Car search challenge...

skaterbabs · Aug 24, 2007

For the brave among you.....
Criteria:

must seat at least 7
must be able to tow a large boat
must have a minimum of FIVE seating positions with both lap/shoulder belts AND head restraint
must have the ability to have tethers retrofitted
must have locking seatbelts - no preference for locking latchplate vs switchable retractor
can not have Gen3 seat belts
4 wd is necessary
not older than 1996
must have driver & passenger airbags
domestic preferred
not more than 80K miles
must be mechanically sound (drive train, ect)
must be no more than $3500

southpawboston · Aug 24, 2007

how many pounds towing capacity are we looking at? assuming a lot (2500-3500 lbs) i'm going to say a chevy suburban or yukon, or a ford expedition. possibly a ford explorer.

skaterbabs · Aug 24, 2007

Can't get a new enough Suburban for the price. Told ya it's a challenge.

Tara · Aug 24, 2007

I'm thinking this is a trick question

LOL

I first thought of a 'burban or Expedition too, but, not for that $$ Not generally speaking anyway.

Um, hope and pray a killer deal on either of the aforementioned vehicles falls in your lap??
Or a 8 or 12 pass van.
Which of course, may or may not have all the shoulder belts you want. And who knows about tether spots.

But those are the only vehicles in general I can think of that would *fit* and *tow*.

skaterbabs · Aug 25, 2007

It literally comes down to price - whatever we get has to have the seating positions (w/ headrests & shoulder belts), the towing capacity and 4wd. The budget is set in stone. As is age/milage. (Age would also insure that the belts will lock, it will have driver airbag & tether anchor position.)

For the rest it comes down to where can we find something that fits the absolutel minimums.

Victorious4 · Aug 25, 2007

You already have a vehicle that can tow the boat, right? Do you absolutely need to sell/trade? Maybe just save that vehicle for emergency + towing & get a cheap minivan for normal use (driving both vehicles separately when necessary)

MagnificentMama · Aug 25, 2007

I really don't think it's possible to get a vechicle with those capabilities with that little miles on that budget, honestly

We just recently made two big vehicle purchases with well over 100,000 miles and most of your criteria and both cars were almost triple your budget and we consider the cars we got to be absolute bargains.

I understand your budget is set in stone, but I just don't think some of your criteria is realistic. Are you going to be trading anything in? Or have you already calculated that factor in? Is it not possible to finance something currently? I know for a fact you can't get a suburban, yukon, or expedition with that kind of price range and i'm not sure what type of imports would allow you to tow, seat that many, have head rests, lap shoulder belts, and optional retrofitted tethers.

I"m going to sub to this thread to see what the end outcome is though :thumbsup: Good luck with your search!

skaterbabs · Aug 25, 2007

We have to replace our Suburban soon. The boys have almost outgrown the PWs, but we have no head restraints. Honestly, that and the funky tether anchors that it has (using the tether requires losing a 3rd row seating position) are the only reason we're considering replacing it, because otherwise it has everything we need. The rub is, a Suburban new enough to have the features we need is more than we can afford. And there's no chance of increasing the budget.
Plus, we have to sell the Suburban to fun the replacement even if it weren't things that it's missing being the reason for replacing it.

Defrost · Aug 25, 2007

Well, your boys are about the same ages as my boys, so...

Are the seat backs high enough that you could forgo boosters and use 86Y harnesses instead? I'm guessing that's a "no," since you said they are outgrowing the Parkways by height. And they'd have to be at least 65lbs to use the 86Y without a booster anyway.

Is the 7-passenger seating set in stone? I didn't see that mentioned... because otherwise a crew-cab pickup might work. My aunt has a 1997-ish F-150 that I've put carseats/boosters in; I believe she paid $4K for it two years ago, which might put it in your price range now. It's got headrests in the rear outboard positions, and you should be able to get tether anchors installed. It's wide enough for 3-across, but I'm not sure if the seat is deep enough for a Regent + recline bar.

Tricky! I hope you can find something.

skaterbabs · Aug 25, 2007

The seatbacks barely come up to the boys' shoulders, forget their heads. I'm not sure Joyjoy would be able to use a Laptop they're so low. 7 is ....borderline necessary, and guarentees 5 shoulder belts are available, which is a big deal because J. won't be harnessed forever and we drive cars until they die.

Also when we tow the boat we often have the IL's with us, and my neices & nephews are with us often enough that I need the seating available, even if we don't use it all the time. Also, I really don't know that I would be comfy driving a crew cab truck - they're so LONG. I hate driving the Suburban (especially parking!

) so anything longer or bigger is out.... I have to be able to use it as a primary driver from June - September when all three kids are home all the time.

Currently, when the boys are in school I drive the Jeep pretty much exclusively, and that won't change this year just because CJ is home, although I have to decide which is safer: front seat with or back seat without head rests.

beeman · Aug 25, 2007

Is the head restraints the only issue with you're suburban?
I'm not a huge GM fan (face it, I'm a Ford guy

), but the thing I like about the suburban over the other suvs of this era is that it has the same powertrain and suspension as the GM 1/2 tons. I paid $3300 a year ago for my 95 F150, standard cab, 2wd, base model, with 307,000km (200,000mi), so something with 1/2 the miles, paint thats not faded, 4wd, and a full cab is going to be hard to get for that price.

