Question Maybe be getting something larger (Expedition?)

So, now that surprise baby#4 has been with us a while we are feeling quite cramped in the Mazda5. It's perfect of us, but not our stuff! For instance, I took the kids to the beach: all the stuff had to go in the front passenger seat. What would I do if DH was going? We had to pick up DH at the airport and his suitcase had to go between the center seats which is horrible as far as a projectile.

We have a crew cab truck, but one child has to ride in the front so I prefer to use it only when it's the only option.

I was just going to make it work, but DH likes to car shop. 8 Passenger is non-negotiable.

We are looking at selling the 5 and having that much money for out out-the-door total on what we replace it with. We think we will get between 9-10k for it- 8-9K if we end up trading it in, which we want to try to avoid.

DH has found lots of Expeditions in the 04-06 range with average miles in our budget. There are tons of them around which helps. It would probably be possible to find a 8 passenger Sienna but since we have to sell the 5 first it might not work out that we can snag one since they are hard to find in our price range. Also, we can't pull our camper with the Sienna, but can with the Expedition making it more practical. Now we have to use the truck. We can go without a second vehicle for a week or two, but not weeks- especially since that means one kid in the front and none are old enough to leave home alone.

Are there any options we are missing?
Anything I'll hate about the Expedition?

You can see seats in my siggie. Basically-
#1- nbb (has passed the 5 step in some vehicles, not ours)
#2 hbb or FFing harnessed
#3 FFing harnessed
#4 RFing for at least 2 more years

I have and my '05 Expy. It's awesome. Very car seat friendly. Ours is a stripped-down base model, and the only thing I don't like about it is the lack of front-seat storage because it has 3 seats in the front with a flip-up armrest in the center, and no storage in it. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find one like ours, without a center console, actually. I sat in the 3rd row with my step-mom and Gage in his ProSport, and was comfy enough for around-town driving.

You can check out the Expedition section of www.fordforums.com. I've found it reasonably helpful. It looks like 2nd gen ('03-'06) Expys have few big problems. The one mentioned most often is slow window motors. Ours is slow, but I've gotten used to it, and it works, so no need to replace.

Ok, just re-reading a bit- looks like there were problems in '03 that spilled over into '04s that were manufactured in '03, so stay away from those years.

Thanks! I'll steer DH to the 05s.

We're watching 8 passenger Siennas and maybe Odysseys with the +1 seat too, but there aren't as many to choose from which may be an issue since we have to sell my car first.