crossover that can pull a four-place trailer?

[Steve Bakken]

Time to replace our Durango. With kids in hockey, we need an SUV, problem is, all the trips around town with a V8 are killing us. So a V6 crossover; i.e. (traverse, acadia, pathfinder, etc) would really be way more practical. Problem is, we pull a four place to Michigan once a year for our snowmobile trip. Does anybody know the towing weight of a loaded four-place, and does anyone know how one of these rigs would do towing one?

[aanderud]

A 4 place triton trailer (elite20-101) weighs like 1300 lbs. If you add four sleds at 500 lbs each you're at 3300 lbs. The new 2013 pathfinder with the V6 can tow 5k lbs. The traverse says 5200. With a ton of leeway between what youre trailer weighs and what these guys can pull, I'd say you should be OK.

Heck even the dodge grand caravan says they can tow 3500 lbs. That's pretty close to what your 4 sleds and trailer would weigh though.

[Steve Bakken]

Time to replace our Durango. With kids in hockey, we need an SUV, problem is, all the trips around town with a V8 are killing us. So a V6 crossover; i.e. (traverse, acadia, pathfinder, etc) would really be way more practical. Problem is, we pull a four place to Michigan once a year for our snowmobile trip. Does anybody know the towing weight of a loaded four-place, and does anyone know how one of these rigs would do towing one?

[CAMAN]

Heck even the dodge grand caravan says they can tow 3500 lbs. That's pretty close to what your 4 sleds and trailer would weigh though.

Then add in passengers and gear and you are WAY overweight.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Front wheel drive is not the best option for towing.

The pathfinder is a front wheel drive with a 19/25 fuel rating.

The Xterra is a rear wheel drive/4x4with a 5,000 lb tow rating and has a 15/20 mpg rating

The 4runner has a 5000 lb tow rating, and 17/21 for mileage.

Any of the vehicles you mentioned would probably be fine pulling a to place, something tells me pulling four sleds would not be a good idea.

[aanderud]

Heck even the dodge grand caravan says they can tow 3500 lbs. That's pretty close to what your 4 sleds and trailer would weigh though.

[JeffB]

I've towed a similar load with my wifes Buick Enclave before and it did just fine. When towing it gets poor milage, but has decent power and performance. I would say day to day milage would be from 17-22 mpg depending on your driving. When towing milage could run from 8-16 depending on load, wind and speed.

[GSP4ME]

only 6 cylinder I would trust is the cummingins

[candiru]

Buy something efficient and rent a vehicle for your once a year trip.

[CJH]

The new Durango I believe has the highest tow capacity, around 6200lbs for the v6 and 7400 for the Hemi. That's your best option and is the most "truck like" of the crossovers. The v6 will get you decent gas mileage.

Otherwise you could get a Ford Explorer sport w/Ecoboost v6 + towing package, which is rated at 5000lbs.

Hope this helps.

[aanderud]

Buy something efficient and rent a vehicle for your once a year trip.

That's a good option if it's truly 1 or 2 trips. However, when you start increasing the number of trips, say to go to Mille Lacs or somewhere closer, you're starting to really cost a lot of ching. Renting something that's towing-capable is not cheap by any means.

I'd say any of those crossovers with the 5k to 6k towing capacities should have no problem with a trailer that weighs just over 3k. If they do, something's wrong.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Buy something efficient and rent a vehicle for your once a year trip.

You can't rent a tow vehicle. Major blunder IMO. How many guys drive gas hogs because they tow a few times each year?

[CAMAN]

You can't rent a tow vehicle. Major blunder IMO. How many guys drive gas hogs because they tow a few times each year?

U-haul does, also some of the smaller rental companies do too. Don't just think because Enterprise, Hertz, and the like don't that you can't.

Courtesy in Minneapolis even advertises "We are one of the few rental companies that will allow select van rentals and SUV rentals to tow boats, campers or trailers."

[deadeye]

The new Pathfinders are really nice but I would wait a year or two to see what kind of demons lurk in that CVT...

I guess if I was going for something like that I would be looking at a new Durango or Grand Cherokee with the v6.

The new Explorer looks pretty decent as well.

[Jeremy airjer W]

If the pathfinder has a CVT than definitely not a tow vehicle.

[CJH]

If the pathfinder has a CVT than definitely not a tow vehicle.

It does.

[Jeremy airjer W]

As far as I know the Nissan CVT transmissions are not the most robust. I'm also pretty sure they are not rebuilding them. If it fails you replace it with a new one.

[aanderud]

Good point about the CVTs and towing, deadeye and Jeremy!

I love this site.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I love this site.

And this sight loves all of you!

[chasineyes]

I say buy the truck you want/need. THEN buy/have two little commuter cars.

We have an Expedition (GAS PIG) for "long trips and hauling the boat and camper". And then drive our 97 and 01 Accords around town and to work. What we save in gas and insurance is HUGE. It's alot easier to buy a cheap commuter car.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I do the same thing. I use the Tundra when I need it and drive the Saturn (twice the fuel economy) for daily commuting.

[aanderud]

I say buy the truck you want/need. THEN buy/have two little commuter cars.

I do this as well, and I'd agree with you guys that it might make sense for this guy too IF he was talking about towing even a moderate amount. But he said he was going to take 1 trip per year. It's hard to justify paying even paying for a used truck to sit in the driveway for this guy's 1 annual trip to the UP. Just the insurance cost, license/tab renewal, and minimal maintenance each year is going to cost more than renting a tow vehicle a couple times per year. Let alone trying to recoup the cost of the vehicle (10k minumum, 15-20k for something reasonably new?).

[BoxMN]

Give a buddy $500 (or more or less) to use his bigger truck for that weekend, and bring it back full of gas and washed, if only one trip per year. Heck, I can count on three hands the number buddies who would let me use theirs if I needed to, and I would let "some" buddies use mine. Heck, I let a buddy use my half ton for a week in NoDak duck hunting no problem this year.

Just a thought... If a guy doesn't have a buddy, ummmm, welllll... haha!

[aanderud]

Yeah I sorta figured "rental" as a 'generic' term, not implying that you'd have to go to an actual company to do it -- friends are a good choice. I've lent out my truck plenty of times to folks in the past, usually for a case of beer and the tank of gas full when it's back.

[deadeye]

All I can say about CVTs is that I wouldn't own one. I have sold 4 so far this week for assorted Nissans. They do have a halfway decent warranty on them but still, it's a matter of when you need to replace it. I know other manufacturers have gotten it right but still..

I guess if you don't need a ton of space for commuting then go the 2 car route. I have done that in the past and it works well. Kinda nice to have a second car when the first one breaks.