I'm kinda like Toyman. 2012 X5 diesel. Rated to 7700.
I'm kinda like Toyman. 2012 X5 diesel. Rated to 7700.
I understand your dilemma, but suspect you may decide to keep what you have. There will be a significant cash outlay on any of these options, and in the end none of them will be the same around town car as the suby or the weekend toy hauler of a campervan. I don't care what the tow specs say a longer wheelbase, slightly heavier tow vehicle works better. Less likely to have the tail wagging the dog with your rig.
ShawnG said:My 2019 Silverado High County 6.2 is anything but ponderous. It's like driving a very fast armchair.
I rather prefer my 2021 Silverado 2.7T to the wife's HRV. It is spacious, accelerates well, tossable, averages 24.8 on my commute (15 miles, 2 stops, mostly 55mph) enough tech to keep me connected without grabbing my phone, and I can tow a 22 foot car trailer with little effort.
Your budget will make a large difference in what your options are.
do you have a budget in mind?
In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :
No budget set right now...............other than I tend to be rather cheap.
I'm exploring the possible options; when I see two or three that might work I will then look at price.
It will also be at least a year if I do decide to pull the trigger.
porschenut said:I understand your dilemma, but suspect you may decide to keep what you have. There will be a significant cash outlay on any of these options, and in the end none of them will be the same around town car as the suby or the weekend toy hauler of a campervan. I don't care what the tow specs say a longer wheelbase, slightly heavier tow vehicle works better. Less likely to have the tail wagging the dog with your rig.
This seems to be the conclusion I come to but about every 4-5 years I go down this path.
The difference now is the enclosed trailer and I have the Foxbody Mustang I can drive now and again.
Second generation Nissan Xterra. My wife has a 2008, and I use it to tow. It has a 5k lb capacity, and sure, its got a short wheelbase and higher center of gravity, but honestly if you take it easy it tows with no problem. Its not horrible to drive either in my opinion.
Towing capacity: 5500 lbs. 400hp, paddle shifters, serious brakes. It's honestly way more fun than it has any right to be.
Narrowing down your desires would help narrow selections.
I had an 07 Expedition and I wanted out as it drove too truck like for me. Lumbering, mushy brakes, etc. it was also HUGE. That it had almost 190k on it made me really evaluate.
My vehicle was our primary family hauler. So I decided I wanted something close to new do I didn't have to worry about it as having a breakdown on a trip with young kids sounds awful to me.
So, which way you want to lean in regards to newer, vs fun to drive, vs affordable? What's your 1,2,3 on importance there?
Porsche Cayenne sounds like fun to drive. Santa Cruz is probably pretty good to drive and you can get new for <$40k.
I've been finding the low rpm torque punch of a turbo helps with fun to drive for me. (My answer was a Maverick, but it only has 4k tow)
Haven't seen anyone else throw out the Genesis GV80 as an option- all trims can tow 6k lbs and I've only read great things about the thing since it debuted
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
What year and trim Explorer is that??
In reply to Apexcarver :
It would have to go one of two ways: something so plush that I don't care if it's fun to drive or something that can be hustled down a two lane road if need be.
When I drove the Santa Cruz I noted you could hustle it kuch the same way you can with my Outback.
I really doubt the small santa cruz and its problematic DCT trans is going to be much of a tow rig for very long.
I got a bmw x5 (g05) for this. Tows 7k. Pretty peppy stock and with a stage 1 tune on it, its rocket ship around town. Handles the heft pretty well. I drove the Cayenne as well. I liked the overall feel of it a bit more, but you need to get at least the S trim and it was far more expensive to get something comparable. I'm pretty partial to German cars as DD though.
ClearWaterMS said:x3 tows 4400 pounds is that enough?
