Sure, get yourself a Ford Transit Connect or a Nissan NV200 and outfit it the way you want. Much easier than towing a trailer around the country.
I have to ask, howdo you put a sleeping platform in a corolla?
EASY - I unbolted and removed the front passenger seat and one of the rear seat backrests. I cut a 5’6" long x 2’ wide piece of plywood and positioned it on the passenger side. I had to do a little fitting. One end was supported by the back seat and the middle and front by some 2 x 3 wood legs attached with screws. I bought a piece of foam and I was all set. I even fabricated a screen for one of the windows from some heavy wire and old aluminum screen. It kept the mosquitoes out during my stay in the Everglades! So let me think what I could do in a mini cargo van. Wish me luck.
lol. good luck.
Depending on how much of your budget is left after buying the van you could make a pretty comfy vehicle for at least sleeping in with the other amenities where possible. The Top Gear guys built their own little RV’s for the Africa Special (Season 19) (Or at least the crew helping them did) with fairly a basic sleeping area and a small kitchen (Hammond in a Subaru impreza) you could build something that would at least be comfortable to sleep in and have some way to make your own food. A little fridge would be a great thing as well. But again it depends on how much you will be able to afford to do.
I will just note that the idea of towing something under the stated weight guidelines does not mean the transmission is not going to suffer a bit.
After the trip it would be a good idea to change the transmission fluid anyway no matter what kind of vehicle you use.
For 30 years I used a compact pick up truck with an aluminum cap and built in screens to camp out in. A used 4 cylinder 2wd is cheap and quite economical. My kids used it too for just about everything like that. You have the option of towing a small tent trailer or aluminum boat if need. If you go it alone or with a friend and can get an extra cab to stow your gear, you have tons of room in the back. I had an aluminum boat rack on the top that I would quickly string a tarp over when it rained. Not for the rain protection but to quiet down the rain hitting the cap. I had a trailer hitch for bike racks or storage platform on both front and back. Great all round vehicle. Could carry a canoes on top, bikes on the back. I always had my jump battery to power lighting inside and other DC items.
I have a 2006 Escape Hybrid and use it to tow a small trailer (5x8 flat bed. I load it up pretty good for camping trips and beach vacations and have driven it from DE to New England, Outer Banks of NC, and West Virginia. It was slow up the steep mountains in WV but generally did fine. I don’t think I would want to pull a bigger trailer with it though. I think mine is only rated to tow 1/2 ton.
Keep in mind your vehicle towing ratings. Having the engine and transmission to pull something does not mean anything if it does not have the brakes to stop it.
I think they call my Escape an on demand AWD or something like that. It normally drives with front wheels but switches to AWD when it senses the need. Even with only a 4 cylinder engine it does great in the soft sand on the beach with tire pressure lowered to 20 psi.
Tom, I’d be concerned about your Escape being ‘slow up the steep mountains in WV’. The point of a tow rating is not whether or not the vehicle can move the trailer up a mountain, but whether it (the transmission in particular) can handle that load without undue wear, and whether the brakes can keep it under control coming down the mountain.
I’d weigh that trailer, loaded, and see how close you are to the 1000 pound limit. You might be over it.
Yes, this is sounding much more realistic. My parents used to do that in an old Caravan years ago and had a great time. The Transit Connect would be just about ideal. The new one comes in two lengths. Unless you’re very short you’ll want the longer one. The old Transit Connect came in a single size, about halfway between the new models, and long enough for most people.
Towing in the high mountains wouldn’t have been a lot of fun. Getting down the interstate might be OK, but you also have to maneuver the narrow roads in campgrounds and back into camping spaces (assuming you use Forest Service campgrounds, which you will want to, as they are often the only places to stay in the most beautiful areas.) No fun at all.
