choosing a vehicle for a relief worker

My oldest is returning from college in Oxford.  He was supposed to go to New Zealand in January for a work-study program counting penguins or something like that, but with the economy the way it is, the penguins are off the table.  

He spent last summer working in Iowa City on the flood clean-up.  He slept in church basements and spent his days demolishing & re-habing houses, removing sodden sandbags, removing trees with hand tools (stumps and all), and all at no charge to the homeowners.  He feels pretty passionate about this, since he has received gifts that he didn't ask for (grandpa's legacy funding his education and enough grey-matter to study in Oxford), he feels obligated to help others who through no fault of their own are in desperate situations.

So, since he has no classes scheduled till August, he is planning on going to either Galveston or New Orleans for hurricane relief or California for fire relief, depending upon which church has a better basement.  Or, he may make a disaster tour of the US and hit them all.

His younger brother has declared "squatters rights" on the '96 firebird and so the older one will be without a car.  The younger is now bigger than the older, as well as me, so there is a lot of payback in this declaration.  

To keep the peace, and to help out a young man who is committed to helping others, I would like to choose an appropriate vehicle for him to use in his mission.  The firebird is, as they put it, "sex on wheels", so since he is losing that I would not want to give him a Lincoln Navigator in exchange -- insult on top of injury.

So here's the question, 4x4 experts, what SUV/Pickup would you choose as the sexiest to replace a '96 firebird and why? And, what would you add to the base vehicle (winch, roof rack, lift kit, snorkel) to make it suitable for the task at hand (gutting buildings).  The only constraint is cost -- must be buy-able for under 15K.  This unfortunately throws out the SSR which was the first choice.  

If you can feed it, a 3/4 4x4 Suburban is a tuff act to beat for this. Tons of room inside out of weather for people or equipment. They are tanks too stopped only by mud too deep to reach bottom in because of their weight. I have a suburban that I bought 19 years ago new and it still serves me well to this day and best utility vehicle of its type I ever had (and why I still have it too)  

ssr thought cool suck i drove one for work and they are way to small and i swear everything breaks just getting out of it. but trust me when i say you get lots of attention. id get get 5000 taco or K5 and dumb the rest in toys for the truck lift, wheels and tires stereo etc that would be way cooler than a firebird  
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You know I love you all (in a manly non sexual way) Spawn_X

Yes but a Burb good carry 5 or 6 people and a ton of supplies too and even more supplies if you fold rear seat down middle seat down too. Plus you would have plenty of room to sleep in the back in a pinch to and be able to stretch out doing it too. I once had a 8 foot plow and five people in mine and every one was seated. (middle seat is 70/30 and I folded the 30 for plow to clear). Try that in a blazer!  

dont get me subs are great i had two, but two big his age he needs to get some thing thats gonna get him laid.  subs are more of a nesting type truck lol  
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You know I love you all (in a manly non sexual way) Spawn_X

Ide go for a yota land cruiser, solid axles, lockers, room for five. If he is as smart as he seem's he doesnt need to get the cat  right now, it will follow him home. feed his passion for helping,give him tools for this,women come, women go, but good men are few and far between. gas milage will save him green, winches will help him pull those nast stumps out, the warn powerplant one will run air tools, so he can be real crafty and make stuff. arb, powertank, a big power inverter, he will have all the attention from dads with daughters who will see a worthy man.
thats just my opinion.
Ps,,a 3/4 ton long bed p/u with a camper shell to streach out in on a twin mattress, but with the brute torque of a cummins turbo diesle..rock solid to boot will get him place to place
luck to him and his work!  

Thanks for the advice.

He needs no help with the cats; his plane wasn't on the ground two hours, and there were a pair of strays scratching at the back door.  I blame his mother, I never had these problems.

The Burb would get the job done, but he feels that its sexy just like female body builders are sexy -- power and grace, but short on finesse.

We liked the idea of going cheap and adding the toys -- would let us address the issues of high mileage while getting it set the way he wants.  Warn powerplant is definitely on the shopping list.  The 3/4 diesel crew stretch takes the whole budget and was my choice.

Shopping now for tacos or land cruisers -- and lots of parts.