So what is the hives thought on the Nissan Armada?

My Previa needs some work and I am in the mood to buy something a little newer. I need to haul 3 kids frequently, another one occasionally, and as many as a vehicle can fit every few months or so.  

So:

-3rd row is a must

- Towing is a plus

- modern enough to be fairly reliable and look reputable

- somewhere less than $10k with preference given to closer to $5k. 

I have considered '08 and up Tahoes, '07 and up MDX, '10 and up pilots, Land Cruisers, and Now the Armada. They are all gas hogs but the Armada seems to offset this a bit with the use of regular instead of premium. So-what say ye?

I haven't owned any of the ones mentioned, but have driven most of them.  The Armada is the sports car of the bunch.  Definitely the best driving.  Not sure what it is like to own however, but a friend has one for his wife and it is mostly trouble free.  I seem to remember it needed intake gaskets or some such thing, but other than that, not much. 

Jeremy has had a used Armada for a while now. I rode in it while towing a car and was impressed with it.

IRISH 44 has been extolling the vertues of the Toyota Sequoia recently. Most notably that near him the Sequoia can be bought cheaper that similar age 4Runner.

I recently bought a super cheap Mitsubishi Montero Limited.  These Monteros were offered from '01-'06 and are highly overlooked and often reasonably priced. Unfortunately, under powered with just a V6 and does call for Premium.  Does have a 2 place third row seat which completely disappears into the floor when not in use.  

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Sorry, but your answer is still minivan.  We're in a similar boat...3 kids, sometimes their friends, sports equipment, etc...  We looked at Suburbans, but anything fairly new and lower miles was out of budget.  We looked really hard at the Armada, but as odd as it sounds to say, it was just too small.  Very cramped 3rd row, minimal storage space.  Our Kia Sedona has much more room inside. 

I've driven the Previa for 5 years or so-I need a minivan break. If it doesn't pan out I will return to the land of vans in the future.

Dick Dale plugs his Strat into one and plays while on the beach so it's gotta be cool!

My friend's wife had one.  She said that any time gas mileage hit double digits, it was "WOO-HOO!"

Couple years ago, one stopped on the railroad tracks here in town.  A train hit it.  Driver was uninjured.

I'm very fond of my LX470, the ZAV.  I get "about" 16MPG taking it easy.

In reply to drainoil :

Dick dale also tours non stop so he can afford his catheters. 

In reply to Dr. Hess :

Oooooh, single digits would be a new low for me. My Egg is getting 15, my Land Rover got 13, and my 6.0 Express got 11. Running on regular gives me about 3mpg buffer compared to the Egg but single digits is painful.

Suburban or Sequoia are the things to get in this category.   Armada is too thirsty.

My wife has a 2010 4x4 armada.  It gets 13.5 mpg, which is the same mileage she got in the 2007 Denali the Armada replaced.

It has a ton of space inside, tows well and seems well put together.  I like it better than the Denali. 

I haven't had any problems with it in the 18 months I have had it.  I have owned several suburbans, two seqouias,  and an LX470 in addition to the previously mentioned Denali so I have a pretty good grasp of the available options.  The suburban, LX470 and seqouias all got 15 mpg so the mileage difference us negligible.

I plan to keep the Armada for at least two more years.

We use an Armada for towing a decent sized trailer and my mom dailies it. It averages around 16.5mpg mixed and 8-10mpg with a trailer. It's big, pretty comfy, and hasn't given a problem yet, though sometimes it feels a bit underpowered and definitely drives like a truck when compared to the GL450 and MDX we've had in the past.

That budget + towing + kids - 4x4 means full-sized van imho. Dirt cheap, more room than you could ever want, and once you have one you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. 

I've had a 2004 Titan since new - pickup version of the Armada.  It's been very solid for me and I tow a heavy 24' enclosed a few times per year, but the platform has a few known issues:

1.  Smaller brakes on 2004-2007 models warp pretty regularly.  You can upgrade to the newer, bigger stuff for a few hundred $ (I did last year), but probably best to just look at the 08 and up models.

2.  Radiators can fail internally and mix coolant into the trans fluid and can kill the trans if not addressed quickly.  Not sure how common, but is a known issue.

3.  Early years had issues with rear diffs failing, later models got finned cover to help keep temps down.  Don't think its been an ongoing issue.

4.  Tailpipe can rust and break off behind muffler, and if you don't fix it, the exhaust will melt the rear wiring harness (just experienced this one recently).  Not sure how common, but I'm definitely not the only one.

Fuel mileage isn't great, I get about 15 in the city and maybe 17 hwy for my 2wd version.

I don't know much about the Armada. I drove one briefly and didn't care for it but that means nothing to this topic. Back in 2012 I had stopped by a Nissan dealership to look at the Cube. I wanted a smallish, boxy, frugal DD with some capacity to carry some stuff.  The salesman did everything he could to sell my an Armada. The very opposite of what I wanted. Large, ponderous, thirsty.  Basically telling me that I didn't want a Cube, nobody wants a Cube, everybody wants an Armada. I would be so much happier with an Armada. Life would be awesome with an Armada. As I said, nothing wrong with it it just didn't fit my needs. I left just shaking my head. I also looked at the Element, Xb and Soul. Ended up buying the Soul. The others are all gone just 5 years later.  That's my Armada story which doesn't help the OP at all.  BTW the Soul really did work out well. Perfect for my needs. 

In reply to Feedyurhed :

A friend loves her Cube. She's an aircooled VW person, and wanted the closest experience she could get in a new car. Cross-shopped that and New Beetle. Preferred the Cube because it rode most like a standard bug.

I got to drive it once on the highway - I tend to agree.

At this point how do QX56 prices compare? I see almost as many of those as I do Armadas.

You need to check the coolant condition regularly.  I would advise to stay away from an Armada that has a brand new radiator in it dues to transmission issues.  (See sevenracers post.)  Watch for vibrations in the front suspension.  This could be a warning that the front driveshaft u-joints are bad and if ignored could cause the shaft to try to leave the truck at speed with catastrophic results.  The interiors tend to be "cheapish" plastic with fit and finish are from a previous generation of trucks.