I would, sort of, concur with a 2 vehicle solution. I was just running a 65-plate L200, as the sole family vehicle for a while. 2 kids under 10 and no real commute to speak of other than the occasional away-mission, we did fine. The modern pickups are lot better for rear passenger room than they used to be. I did recently purchase a second car which has made things easier in terms of family logistics and is lighter on fuel than the L200.
Though I find people tend to get a little too obsessed with fuel economy and completely fail to factor in the additional costs of a second vehicle compared with just running a slightly thirstier car for the occasional long journey. You have to be doing a lot of miles to actually realise any savings.
Personally, I would not want to go back to an LR/Jap 4x4 without a separate cabin and load bed. Tick issues aside (am not yet a stalker), a good way to ruin an interior is to do house/DIY/farm/gamekeeping/logging projects and somehow attempt to use the vehicle as your 'going ta town truck' as they say in the US. Sure you can fit bulkheads or even buy commercial spec models, but you're back-engineering a problem that shouldn't exist (Irish+UK governments please take note).
As an example, yesterday I took the L200 to the office, so dressed reasonably smart. Had to pick up some industrial racking from somewhere in Bristol, so I'd thrown in a change of clothes.
Predictably was loading up the racking in the dark+****ing rain and got it strapped down PDQ, tailgate down to support the shelving, but with the top 'cat flap' closed on the truckbox.. Hi-viz vest strapped to the end and we were on our way home. That would've been far more complicated in my old disco 2 or would've necessitated a trailer.
www.fwi.co.uk
JMVFWIW
