Tow vehicle help

[bones774]

OK, I have a 3500lbs (dry weight) boat that I need to drop in the water in the spring and remove in the fall, I travel about a 4 mile distance from house to lake on quiet country roads. Here's the question, I would like to buy a second hand vehicle capable of the job. I would like it to be reliable and not a gas pig and something that could be used as an efficient daily driver. Anybody have any good suggestions. I've been looking thru the gamut of Highlanders, 4 runners, ridgelines, subaru's, rangers, rx's,touregs and i would like to hear opinions of owners.
Thanks all.

 

[642mx]

Re: Tow vehicle help

A Highlander sounds like a good choice. They get good gas mileage and will pull your boat without issues.

 

[jkust]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I'd say just about any v6 will handle the job you describe. The issue, if there is one, being you will tow such a short distance so infrequently is the tow rating. With the trailer plus the wet weight, you will likely be over 4000lbs. My 10 year old, high mileage minivan towed 4000lbs of boat for a season long and short distances without too much fuss. The step up to a vehicle that is supposed to tow over 3500lbs puts you in some of the newer crossovers or a true midsized or larger suv. I don't know if any truck based suv's or crossovers with decent power v6's are really very efficient. I know people who have the newest 6 cylinder crossovers like the Chevy Traverse and the real life mileage isn't close to the sticker mileage considering how much hp and especially torque you give up from not being a v8. We have a midsized suv with a v8 and AWD and won't even comment on how poor the actual mileage is. Bottom line is you really do need a lot less power than you may realize to do the job you describe as I discovered with my ultra low power minivan.

 

[jtmarten]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Do you need a daily driver, or just want a compromise vehicle? If just a compromise, why not just rent an SUV twice a year, or pay someone local with a truck to tow the short distance?

 

[robert graham]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Maybe buy an old Ford Crown Victoria, used patrol cruiser, has V8, heavy duty everything, buy them dirt cheap for around $2500 from local dealers that liquidate police vehicles. It's hard to buy any kind of decent truck for $2500!

 

[southbass]

Re: Tow vehicle help

You should consider a JEEP Liberty CRD - It's a diesel. They were made in 2005 and 2006. Rated for 5000 lbs. Fuel mileage on highway is 24-26 mpg without the boat. I believe it has a torque rating of 235 @1500 rpm. That's great for pulling up a ramp or towing. Some will say it's too short for comfortable towing but I think it works great. It's also 4WD if you need it! Depending on your boat size you may need trailer brakes.

 

[Subliminal]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Yeah I wouldn't go too small. My Equinox has a 3500 lb tow rating and my 2400 (dry) boat is quite a load for it. It handles it, but I wouldn't want to put another grand back there.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Do you need a daily driver, or just want a compromise vehicle? If just a compromise, why not just rent an SUV twice a year, or pay someone local with a truck to tow the short distance?

I think this is a better idea than trying to find a compromise vehicle. That boat will really be pushing the 3500lb capacity vehicles and the greater capacity vehicle really do get crap mileage. We recently bought an '05 V8 Jeep GC and the mileage is staggeringly bad.

 

[jeeperman]

Re: Tow vehicle help

You would be way better off begging, borrowing, bartering or even hiring someone to haul the boat twice a year.
If your docking at a marina or dry storage, they might even do it for free or next to nothing just to get your business for the season.

Then you can go buy the daily driver you really want.
I bet the additional cost in fuel, taxes, registration, insurance, etc. would pay for nearly all of the above.

 

[Shrike]

Re: Tow vehicle help

4 miles on quiet country road? Almost anything will do. So get what you want otherwise.

 

[98Shabah]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Heck, I think i'd be renting a truck when I need it for that 4 miles twice a year, or borrowing one from a friend/family member. Boy I wish I lived that close to a nice body of water!

 

[xeddog]

Re: Tow vehicle help

When you say "3500lbs (dry weight) boat", is that just the boat or does that include the 700-800 lb-ish trailer too? If not, you are a lot closer to 5000lbs than you think. If you are SURE that you will only be making the trip twice a year and nothing else and you are not using any highways or traveling at highway speeds, then there are more tow vehicles to choose from.

My boat is 3250 lbs dry and the trailer is 750lbs. By the time I get our food and gear, and also the boat's food (meaning gas - 40 gal at 7.5lbs/gal = 300lbs) aboard, I am already pushing probably 4500 lbs. Or rather TOWing 4500 lbs. Towing 4500 lbs with a vehicle not rated for it could lead to problems. Towing puts a lot of strain on every part of the tow vehicle from cooling system, to engine, to transmission, to frame, to suspension, to brakes, to tires . . . you name it. You say you drive on country roads, but what shape are those quiet country roads in? Nice and smooth and straight and flat, or rough and bumpy and curvy with stop signs all over the place?