Big challenge with the x3 is it's not enough to get uhaul to rent you a trailer. 5k min. OP has a trailer, but it'll suck to buy one and get turned away when you need it. Its why I ended up going bigger. Otherwise I'd have bought a x3 m40i
I towed with a Ford Flex for a while. I don't recommend the transverse 3.5 Ecoboost. They have all the regular Ecoboost problems with cam phasers, water pump hydrolock, and oil lines and additional transverse only problems like the PTU and a hard shifting transmission. I put about 8k miles towing on mine and it had all the problems about the time I traded it into Carvana. I believe the explorer has similar issues. It drove and towed great though. Just go in with your eyes open.
The other reason we sold it was payload capacity. 1400lbs of capacity - 500lbs of tongue weight - 300lbs of me weight does leave much for the rest of the family plus overnight bags, tires, and tools. I ended up going to a half ton truck just for additional payload rating. Otherwise, the Dodge Durango would have been interesting.
I know more than one person who tow their race cars with a Touareg and they love it. One is gas one is diesel, around town they're just another small SUV which is nice as well.
Tom1200 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
What year and trim Explorer is that??
I'll answer. It's a 2020-24 model ST.
Ranger50 said:Tom1200 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
What year and trim Explorer is that??
I'll answer. It's a 2020-24 model ST.
Is that a north south RWD or transverse engine?
theruleslawyer said:I got a bmw x5 (g05) for this. Tows 7k. Pretty peppy stock and with a stage 1 tune on it, its rocket ship around town. Handles the heft pretty well. I drove the Cayenne as well. I liked the overall feel of it a bit more, but you need to get at least the S trim and it was far more expensive to get something comparable. I'm pretty partial to German cars as DD though.
That's a very nice looking ride!
I can't imagine towing 7K with a mid sized SUV no matter what the MFG'r rates it at.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:Ranger50 said:Tom1200 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
What year and trim Explorer is that??
I'll answer. It's a 2020-24 model ST.
Is that a north south RWD or transverse engine?
2020+ switched to longitudinal drivetrain with RWD standard
We were in Europe last month and one thing that really struck me was the complete lack of pickup trucks. So, what was towing all the campers, car haulers, motorcycle trailers and loads of building material? Sedans and the occasional SUVs tow anything over there. We saw an Audi S4 towing a horse trailer with 2 horses in it and a Ford Ford Econobox towing a horse trailer with one horse in it. We saw race cars being towed by Mercedes sedans and 3 series BMW's towing trailers filled with all manner of building materials.
In reply to loosecannon :
I think a lot of that is because of their rather strict towing laws. Trailers are limited to something like 50 mph. The lower the speed, the more a vehicle can safely tow.
I pulled something like 7000 pounds with my H3T a couple of weeks ago from the mountains of NC to the coast in SC. The truck is rated to tow 5000 pounds. By keeping my speeds down around 65, it towed safely and fairly easily. If I had tried to run 75-80, I'd have probably spread it all over the interstate.
I've also pulled 10k pounds about 15 miles behind an E150. My max speed was 35 mph and I did the tow at 4 am to avoid traffic.
Toyman! said:In reply to loosecannon :
I think a lot of that is because of their rather strict towing laws. Trailers are limited to something like 50 mph. The lower the speed, the more a vehicle can safely tow.
The ratings of the cars themselves seem to reflects this. My prius can tow 1500 lbs or something in Europe, but nothing here in the states...I'm sure this in turn encourages people to do so.
One issue with the Pilot is the softness of the rear springs. On the prior gens (pre-2016) you could add Timbrens or AirLift bags. I have had the bags on both of our Odysseys ('05 and '17') and they do a great job of stiffening the rear end to make things safer when loaded. If towing with a Pilot, I'd recommend getting a larger AT fluid cooler than stock, and I'd upgrade the fluid to something better than the OEM stuff (like Valvoline MaxLife or Amsoil).
The '16 to '23 Pilot uses a rear coil over suspension which makes the prior solutions obsolete. Unfortunately, the last time I looked there weren't any great aftermarket solutions. I believe the OEM rear springs from the Trailsport model may work.
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