The move towards crossoverfying everything has had the added benefit of making some cars a little more versatile than they used to be. A lot of this comes down to the increased storage area and accessibility of a large hatch as opposed to the trunk that was common on so many sedans.
Some people can purchase multiple cars to fill each niche and I envy that capability. I’d love to have a sports car for sports things, a truck for truck things, a luxury car for nights out on the town, and a 12-passenger airport van when I need to move children around. Instead, I’ve got an older BMW and a newer Honda CR-V to cover as many of those jobs as I can.
What if you can have just one vehicle? What’s the Swiss Army Knife of cars? What’s the one vehicle to complete every task?
This question comes via Crank Shaft, who also has an answer:
I recently realized that the Pacifica Pinnacle is probably the most versatile, bang for the buck, unmodified vehicle you can buy. It is luxurious, handles well, is loaded with tech, has a remarkably tight chassis for having two huge sliding doors, has a more than enough power, seats seven, comes in AWD, has a towing package, can be converted to a cargo truck that will carry 4x8s on the floor, etcetera. I get that there are a million different perspectives, but I don’t think anyone could name a more do-it-all unmodified vehicle on sale today. Can either you?
Having driven one of these it’s hard to argue with him. It even has fancy pillows. How many cars come with fancy pillows? I’ve also slammed more gear into a Pacifica than would somehow fit in a U-Haul box truck. The physics are astounding and Crank Shaft even sent an image over to show how he does cargo with his:
What do you think? Can you beat that?
Probably a Maverick. It can truck, it can seat 4, 5 with littler ones, it can get over 40mpg for daily commuting, it can fit in parking spots, it won’t break the bank.
Just to be a jerk, I’ll add to this by saying that I bought mine in May of 2020 with a $5k rebate and $5k dealer discount so it was an absolute steal. It was actually less expensive than real out the door prices for lower trims. It didn’t make sense, but I knew a good deal was to be had so I jumped on it. COVID then screwed with everything so I certainly got lucky with the timing.
Nissan… CVT car. Xtronic. That thing. The usual spiel.
Sorry, long day of continuously varying my transmission.
Our 2017 Pacifica seconds this. I upgraded the radio last week so I have CarPlay (it also has Android Auto, but who cares?) so the one glaring oversight has been addressed. Stow-N-Go seats so you only have to lug the middle of the second row anywhere. Gets the job done.
Yes it is an awesome vehicle to shove material or people in. That makes it a vehicle that is great for stuffing products or people in it. What about it makes it a vehicle good for any job. Track car? No. Date car? No. Business car? No. Long range cruiser? Maybe but I’m not a fan of the situation up straight school desk chair for 12 hours of driving. Long range gumball rally? Just no poor mph. What is it good for but stuffing equipment or people in like a cheap ass airline? So I rate it very low on everything vehicle.
Date car? Maybe past your 30s and have kids/other person has kids. From the male perspective I’ve learned the most important thing about a “date car” is that it is clean and smells pleasant. Pull up in 100k luxury car full of tobacco butts and fast food crumbs and your odds will plummet.
Why not a business car? Or do you mean “showing off your wealth to impress/suck up?”
Track car? You’d be surprised. I hooned my Pinnacle once and was shocked at what it could do. Shocked! I hung and rung that fucker out and it hung on.
Date car? Fuck yes, and fucking in back more easily too.
Business car? Absolutely! It’s almost a limo it’s so nice and comfortable.
Highway miles? You’re kidding, right? I guarantee you’ve never driven one or you wouldn’t say that.
Now I don’t know about you, but I suspect most people use their cars to shove material and other humans into. As you say, it’s awesome at that.
In the 70’s you’d get a big old Ford wagon complete with wood cladding and rear facing 3rd row seats. Today, you just cannot beat a minivan if you want the swiss army knife of cars. The Chrysler is the best with the stow n’ go but you’d best keep up on your maintenance.
Van for most life. Borrow friends truck for towing.
I put a face cord of wood in the back after that picture was taken. Alas I was too tired to take the after photo. 4′ x 8′ x 1/4″ High Density Poly Ethelene sheets from Menard’s really are tough. Three sheets of it made my luxury van as tough as any pickup bed.
Thanks Matt!
You want a powerful vehicle that handles well on the twisties.
You need a vehicle that will carry 5 adults and two big dogs – but can also handle hauling home finds from estate sales and Facebook Marketplace.
You want safety and comfort in spades.
You feel the need for the peace of mind of AWD.
And you don’t want to be embarrassed when pulling up to the Country Club for business on the links.
May I introduce you to a Certified Pre-Owned Mercedes-Benz E450 4Matic Wagon?
Or for those who desire an excess of power – a CPO E63 AMG Wagon.
Some of us prefer a vehicle that won’t put us in the poorhouse.
