I can't recall if I could get my 10'er in my old explorer or not (I aways kept them on the roof) but I can get my 11'er inside my Yukon XL. It is
no reason to buy that vehicle though unless you need to also transport a full family or two a large dog a bunch of gear and also pull a heavy boat. The gas will kill you driving to work.
The pick up is less money but I think you wold like a mid size SUV that has 4wd. It is really nice in the snow and gives you the option to explore some sand. Also, you can take a few friends in it in comfort. Pick ups are great for hauling stuff but not people. Also, the 2WD pick up models suck in bad road conditions unless you fill the back with sand.
I would go for something like a 4wd explorer. The toyota's are also solid vehicles (but I am only buying american these days), my first and second fishing vehicles or "suvs" (they were not called suvs then) were the old style boxy land cruisers until the yuppies addopted them and tricked them up the ultimate soccer-mom vehicle and put a price tag that was out of sight. The old ones were unkill-able simple vehicles with poor gas mileage that could do anything. Took them everyplace you would never take a vehicle today. Whenever you see a snorkle as an "optional accessory" for a vehicle, that is a clue that it can take some abuse.
IMO, get a lightly USED low mileage road worthy 4wd SUV.
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