Now my :twocents: . Head out to the autowreckers and find a rear seat out of a newer suburban (or 1/2 ton) with the head rests (just make sure it bolts up). The big GM change was in 98 or 99, so a seat out of the 96 or 97 with the head rests should fit your 93. Modifications like this might cost a bit, and you might have to wait a little bit to find your interior colour, but I would be cautious about trading a vehicle that you know the history of and is reliable, for an unknown 10 year old vehicle that could lay heaps of trouble out on you after you buy it. The other thing to remember to is that if you go away from the Suburban, into other SUV's you're going to loose towing capacity. A half ton of this era should be around 6000lbs GVWR, whereas an SUV will only be around 3000-4000lbs GVWR.

If you look into something like the 97 or 98 F150 like defrost suggested, just make sure you get the 5.4L rather than the 4.6L.

beeman · Aug 25, 2007

A crew cab truck with the 4 or 5 ft box will have the same length and wheel base as you're suburban.

skaterbabs · Aug 26, 2007

Thanks Beeman.
Yes, the head rest issue is the deciding factor with needing to replace the 'burban. Unless a new high-back booster comes out that's significantly taller than the PW, we're running out of time. Unfortunately, a 96-97 'burban won't have the head rests - they weren't put in until '98. Replacing it with a newer model seat was our first impulse.
Good to know that the wheelbase isn't longer, that's definately something to consider. We honestly don't care if it's cosmetically icky as long as it's not a functional issue, kwim? You should see my Jeep! lol

KaysKidz · Aug 26, 2007

Actually, the '97 burb has head rests....mine did. BUT, while it was 4x4 and all the stuff you want...it had nearly 200K miles when I sold it...and I got $2,500 TRADE in from a dealer....who turned around and sold it for $4,500. You're not likely going to find it w/those kind of miles at that price. It simply doesn't exist.

Connor's Mom · Aug 26, 2007

KaysKidz said:
You're not likely going to find it w/those kind of miles at that price. It simply doesn't exist.

I agree. You are not going to get anything that would fit that criteria for that price.

skaterbabs · Aug 27, 2007

KaysKidz said:
Actually, the '97 burb has head rests....mine did. BUT, while it was 4x4 and all the stuff you want...it had nearly 200K miles when I sold it...and I got $2,500 TRADE in from a dealer....who turned around and sold it for $4,500. You're not likely going to find it w/those kind of miles at that price. It simply doesn't exist.

I'm sure. Unfortunately, we have to be able to pay cash for it, and while we can sell our '93 back to the ILs for about what we bought it for, we'd have to sell our Jeep as well to cover the replacement Suburban. That's a problem since we use the Jeep constantly.

singingpond · Aug 27, 2007

skaterbabscpst said:
It literally comes down to price - whatever we get has to have the seating positions (w/ headrests & shoulder belts), the towing capacity and 4wd. The budget is set in stone. As is age/milage. (Age would also insure that the belts will lock, it will have driver airbag & tether anchor position.)

For the rest it comes down to where can we find something that fits the absolutel minimums.

As others have said, around here, at least, getting all the criteria for that price would be pretty much impossible. Just wanted to comment that the low mileage doesn't necessarily guarantee much either.... Back in '05 we bought a '92 Chevy pickup with plow, with just about 80K on it. We paid in the low $3000's, and knew that the vehicle had a leaking radiator and no exhaust system. It had also blown its first transmission, which the previous owner had just had replaced (we got the receipt), so that was actually a positive point. After we got the truck home, DH was working on it for better part of a month, fixing the known issues, plus a whole slew of other problems, major and minor, that only became apparent after we got the vehicle home. For a while we had the whole rear of the drive train out, up to the differential, which turned out to have a broken part in it. Admittedly, use with a plow is very hard on a vehicle, but my point is that it is hard to know the mechanical history of an older used vehicle, even one with lowish mileage. As it was, we still thought we got a decent deal, but if we had had to pay a professional mechanic to fix everything, that opinion would definitely have changed. Also, we didn't need the vehicle for reliable daily use, so we could afford to have it up on blocks for over a month while DH worked on it in his spare time.

Since you have a still functioning vehicle, with known history, I really like Beeman's idea of looking for a compatible replacement seat with better head support. I know there are some nationwide junkyard search utilities, so you aren't just limited to local availability.

Katrin

skaterbabs · Aug 27, 2007

Age is the stickler with the milage issue - my Dh can handle most repairs on GM vehicles (he won't touch the tranny but everything else is fair game). A new enough vehicle will insure seatbelts and airbags.

Replacing the seats isn't an option. There aren't any available that will fit. :thumbsdown:

singingpond · Aug 27, 2007

Hmm... that's too bad about the seats. I thought another poster said the '97 seats did have headrests, and someone else thought '97 was still compatible with your vehicle? It sure sounds like a puzzle; hopefully you have time to find something that meets your requirements. I don't suppose there are any other boosters around (European models maybe) that might help with the issues you're having?? Sorry... just grasping at straws, so not much help, I know.

Katrin

skaterbabs · Aug 27, 2007

I think the 97s are different, they were several model changes in the 90s, and mine is a 93. If I could just use seats from a newer model we'd love that, because ours has a GREAT towing setup and some other features we really like.

Car search challenge...

Well-known member

New member

Well-known member

New member

Well-known member

Senior Community Member

Senior Community Member

Well-known member

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

Well-known member

Active member

Active member

Well-known member

Senior Community Member

New member

Well-known member

New member

Well-known member

New member

Well-known member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics