Looking for an SUV, help suggest a model (specific requirements!)

Hello - I'm not sure if this is the correct forum but I'll give it a try. I'm looking to purchase an SUV next spring or early summer. I intend to use it as a road trip vehicle and will do little driving with it otherwise (aside from giving it some exercise here and there). I have no company preference whatsoever.

The potential vehicle should (in order of importance):

1) Must offer good value. We're college students on a limited budget. More on this below.

2) Reliability! As this is a road trip vehicle any potential breakdown will be hundreds or thousands of miles from home.

3) Have sufficient cargo space to fit an inflatable mattress in the back: the primary purpose of this vehicle is to save us money on hotel rooms every night. We hope to spend about half our nights in the back of the vehicle to offset travel costs.

4) Have decent gas mileage, but see number 5.

5) Must not be underpowered - no 4 cylinders. Taking numbers 4 and 5 together, I would prefer something with 19-25 highway mpg in a V6 with over 200 hp.

6) Must have limited off-road capabilities. We travel some pretty rough "roads" on occasion and would like to worry a little less about stranding our car. This means 4WD and decent clearance.

Budget info: Our absolute hard maximum price is $6000 before financing. However, anything meeting our basic criteria for cheap will be given preference. Prefer not to buy older than 1999-2000, nor over 120,000 miles.

I know this is a rather picky list, and I don't know if anything will fit it exactly. Thanks in advance for trying, though! You folks certainly know more about it than I do.  

$6,000 is not much to work with. If you're looking to fit a mattress in the back, you might be looking at taking out the backseats to lie it down. How many passengers will there be?

You might want to look into a used minivan or fullsize van, but I'm not sure of too many vans with 4WD for under $6,000 that are of post 1999-2000 MYs. Maybe a late 90s Mazda MPV with 4WD would fit your budget, or some other vehicle along those lines.  

I suppose I should have mentioned that I would be removing the backseat and that only my girlfriend and I would be in the vehicle. I've yet to price an SUV from that time period which did not fall close to $6k, although some were getting up there in miles  

I'd look at an early generation Nissan Xterra, they don't have the 200 hp (170 hp), unless you get the revised models. But otherwise they're close to your price range and are decently reliable provided they aren't too high in mileage. 17 highway mpg with 4WD.  

The Suzuki XL-7 satisfies these criteria.  

Good one. A bit of leftover cash for some preventative maintenance as well.  

Yeah, to be perfectly honest with you, if you plan on throwing down a mattress in the back, you'd probably be best off with a minivan. I know a lot of people don't like the "stigma" of a minivan, but they're really practical and give you plenty of space.

Also, you're probably going to laugh at me for saying this, but if you get past the horrendous looks, they're pretty practical, and they were offered with a rear half-tent option for the back...a Pontiac Aztek. You should be able to pick one up used pretty cheaply. From everything I've read, they were actually reasonably reliable, and would probably get better fuel economy than a "traditional" SUV.  

Well, here are your options following your criteria

Chevy Trailblazer
GMC Jimmy
Oldsmobile Bravada
Suzuki XL7
Isuzu Rodeo
Mitsubishi Montero
Dodge Durango
Nissan Xterra
Jeep Grand Cherokee

And if you don't mind wagons...

Saab 9-5 SE Wagon 6 cylinder



Search them all and choose from there.

Good luck shopping.