The problem with using a light duty vehicle for towing isn’t just the lack of traction, it’s that power is substantially reduced high in the mountains. For turbocharged engines it isn’t reduced nearly as much, but it still wouldn’t be fun to tow a trailer over many of those passes with a low-powered crossover. If you can take a little more roughing it, I like your new solution better. You can take it anywhere with ease and not have to worry about a trailer. Parking it in towns becomes no problem. Q You can make it as comfortable as you like with insulation and a comfortable mattress. I spent my childood vacations sleeping in the back of a station wagon and have great memories. Mosquitoes were a problem. Get some mosquito netting that you can drape over the doors before you close them. Then you can roll down the windows and they can’t get in.
This was never much of a problem in the high mountain areas. They do have mosquitoes, but only for a short season and they were out around sundown. Later at night it was too cold for them. Also too cold for you to have windows down. We had plenty of mornings in mid-summer where the temperatures were below freezing at dawn. I’d do whatever I could to insulate your van. Shouldn’t be very hard. Combined with warm bedding and you’ll be comfy. Just sleep in on the really cold mornings. We all resented my mother trying to get us up and moving early when it was freezing, especially since we knew it would warm up quickly.
I envy you so much. This is exactly the kind of trip I’d love to take. I was at many of these places as a kid and have been back to some, but not often enough. They are so gorgeous and you will never run out of interesting places to go.
@Ledhed,what gear where you using.?I had a 86.5 Nissan Hardbody that would go up a 9% grade at 60 mph in 4th gear(sounds to me like you were lugging it,(but I had a 1990 model that would only go 51 mph up the same grade.
Slightly off topic-but how can I convince a friend not to buy a good condition slighty used camper for once a year slight use(can you rent those things?)-Kevin
Are you talking about a trailer, or an RV? I’ve rented RVs, much better than buying one!
@texases - when I say I was slow up the mountains I mean I was not able to maintain 70 mph but was still able to easily maintain 60 mph. Trailer only had bikes, tent, chairs, and cooler - I’m sure it wasn’t overloaded. Escape did fine with that load but as I said, I would not want to pull a camper size load.
And that’s my concern - if it couldn’t maintain the speed limit, it was being stressed more than normal. Might be just fine, but it was at the limits of its capacity in that situation.
Do you know what the weight of your trailer is? Some of them are surprisingly heavy.
@texases - Of course I was approaching the limit of the car’s ability. That is what I was trying to say. I would not want to do more than that. 1,500# like the poster was asking about would be too much and that is a rating I would not want to ignore.
No, it’s not fun to be in the right lane with the big rigs grinding up a grade. If it were a rare event that would be one thing, but the western US is mostly mountainous so there are lots of grades to climb, many of them quite long. I remember pathetically underpowered cars of my youth that could only do about 40 up those grades. No fun.
@MarkM
How about a SAAB two stroke. I got caught on a camp road with four in the car, a small outboard in the trunk and an aluminum fishing boat in tow. The whole rig started sliding backwards. I had to ask the three passengers to walk up the hill so that monster 4o hp oil burner could do it’s thing. The thought of tackling real mountains with that rig gives me goose bumps and the shakes.
Snort. @dagosa Yeah, cars today are overpowered beasts compared to those of old. Even the big American V8s weren’t that powerful, but cars were a lot lighter than they are now. What I miss is the sound of an old V8. A modern four may be just as powerful, but it doesn’t sound like it likes working so hard. With so much sound insulation you don’t hear what they sound like most of the time.
@MarkM
As long as it’s still economical, I will take all the power you can get. I have always liked the idea of standard motors getting more powerful. A standard Accord four with hp ratings nearly 200, as an example seems very lively with it’s basic four and a couple of people. But with five people in them, they become quite lethargic . I have always thought that if you are going to seat 5 lardos in a mid size car or compact by today’s standards, it had better be quite fast with just two people. I never want to drive a car like that dreadful two stroke or older VW again on a highway. A car like a Yaris is a throw back to those days of underpowered POS cars. What do they say in NH ? “Give me powerful cars of give me…” Towing too makes a larger standard motor a necessity even for just a 1000 lbs.
1980 Ford F-250 4X4 with a 302 V8 going up 10,000 ft passes in CO, towing nothing, floored in 2nd gear (auto) doing 30 mph. That engine listed at 140 hp, but at that altitude getting what…90 maybe. I could hear it, “Air, I need more air!”