What's a good DD that can Tow

[Halon]

I'm not in the market at this moment, but an starting to research this, and open to hear what anyone has to say who might be knowledgeable on the subject.

I would like to eventually start trailering my car to the track. That way if I break an axle, I'm not calling all over the place trying to find one so I can get home. I'm also going to be buying a boat here soon (something like a 20' open bow runabout/ski boat), and it would be good to have something that could pull it. So with all that in mind, I want this so I can tow my Talon maybe 4-5 times a year, and tow a boat maybe 3 times a year. Enough that I don't want to have to count on borrowing someone elses vehicle, but not enough that I need a small semi just because it's the best towing vehicle out there.

Now I already have 2 vehicles (Talon, Saab). Neither of which will do the job. I'm not interested in getting a 3rd vehicle, so that means whatever I got would replace my Saab. Now with that in mind, I often take 200 miles trips to Fargo, Ottertail, etc. My Saab gets 35mpg on the highway, which I doubt any towing vehicle I'd be interested in will be able to do.

I'm not interested in a pick-up, or a mini-van. So that kind of leaves me with SUV type vehicles. My dad has a 06 TrailBlazer with the Inline-6 that he uses to tow their camper around. Something like that is what I'm thinking would do a decent job. Only thing is he rarely even gets 20mpg with it.

So let me know what you all think might be good options. I can't afford a new vehicle, so it'd probably be a few years old. I don't want some loud diesel truck because this is going to be my daily driver also, so I want it to be somewhat nice, and get the best mileage as possible. I thought some newer Chevy's had V8's that shut off 4 cylinders to help with cruising mileage.

I also want to keep it as small as possible. I don't want to deal with trying to park a Suburban every day.

[Kracka]

How about a Jeep Cherokee or Grand Cherokee?

[viridionplague]

how much you thinking of letting the saab go for?

[95talonracer]

I loved my supercharged SS. You can get a Silverado ss cheap and they are sporty and pulled really nice.

[s1ngletracker]

Originally Posted by Kracka

How about a Jeep Cherokee or Grand Cherokee?

I have a cherokee with the 4.0 HO, only problem is I don't know how well it'd tow a car. Maybe a GC with a V8 would do better? The mileage won't be above 20mpg on either of them.

[1QUICK4]

As much as I hate to say it check out a Bronco or F150 with the 4.9L staight 6. They have more torque than the 302 F150's and get pretty decent mpg.

Otherwise I'd say get a Siverado/Suburban/Tahoe and say F the mpg

[MustGoFaster]

Oddly enough on my recent trip to Indiana, we used a Honda Pilot (3.5L Vtec V6) to tow. But that was with a light car and trailer combo (~3500lbs combined), but it did just fine, maintained 70 MPH uphills, with some effort of course, but it always had enough power and the right gear (2nd gear at 4K for some of the bigger ones) to get it done.

If you put some thought into your setup, a vehicle that's not known for awesome towing capability can do just fine. But I don't think you'll find anything capable of towing ~4500lbs reasonably and getting 25+mpg (not towing). Even the Pilot only got 21-24 MPG not towing. But we did get 17 MPG on at least one tank with the car and trailer on the back.

Over on the SCCA forums, there is a section dedicated to towing. You might want to check it out. http://sccaforums.com/forums/70/ShowForum.aspx

[A//// Guy]

Yea id probably look toward a newer Tahoe with lower miles or a Toyota truck. Small Suvs like a pilot or even a jeep arent the greatest idea for pulling a car on a trailer. For the boat, they would do just fine though.

[tehehodi]

^^^ if going new, yes, i would do a tundra....mmmmmmmmm

[Halon]

I'll try to explain again.

I'm not looking for the best vehicle to tow this stuff. What I'm looking for is a vehicle that will be 99% used for daily driving, and 1% used for towing. So I'm more looking for a vehicle that gets decent gas milage, that when needed, COULD tow a car to Brainerd, or COULD pull a boat out of the water and tow it an hour away. My dad used to tow our 18' Bayliner with a Chevy Celebrity Wagon with a 2.8 V6 from Maple Grove to Brainerd once a year. Was it an ideal towing vehicle, no. It was a decent DD, that could tow it if needed. I towed a Colt from Detroit to Blaine on a flatbed using a little 6cyl S-10 a couple years ago. Again, not the ideal vehicle, but it worked. These are examples of how they aren't ideal towing vehicles, but they did 'get r done' we just had to take it easy.

I don't want a Tahoe, way too big, and horseshit gas milage. And like I mentioned before, I don't want a pick-up, period. No Tahoe, no Silverado, no F150, none of that.

That Honda Pilot is probably more of where I'm wanting to go. Not an ideal vehicle, but for the very few times it would tow something, you can just take it slow and easy and it'll get the job done.

I was even looking into something like a Hyundai Santa Fe. I'm looking to keep the cost down, so I don't mind looking at more economical brands like Hyundai & Kia.

