Taco as a family hauler

We had no issues last summer on a 3600 km round trip featuring two adults and two boys aged 6 and 10. I would've loved to have a canopy to protect the stuff in the box but I found the inside of the taco up to the task. I guess it depends on what you're used to as far as space and comfort goes. We routinely load the truck up with all the things plus the dog and bikes and other than the lack of power to go up hills I'm pretty happy.

 

We are leaving Saturday for 2 weeks, SF (my sis) then PDX (her sis) and back.

I love my truck too, much more fun to drive. But, for sure, we are taking the ‘18 Odyssey. It’s a fantastic vehicle, I personally prefer it to the Ridgeline for loading height and massive interior cargo area. Great for the dog too and we can load it up with people at our destination to carpool. I once fit a sheet of walnut plywood inside along with one child. A 10 speed auto with adaptive cruise is a perfect match for longer highway driving. Roof box will store our camping stuff, small hit to MPG but nice to have rarely used items out of the way.

My sis does her road trip with 3 girls in a Prius. I think that’s nuts.

I am looking forward to taking the boys somewhere fun once they are older in the truck though. But long road trips are significantly easier with a minivan.

 

Going from a ford ranger with those silly jump seats to a DCLB Tacoma was enough to get my whole family on board with riding in the truck regularly. The wife has a Rav 4, so that would be the obvious choice for long trips, but she already mentioned our next vacation to the outer banks might have to be at one of the rental houses with only 4x4 access, so she seems to be happy with it. I personally think she is just happy to be able to ride in the front seat of my truck again (first child’s car seat was always riding shotgun in the old truck).
Oh, the dvd display headrests do help out a bit I’m sure too with the 5 year old staying quiet.

DVD Display Headrest