A pre-owned one is no more costly than a new Jeep Grand Cherokee.
And based on the way Stellantis is building their vehicles lately – an E450 shouldn’t cost you more to maintain properly.
Why benchmark it to a GC or anything by Stellantis? How about a nice Toyota?
Toyota:
You want a powerful vehicle that handles well on the twisties.And you don’t want to be embarrassed when pulling up to the Country Club for business on the links.My RAV4 Prime is by far the most utilitarian vehicle I’ve ever owned, even more so than my previous Highlander Hybrid.
Hear me out
Enough EV only range for 90% of needs
Great fuel economy (37mpg) for longer distances
Actually seats 5 adults
Can haul over a dozen garden soil bags no problem
It regularly tows our HF trailer loaded with motorcycles like its nothing
Comfortable
Safe
Reliable
302 Horsepower
Does snow well
Does rain well
Does minor offroading well
Does highway driving well
If you never tow and never drive off road of any kind, it is quite hard to beat a minivan with a good folding seat design.
If you tow or go offroad, but never haul dirty stuff or haul said dirty stuff in a trailer, Tahoe/Suburban.
If you tow heavy, offroad, or commonly haul dirty stuff, quad cab pickup, mild lift at best, a few years old before bedsides got as high as they seem to be now.
Yeah, my versatile is going to be a lot different that other’s versatile. Then you have to factor in convenience fuel economy comfort performance price and many other attributes. I landed on a midsized truck but most others wouldn’t
Honestly it’s probably the GM BOF full sized SUV of your choice. You can tow, they work in all climates and will hold their own off-road if that’s your thing, you can haul a ton of people and their stuff, and they’re all probably good for 200,000+ miles if you take good care of them.
It’s this or a crew cab long bed truck.
I say this as the owner of a minivan, they are great at many things, but the low ground clearance and low towing capability/payload hampers them in a way that trucks aren’t.
There’s very little that my van does *better* than my truck, other than hold more than 5 people (not necessary for me) and get better fuel economy (not relevant to the question at hand).
Being more economical is definitely relevant to the question at hand.
Don’t agree.
It’s an important consideration to the overall question of what to buy (that’s why I own a minivan to begin with) but the question itself is simply about versatility. And nothing does it better than a large truck or large truck-based SUV.
Versatility also includes fitting a budget.
Feels like a reach – it can also mean how versatile the powertrain is if we’re going to split it that way.
Even so, most minivans start $38-40k and are rated 22 mpg combined. A simple base F-150 or Silverado starts around $37/38k for a regular cab, rated ~20 mpg combined with the standard engines. Move into a larger cab so you can actually carry people, still in the low/mid 40s, throw in the Ram and Tundra there too.
I assume you don’t live in an urban area? The Big Battle Wagons can get a bit ungainly around town.
Again, there are downsides to them that are not captured in the word “versatile”.
Not saying a crew cab truck is perfect for everybody in every situation, but for a single vehicle that can do it all, I feel they are better than vans, speaking as someone who owns both.
Fair enough. 🙂
I can borrow a vehicle from work anytime I need one so my practical needs are less. Tow a boat? We have a fleet of 3500s and Kenworth T270s and T370s. Bulk material? Those kenworths have dump beds. Building materials? 6×10 flat beds make it easy.
Unless you have to tow heavy weights frequently a minivan is very practical. Frequent heavy towing you’ll need something body on frame. But that twice a year dump run with a home Depot trailer? You’ll be fine with your whatever.
I’d have to say a 3/4 ton crew cab with a removable camper shell.
I had a lifted Toyota Sienna AWD and it was great. The interior space of a minivan can not be beat. You can fit 10ft trim pieces from the rear hatch up through the front seats.
I sold it for a F150 crew cab due to one reason…its lack of towing capacity. I have a cap on the back and while I can’t throw 8ft boards inside like I did the van, its better for carrying gasoline, chainsaws, and other random things that may leak.
No wrong decision, just need to prioritize your wants/needs.
Our other car is a CRV, so thats what we drive when headed into town and parking is a challenge.
But can you stand up straight in it like you can in a Ford Transit or Mercedes Sprinter?
Can you tow 4500lbs or more with it? Can you carry up to 15 passengers with it?
So from that perspective, I’d say the only thing that outdoes something like a Pacifica are the full size passenger vans like the Sprinter or Transit.
They suck in fast-food drive-thrus and parking garages otherwise the are awesome.
You can still go through drive-thrus when you own one of those large vans.
Easy Peasy!!!
/jk
Sprinter was my #1 choice. Before Sprinters were sold in North America I used an E-350 as my one go-to vehicle.
If you live in an urban area and need to parallel park, a Pacifica makes more sense. I know from experience that many private lots in downtown Boston will refuse a full-size van.