Not sure exactly but I'm pretty sure the weight I'd be towing around would be right around 3500lbs. That's about the weight of the boats we're looking at. My Talon weighed in at 3040lbs, so add a trailer on top of that and we're probably right around the same weight.

Something I noticed was it appeared Kiggly was towing his rid with a 4Runner or something like that. And that was his race car, and one of those long completely enclosed racecar trailers with tools and all that. I would think if it could tow that, it could tow my car on a flatbed.

[Halon]

I do remember having a Mercury Mountaineer as a rental a couple years back, and that thing was real nice I thought. I also remember that it got some shitty gas milage though ;(

[Speedfreak]

I would look at Toyota 4Runners, it's probably the perfect mix for the exact criteria you are looking for.

Otherwise a Pilot/MDX or Pathfinder/QX4 may suit your needs as well.

[AJ]

Brandon, I love my 08 Frontier. 260hp 4.0 V6 with a tow rating of 6500lbs. I have the crew cab w/short box and utilitrack system. Lots of interior room, comfortable on longers trips (down to IA and such) and it gets good gas mileage for me as well, 20-23 for me on the hwy. They also hold their value quite well. I was thinking about trading it in for another car this summer for easier baby hauling, but just couldn't pull the trigger. They would of sold my truck used for 1k more than I paid for it new.

I think 06-08 can be had for a fairly good price if you looked around (not sure what is too high or not).

[A//// Guy]

Yea I was going to by a newer xterra or pathfinder last summer, decent mileage. If you want something a little nicer, id go MDX for sure.

[TheBlizzard]

Brandon when I bought my Tahoe I didn't want one at all, I was looking at the smaller crossover type vehicles, Trailblazers, Explorers, ect. I know you said a Tahoe isn't what you are looking for because of the shitty gas mileage, but I found that they get as good if not better than a Trailblazer, Explorer, most AWD minivans, ect. Mine has the 5.3l V8 300hp300trq, and it still gets 20+mpg on the hwy, and 16avg in town.

Even if you are only towing a few times if you go the small V6 route you are going to kill the tranny in no time pulling a car. Now if you were to put a tranny cooler on a smaller vehicle and then take it easy you should be fine.

Usually tow vehicle even if it's only a few times a year and daily driver don't go hand in hand, andif you want something that is an all around vehicle you are going to have to sacrifice something, and usually that is gas mileage.

I would say an Envoy would be good for you, but they suck gas just as much as a Tahoe/Yukon.

[Gravy]

4 runner would be a good choice, i have used an 02 Ford Escape for towing in the past, only class 2 hiches from the dealership, but can get class 3/4 aftermarket for the vehicle. I've nailed 29mpg going up north unloaded and around 20-25 normal city driving. They are a newer Ford product though, issues with transmissions but they come with 4wd are FWD normally, and very roomy and comfortable and easy to drive/park. Something i guess is a big deal to a bunch of people, but removing your upper intake manifold is needed to replace your spark plugs. Beyond that it's not that hard of a vehicle to maintain.

3.0 v6 and can find them for a good price. S-10 pickups i've had in the past never towed as well as the escape has odly enough, but the trucks offroad better.

[Halon]

Again this isn't going to happen for probably a year or so. But for now I'm trying to look at spending less than $15k.

[carltalon]

I love our tahoe payed less len 10k for it. And I wouldn't even think about pulling a car with anything smaller. one thing alot of people over look when sugesting smaller SUV's and crossover is the weight of the tow vehicles. You want something on the hevvy side so the trailor wont push you around if its starts swaying or if you have to swerve quickly.

If you do go with something smaller then a 1/2 ton rated SUV your deffinitly going to want some air bags for the back so it doesnt squat like crazzy.

[MustGoFaster]

Most car trailers are 1700-2300lbs, they aren't light. Even the light ones are 900+lbs.

http://www.allprowest.com/3Open_CarHaulers.html Look at the 3rd row down. 6.6 feet x 14 feet AL frame open deck trailer, 910lbs. "Lightest Car Trailer on the Market," according to them. That's about as light as it's going to get, unless you use a dolly (250-400lbs?) and disconnect the drive shaft from the rear diff. Plan on 4000-4700lbs+ any extra stuff you want to bring.

And some extra mods like air bags will be a must, the Pilot we used had them added I'm pretty sure. Also a trans cooler.

I used to be very anti towing with a "poor" towing vehicle. I was very skeptical of the Pilot, it did way better than I was expecting. But definitely take vehicle weight into consideration.

[Goat Blower]

I've towed with everything out there, and for the money, you're probably best off with a Tahoe. The MDX, Pilot, Pathfinder and most of those midsize SUV's will struggle to pull a car on a trailer. Like someone else said, a DSM and flatbed are right around 5000 lbs. I've pulled my car many times with a 4.0 Grand Cherokee, but if you get any wind or a steep hill, you're screwed. At least their trannies are pretty strong, I know the MDX one isn't. And there's really only a few SUV's that get anywhere near 20mpg anyway, you can't have your cake and eat it too, unless you're willing to buy something pretty new.

BTW, Kiggly's 4Runner was a V8 model.