood ones are pretty good; the bad ones not so good.  A Suburban is always good and has less drag than many conversion vans.  Drag is directly proportional to frontal area.  Nice conversion almost always raise the roof adding drag.  

I second that. I kept looking for conversions and they were either $40k plus and awesome or rags. I couldn't seem to find the middle. 

I'd go full-size van or conversion van. Outside choice wound be an Expedition EL, as the IRS gives a lower floor height than a stick axle Suburban. Might want to go with airbags on one to fight the IRS camber gain when loaded.

We use our Odyssey when road-tripping with our family of 6.  The Yakima Skybox on the roof gives us some extra space to free up interior room, but there's no way it'll tow 5k (3.5k rating, and that's probably optimistic). I have the AirLift rear airbags on ours, and they do a great job of combatting rear end sag when loaded.

In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :

My dads 06 Oddy was well loaded a lot. And no bags. Handled it fine. But our expectations might be a tad lower. 

Towed a lot more than 3500, all over S. E. VA, but that's mostly flat land. I would not recommend 5K all over the country. Although with bags and some cooling  mods, I'd prolly do it. 

Would NOT do it with 6 folks, though. Although it's had 8 in it for a few local funerals, and such. 

In reply to NY Nick :

I was looking before the crazy, and same. Either way to pricey, or trashed.  

A Suburban won't feel much larger inside than a minivan - maybe a little more leg room, but not much. For maximum room, I'd say full size or conversion van here.

The only SUV that I'd consider trying to put 6 real-size people in for anything more than a jaunt across town would be an Excursion. 

I had a couple different conversion vans over the years and we had 6 people in one of them to go to New Orleans and back.  Plenty of room for luggage (we were going on a 10-day cruise once we got there) and nobody was lacking in leg space or anything.

Once spotted at local super rich guys horse stable farm... 

Extended wheelbase, Quigley-ed, raised roof, Duramax, custom interior that looked like a Lear Jet inside. 

Not $10k. More like $100k

Yeah, a minivan, like its bigger cousin the full-size van, is an open, spacious box in which seats have been installed. An SUV is a shorter box that has seats molded in to its very design. There isn't really space *around* the furniture, unlike a minivan. If you're looking for a more spacious version of your minivan the only real answer is a full-size van.

According to others more wise than me, conversion vans come with customization issues, esp at that price, so be vigilant like around the raised roof seal

Ford has way more leg room in the third row if you go SUV.  I had for ten years a GMC Savanna SLT, is a factory build luxury van.  Seats six large people with room for coolers between the seats.  Kids can't reach each other even with outstretched legs.

GMC Savana $6900 looks like a good start! 

I think the hard thing is getting 25-30 mpg and a lot of space , 

We did not get many full size Chevy - Ford vans with Diesel,

What is  the late model Astro Van  size Minivan - SUV ?

Good Luck with the move

californiamilleghia said:

I think the hard thing is getting 25-30 mpg and a lot of space , 

We did not get many full size Chevy - Ford vans with Diesel,

What is  the late model Astro Van  size Minivan - SUV ?

Good Luck with the move

I missed the need for 25-30 mpg requirement, cause that simply ain't gonna happen. No way. 90% of cars one seen myself, that got 30, would not even seat 6, unless it was at the circus. 
Cali. might not have gotten many diesel vans, if that's who you meant by "we", but non cali. got a lot. Harder to find used, 'cause folks tend not to let them go. 
Astro / Safari was mentioned. But even the raised roof (that got better mpg than passenger roof in my experience) were only getting 19 after gm made them "better" from mid-late '90s till last one ('06 or so)

5 cyl Sprinters got 24, but that's on diesel, and when they got "improved" with the 6, they lost mpg as well as dependability.

Yes I was saying California did not get many diesel full size vans.....

I have a 2003 Astro and I think it got a little over 20 mpg and not fully loaded down on the open highway , 

Plus if you need to get rid of it in a week once you get to NYC it needs to be in very nice condition and a popular model.

Good Luck

In reply to wae :

Were all your van's the high tops or just regular full size vans? 
 

I do wonder how much more roomy the high tops feel. 

In reply to John Welsh :

That would be perfect for what I want. Even a diesel. Just waaaaay out of the price range lol. 

In reply to akylekoz :

Was your savanna the high top or regular? What year was it? Just wondering if getting one newer than 2002 for the ls type engine would be better. 

yupididit said:

GMC Savana $6900 looks like a good start! 

That does look like a great start. 

In reply to Somebeach (Forum Supporter) :

Clean the carpets and recover the seats and you're pretty much good to go.