“many private lots in downtown Boston will refuse a full-size van.”
I wonder if those same lots would accept bro-trucks. Do they?
Nope
As long as that dealer is Paul Sherry Conversion Vans, absolutely! Full size vans have room for lots of people, room for cargo, towing power, the ability to stand inside…
The only thing they’re missing is proper safety ratings. Whoops!
…in which case, sadly, half-ton pickups are probably the next-best, although I’d never own one. I have no need for the uncovered area, and even with a cap, it’d still not be climate-controlled or easily accessible from inside.
Agreed we have 3 big dogs so pick up trucks are out of the choices.
Safety shmafety… It looks safe, therefore it IS safe!!
/jk
As I own a Voyager with Stow N’ Go, I would have to agree. It’s pretty great at everything other than being fun to drive. And even then at least it’s quick.
It hauls sheet goods with ease. It makes for a great camper/lounge space. It’s super comfortable and relatively quiet for a giant brick. It’s reasonably efficient on the highway (not so much in the city). And of course, it hauls people in comfort.
I’m going to say something crazy that will make me many enemies. Although you obviously gave the right answer, a basic half ton pickup has been incredibly versatile for me, even though I live in Brooklyn. I bought a 2013 F150 supercrew with 255k miles on it to do work on a house upstate, and I’ve fallen in love with having it. Picking up furniture, mulch, appliances, topsoil is something I can’t do in an SUV or minivan. It’s so much easier to get up skiing than dealing with a rack or chucking wet skis and boards in the back of an SUV. Mileage is def a bit lower than my Telluride, but honestly not -too- much worse. Easily seats six with the front bench seat. My dog likes it way more than the SUV. Kids too, and even my wife is coming around. The body is pretty beat, so I can street park without anxiety. I’ve had to tow excavators that I couldn’t with the SUV. I’ve pulled shrubs and small trees out of the ground that I wouldn’t dare try with my Kia. I think most people who buy trucks really don’t need them, but honestly they are pretty versatile. Now that most of the big work is done on the house, I’m going to sell it, but man, I will miss how easy it makes everything.
I can’t beat this arguement.
No enemy here. There is no hate for a pickup truck when used safely and responsibly to do truck things.
“Picking up furniture, mulch, appliances, topsoil is something I can’t do in an SUV or minivan.”
I don’t know why you think this. I’ve had no problem moving major appliances, furniture, mulch, topsoil, construction waste etc in a Mazda5, which is even smaller and lower powered than a typical minivan.
The most versatile I’ve owned was probably my Taco but the most functional vehicle I’ve owned that I actually enjoyed was my WRX wagon. I’d trade my current car in tmrw if Subie brought back the wagon.
Chevy Suburban diesel. Yes, you can buy one right now. It’s a gigantic cube on wheels, it will tow almost 8000 lbs, its unloaded driving range is over 600 miles (!), it will do okay off-road, and you can luxe it up if you so choose.
Praised be the Baby Max
This is indeed a very good alternative, but the cargo space just isn’t the same.
GM interiors are also kinda iffy. I was genuinely surprised how well they did with the Pinnacle. It’s pretty tony inside.
I agree, and I would rather drive the van.
I’m also (still) a diesel fan, and it’s surprising how many people forget about the light duty GM diesel, so I throw out comments about it when appropriate.
I almost bought a diesel Tahoe last year as a more capable tow rig. I want a Baby Max so very badly. I have a TDI and love it so much.
Our fleet is a Wrangler Unlimited and a Pacifica AWD and they have been extremely reliable no problems for the 5 year old and 100K miles minivan and very few issues with the 13 year old JKU with 170K on it.
In my opinion, I would not include any minivans with not easily removable or stowable middle seats.
Pickup Trucks without toppers/caps and only tonneau covers are just oversized sedans.
My jeep is just the right size and capabilities. I can haul 5 people , 2 canoes and three large dogs. It can tow enough.
the van has a 42×42 steel/crash rated dog kennel in the back and we can still put up both middle seats as needed.
Both have roof racks with crossbars.
They meet all our needs and hobbies.
We never need a pick up truck because we have a small utility trailer that lives under our deck and carries much more than any new pick up truck bed.
And for gross stuff like gas cans we have 2 hitch baskets that live in the shed one folding and one not.
First choice that comes to mind: the Miat…Chevy Express.
I like the answer a lot, but would also honorably mention Odyssey if you want it to last more than 50k miles without headaches 🙂
Also, there’s something to be said about the slightly lower trimlines being a better balance between cargo and people. My third row panels are pretty beaten up, and I’ve never had the patience or forethought to build protectors like Crank Shaft has up there…pretty slick!
No AWD, either, but for me that’s more of an annoyance and not actually dangerous.