So we actually ended up moving forward on a used Gold-certified ‘22 Highlander XLE with a pretty clean carfax and somewhere between 45-50k miles. Has a V6, AWD w/o rear diff, electric tow hitch. Clocks in at 1390 lbs cargo capacity. Gonna have the shop take a look at it as soon as we can get it off the lot once it’s ready.

We are ditching the RV idea, though in the future this should leave room for that if we really wanted to settle down with that much further down the line, within the discussed constraints. So thanks again for your input! What I’m curious about is the electric dongle you’ve attached to get those readings — Do you recommend one in specific? Not sure if they come universal, or need to be model-specific.

Yeah, what’s funny is during all this we noticed our Malibu’s cargo capacity is rated at almost 1,000 lbs in the door jam sticker.

Now, obviously, as you say it’s definitely not translatable to a tow hitch rate, and we’d never attempt something stupid like attaching a hitch and towing with it. But we found it funny that (aside from interior space) for cargo travel alone, we’d be better off with what we already have than a 4runner! (again, generally, obv there are a select few base models that do a lil better.)

I just don’t get why the 4runners are getting rated so low for what seems to be their most attractive feature. We saw the land cruisers seem to be a lot bulkier in the undercarriage.

That’s a salient point about the fuel economy. I’m assuming it won’t just halve after attaching a semi-loaded RV, but maybe third or even quarter?

Atm I can’t say we would or wouldn’t be staying in one spot for a week+ at a time, at least not at first, so we’ll definitely have to weigh the short-term vs long-term timelines further.

Thanks for the comprehensive response!! 🙌

Lots of good thoughts to chew on here, I’ll take some time to consider these points! And thanks for not just saying to get a truck instead. I do have some previous experience driving with a truck & trailer combo, though that was only a simple flatbed, so not a very apt comparison.

e: Oh also we’re not locking ourselves into only new vehicles. Just what’s available in the market in our price range, ~30-45k. Lots of carfax diving lately

Thank you for chiming in, these are the concerns we’re weighing right now.

Unfortunately the dealership was a bit clueless about the difference between Towing and Cargo capacity.

From our own researching the owners manuals in the 4runner lineup, the absolute best we can get is 1165 lbs cargo with a very specific year & trim. That’s a little better than 880, but a far cry from comfortably workable.

I can expound a bit:

We’ve chosen this one because of its total weight, the solar panels, and the shower and bed. It doesn’t need to be big, it just needs to work with what we can get. It’s the smallest comprehensive package we’ve found, although I’m sure there’s plenty of other brands we haven’t come across yet. We’re aware it’s at a premium, and have decided the benefits outweigh the extra cost.

The first thing we’ll do with it is take it up into Canada to do some university tours. Optimally we’ll be able to dry camp at worst in between visits. If we like it, we may very well just keep doing that instead of renewing our soon-ending lease. We already practically live out of a suitcase anyways, the apartment is just a big storage for all our junk.

Did you have any specific SUV suggestions that would work alternatively? None seemed (at first) so reliable as a Toyota. Again, we’re exhausting all SUV options before considering trucks.

Yeah, that’s what’s immediately putting cinderblocks on the whole operation here. Thank you for the channel rec! I’ll admit the built-in solar panels and battery of the NuCamp is the largest draw towards it. Curious to see how one can retrofit an SUV with one, but we are being careful to adhere to US-CA border restrictions around vehicular modifications.

Thank you!!! These are good shit!

Did you think about: They’re icky?

… 🙄

Also if someone could link where I could get one of these stickers that’d be great :)

needs more jpeg

Aged cheddar supremacy. Gotta be at least 7 years old for me, but 10 is 😚👌

I think they mean like, a certain attitude/work culture has begun to rapidly form, not the title stuffs