If it were me, I think I would look for something that I could safely tow 5000 lbs juuuuuust in case I wanted to go further than 4 miles, or more often than twice a year. I would be looking more for a 3/4 ton crew-cab pickup or a Yukon/Expedition type of a vehicle that could safely tow my boat, and house any family/friends that were going too. Granted most of them are not good daily drivers though.

My son has a newer Toyota Tundra and he is happy with it. He has towed my boat, and his own Silverline 22vht with no problems. I'm not sure how much his boat weighs, but it is more than mine. He uses it as a daily driver too and tells me he is averaging 24-ish mpg.

Just my $.01 worth.

Wayne

 

[Silver Eagle]

Re: Tow vehicle help

If it's only four miles down the road why worry about gas mileage.? I two my boat about 10 miles each way and 45 miles twice a year. I pull it with my Quad cab 4x4 hemi powered ThunderRoad Dodge Ram. I get around 14 miles to the gallon locally and 13.5 towing my boat. It's a 24 ft Pontoon boat with an 90 hp two stroke Merc.I use the truck to tow my boat and to drive in the winter if the snow is over a couple of inches.

 

[bones774]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I have a v6 powered newish minivan which probably has the power to tow boat but i'm concerned at the ramp pulling boat out, have heard some horror stories about FWD being near useless. I have been begging/borrowing truck up till this time, sometimes it's uncomfortable. Usually rental vehicles do not have trailer hitches attached, so that is not a good option, this is a rural town and the list of rental companies is really non-existent.
I'll probably just pay one of the locals and save money in the long run, although I do need a daily driver I was hoping for the best of both worlds.
Thanks.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Get something that has at least a 5000# towing capacity. You'll be near that when loaded up, and you may want to tow more than 4 miles some day.

I have my eye on the Ridgeline, myself.

 

[bones774]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I like those Ridgelines and would like to purchase 2nd hand but very few on the market it seems.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Tow vehicle help

Used Jimmy or Blazer will do the job nicely and cheaply as well.

 

[jkust]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I have a v6 powered newish minivan which probably has the power to tow boat but i'm concerned at the ramp pulling boat out, have heard some horror stories about FWD being near useless. I have been begging/borrowing truck up till this time, sometimes it's uncomfortable. Usually rental vehicles do not have trailer hitches attached, so that is not a good option, this is a rural town and the list of rental companies is really non-existent.
I'll probably just pay one of the locals and save money in the long run, although I do need a daily driver I was hoping for the best of both worlds.
Thanks.

Bones, like I mentioned above, I towed almost what you have weight wise with a fwd minivan. I will ignore the safety issues and the wear and tear topic because of your short distance. I will say that my minivan is a GM and has the towing package with the auto adjust air ride suspension. If it wasn't for the air suspension, I'd have never been able to tow it around the block. It would sag the rear end too far. If you don't have that I wouldn't even try it . Also then to address the fwd issue, yes it can be an issue. I would have to avoid certain ramps if they were dirt or heavily used with slippery cement. One time I had a tough time getting the boat out. The solution was to shut off the traction control, let the wheels spin and smoke until I got out since traction control simply applies the brakes forcing you to stop. It was embarrassing to say the least as it was a very busy ramp. I had pretty poor tires on it at the time and never had that issue again as soon as I put new ones on. I suppose to sum it up, torque and hp wasn't the issue but every other shortcoming had the potential to be a problem. What I really learned towing with a minivan for a season was that I wanted an suv because even if everything goes perfect, the stress of using the wrong vehicle was always peresent. By the way Uhaul trucks have hitches.

 

[bones774]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I wish there was a uhaul by me, that would be great,$19.95 rental for the day and be done with it, then I could buy a Corolla, but the nearest Uhaul would probably be 20 miles away.
I like the Ridgelines also but doing some research I see they have AWD and switchable to LOW anyone have any ramp experience with that?
Plus the Gas mileage is all over the place reports of 14-22 MPG, the more miles the more MPG.

 

[jfadool]

Re: Tow vehicle help

I have done a good amount of towing with a ridgeline.

They do not have a low range gearbox. They do have a center diff-lock and all wheel drive, but they are not a real off road vehicle(low range, front and rear locking diffs/limited slip), but they will easily pull a boat up a ramp.

I used one to pick up my whaler when I got it, unloaded it got about 18mpg, loaded with the boat it tow I got about 12mpg.

I still vote for renting/borrowing a truck for launching and then having a little efficient car for a daily driver. Even if the nearest uhaul/enterprise/budget/avis is 50 miles still worth it. Most rental car places have a full size SUV or truck that is available. Check to see if they have a receiver or bumper for a hitch and just pay the $50 for the day rental.