Is there anyone towing with a 2010 or 2011 GMC Acadia by chance, if so is it ok?
Towing capacity of 5200lbs
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Is there anyone towing with a 2010 or 2011 GMC Acadia by chance, if so is it ok?
Towing capacity of 5200lbs
My wife and I had this very conversation a couple of days ago while at the GMC dealership after service on my truck. She wants an Acadia and they had a super sweet Denali there we looked at for giggles. In talking to the sales manager I mentioned how low the seats were and how there seemed to be a lot of room for a midsize suv, he stated the reason for all of that was that the Acadia is built on a car chassis, not a truck type, full frame chassis like most suvs. Then he also stated they are front wheel drive or optional all wheel drive, which verifys the car chassis.
My responce to her was, there's no way I'd tow my LSV with that vehicle. One it's a car chassis, not heavy duty or even close. Second, my boat when loaded is at or over 5,000 easy. I wasn't even comfortable towing our previous boat with her '03 Durango more less an Acadia and that boat was probably 1,000 lbs less total.
Just my opinion but I can't see towing with that vehicle any distance or over hills and grades.
I towed my OBV with my wife's 2011 AWD acadia last Wed. It did fine through the city- haven't had it at interstate speeds.
It all depends where you have to unload and load. At our lake there is NO WAY a mid size SUV will get a boat that size out of the water. Especially on a busy day when people are in and out and the ramp gets wet. I was there on the spot last year when a mid size SUV was trying to pull a towboat out of the water and all the SUV did was spun the front tires. The ALL WHEEL DRIVE units may be different, but I would stick to the Tahoe’s or Yukon’s for this type of activity.
I looked up the specs and the AWD Acadia has a curb weight of almost 5000 lbs! I don't think that its weight alone is a limitation.
Real limitations will be:
- Is the drive train set up to bear a sustained load?
- Is the suspension and body set up to control a load that is at its documented limit?
- Does the AWD model allow enough torque to be forcibly directed to the rear wheels?
I was not able to answer these with a quick scan of the product literature. More research would be required by a prospective buyer. Frankly, the company's claims would be of less value than experience of people who have done it, so asking on boating forums is a good idea.
One thing that I can say about AWD is that most makes have what Subaru scoffs at with the term "slip and pray you grip". These kinds of systems can work very well in most on-road conditions. It does not necessarily work at all in a situation like the boat ramp. Subaru has several videos on Youtube that show competitors' AWD systems failing to engage or failing to distribute enough torque in a steep uphill climb from a dead stop. That not even while pulling a trailer.
Plenty of "dock follies" have also happened with RWD trucks. 4WD is also recommended for trucks at any launch that is less than ideal (i.e. most of them when wet). Traditional trucks allow this control manually, though, so they are in the clear.
If the Acadia has a rear drive lock function that can support, say 50% torque, it's probably good for pulling out any Moomba at the launch. That would remove one of the three possible shortcomings above.
I've seen a guy tow an old 21' or so cuddycabin with an '84 Fiero. No lie! The boat would've fit in the cockpit. He only towed it a few miles, and used the boat to more-or-less push itself out of the water. lol.
My point it, it "can" be done. The question is "Is it safe?" and "Do you really want to put that much wear & tear on your oversized car?" I wouldn't do it unless you're only talking a few miles and only a few times per year. You're going to kill the drivetrain (mostly tranny) pulling something so big out of the water if you do it a lot, esp. if your ramps are steep.
i tow my 11 LSV with a '00 grand cherokee
it weighs only 4000lbs with a 4.7L and 235HP and is full time AWD.
it does have the tow package and a 5speed auto though
my guess is youll be fine. i borrom my pops silverado for long highway hauls though.
the extra power is nice for that.
Not to pick on you 'Stang but you say he'll be fine and then say that when you do real towing you use the Silverado. Bottom line is that this vehicle "can" tow this load but that doesn't mean you "should". The guy with the Fiero is risking more lives than just his own.
This topic amuses me every time it comes up. Let me flesh out with some real world experience.
Traction- not a problem at all-not even a hint of slip. The ramps we used aren't that steep though. I can give you more details about this after I tow it up the gravel hill to my dad's cabin in southern Indiana
Acceleration- well I didn't measure the 0-60 but I also didn't have any trouble keeping up with traffic. I didn't do any passing.
stopping- as a rule I typically don't speed with boat in tow but I didn't have any difficulty stopping abruptly. Is it the best vehicle to stop a trailer? Doubt it but I'd have to look up some stopping data to really know how much different it is.
