Tow vehicle

[ikeslayer]

i am wondering if you guys have any idea what a great tow vehicle would be. I am a youth pastor at a church and usually take a gaggle of kids fishing at a time. only problem is that it is a tight fit in my f150. i have a mini van and you can pack kids and stuff in there like no other and still get 20 mpg. So what i am wondering is, is there a minivan out there that has a souped up tranny that can pull my crestliner and a full load of people? My wife isn't much for conversion vans or we would proably own one of those. I don't know what it is like to pull a boat out of a landing with one of these either.

Any help or ideas would be welcomed and appreciated

thanks

ike

[MattWtech]

for your situation ide get a suburban or a yukon, fit plenty of folk in those, plus you got the trunk space. any engine package too, i doubt youde be pulling past there tow capacity. solid vehicles in my opinion any year. ive pulled boats with a 99 suburban and a 2002 yukon both easy rides and plenty spacious.

just my opinion though im a GM guy

there are conversion vans that are good but they suck to pull in and out of the water, cant see anything

[Josh8481]

I have a 99 Ford Explorer with AWD and a 5.0 and it does a great job towing my boat around. It's got room for 5 people, and has a good towing capacity as well. I know it's similar to the Yukon mentioned above, but it's just something I can share from experience. A van would work, but I'd just be concerned about the towing capacity. Whatever you use, just try to make sure it has a tranny cooler, and you should be good to go. Good luck!

[river rat316]

with the way gas prices are I don't know that Id recommend anything right now... can ya pull your boat with a ten speed bike?

[svttom01]

When I was at a local lake last year I did see Jim Moynagh and he was pulling his Ranger Z series bass boat with a Chevy/GMC conversion van. Must work alright for him. It was me I would go with the Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban.

[HGS 24]

Ike

I have a 16 ft with a 50 tiller gross wt with trailer 1700# nothing fancy I pull it with my chevy equinox 3.4L with a rating of 3500#. I sold my truck due to the 9 mpg factor along with the fact the nox has the boat behind it only 5% of its life and with the price of gas 18 mpg while towing convinced me. All of last year the only concern I had was at Eddy's on Millacs I backed in a bit far and it was quite steep and wet but I went slow and it came out with minimum spinning. I also pulled my parents alumacraft dominator out of the lake with little effort. I am very pleased with the equinox, obviously I am not as careless as I was with my beast of a 4x4 but if you take it easy on your equip I don't see the need for a 35000$ tow vehicle unless you have a 40000$ toy!!

[Bushwacker]

My tow vehicle is a Chevy Suburban. It seats 8 and has more than enough power to pull a boat. On top of that you have 4 wheel drive for steep and slippery ramps. My wife and I have decided that we are going to stick with Suburbans for our next vehicle too because once you get that added space it would be hard to downsize. Ours is pretty good on gas 17-19mpg towing a 19 foot fiberglass bass boat.

[Cabela10]

How are you getting 17-19mpg? Do you know this as fact or estimating? I have all the digital readings on my truck '05 Silverado Crew cab, and I get anywhere from 11-13mpg. Pretty pathetic.

[Bushwacker]

I reset the tripometer and I check the mileage every single time that I fill up. The lowest I ever get is in the winter when I have it warming up a lot and that is 15.5-16mpg, but that is very rare. Only maybe three or four tanks a winter. The rest of the year its over 17 everytime and sometimes all the way to 19. It does very well on gas for its size. I do use the 89 octane all the time, don't know if that makes a difference on not, but there is only $.02 difference between the two grades where I fill up. My wife drives an Audi A6 and that thing only gets 21 or so. So we end up driving the Suburban a lot because of the space and not sacrificing much gas mileage. What size motor do you have in your Silverado? That is pretty bad.

[Cabela10]

It's the 5.7 or 5.3 I forget what Chevy has in the Silverado's, it's the big v8. I have a fully loaded 1500 Silverado. On the highway I average around 16-18mpg without the boat, depends how much I baby it. I do drive very fast, like 80+ with the boat on also, so that might be my issue.

[Duffman]

This minivan might do the trick for ya...