Wear and tear- can't tell you. To be honest I don't plan on owning this vehicle once it's out of warranty. Towing probably isn't the best way to maximize the life of an Acadia
I appreciate the sense of stewardship that many have to tow with the safest possible vehicle, but in reality many people operate vehicles that aren't on the cutting edge of safety. Hell, some of you probably even ride a motorcycle though I doubt you drive a smart car. What's the stopping distance of your current ride? Is it less than ideal? Does your car have an airbag? Do you ever drive without your seatbelt? How old are your tires- you should probably replace them after 10,000 miles.
I believe the OP's question was whether anybody tows with an acadia, not what is the perfect towing vehicle. If you want the ideal towing solution the acadia isn't it. But for the 1% of the time I'll be using it for towing it fits our family perfectly.
He said 2010 or 2011 so I kind of assumed he was looking at new vehicles. The "crossover" type things have a practical value but they really aren't tow vehicles because they are only pretending to be a real truck. But, I think everybody already knows that. I used to tow with a Dodge minivan But, I could move the boat (outboard runabout) around easily by hand. I wouldn't want to do it with the boat I have now and I wouldn't buy such a vehicle knowing I would be towing with it.
BTW, I rarely see any very big/steep hills and have no problem with my 2WD Suburban on our ramps or any others I've encountered. Those guys out west have a very rational apprehension about underpowered vehicles or poor traction.
I am mainly going to be towing the boat with my 2007 Toyota Tundra, which is more than adequate. The Acadia will be used from house to launch which is 4 min away. When I travel through the MOUNTAINS, to BC, it will be Tundra time!
Just posted this thread to see if anyone else out there is towing with an Acadia and how it functions as I am looking at purchasing a new 2011 with the factory tow package. The slips I use both in Alberta and BC are all concrete with a textured surface for traction.
This vehicle will be for my wife and family road trips... :)
OK, then. I agree that it's no big deal. As usual, many of us want to be cautious while others think we are being overly cautious. You will have the best of both worlds so enjoy!
You'll be fine with that setup. I agree with KB and all his good points- and good point that I tow mostly in the "flatland" - I'm just saying that sometimes we apply standards of excellence to our towing situation in excess of what we apply to other areas of our transportation or boating lives.
Then again- they call me a man of compromise- just last week I ran my OBV down the slalom course 6 times and slalomed with an imperfect wake then filled up the ballast and boarded with a less than gigantic wake and loaded the boat back on the trailer and towed it imperfectly with the acadia back to my house where I put my boat in the garage and left my wife's brand new acadia out in the drive. All added up to a perfect time though.
I haven't been able to park a car in my garage for at least 10 years.
Claudia never had a garage in her life as in El Paso here parents had a carport.Quote:
Originally Posted by kaneboats
I buy this house and we had 2 single doors and she was scared to drive threw one and hit her mirror so she never parked inside.
Got the double wide door installed and she parked in the garage the first time and now i cant get her out. Just the other day as i was doing stereo work she comes home and smiles all pretty and says " Malo when do i get my half of the garage back? " I was whoa whoa missy, this is my dam garage and thats that.
Her car is back in the garage right next to Fierah. :-|
Slightly off topic but I have a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab Hemi and on the shifter it has Tow/Haul setting and an OD OFF setting. I notice that it seem to use OD in the tow haul setting as it will run just over 2,000 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground where as in OD OFF setting it runs about about 2,600 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground.
I have always been told that you should turn OD off when towing so this tow/haul selection has me curious, is there a weight threshold where I should go from tow/haul to OD OFF or what? Does anyone with a similar truck use one or the other?
My Suburban has that. I leave it off almost all the time at highway speeds. If it gets hilly I'll turn it on. I run about 2100 RPM at 75 in OD and can't really hold much faster than that and don't really want to run faster.
Have the same truck and it runs about the same as what you discribed above. Not sure either on the correct way, but I usually run with the tow/haul engaged unless it starts shifting lots then I run with the od off so its not hunting for a gear so muchQuote:
Originally Posted by rdlangston13
The O off is strickly locks out the 4th gear in your trans. Its designed from back in the 90s when 4 speed trans got more popular and they would shift in and out in and out of gear when towing.
Since then more advanced electronic transmissions have come into play and you now have Tow/Haul and it works much different and has some extra features built into it.
Tow/Haul took me an entire summer of towing to understand the basics and i didnt truly understand it till i got my F350 and hauled much larger RVs.
Tow/Haul does not Lock out Overdrive. What it does is holds each gear a bit longer to ensure you have leveld out with speed and demand before it upshifts. This saves the trans and also makes driving a little nicer on you.
Second and most important thing it will do is if its like my F350 it will Auto Downshift for you when you hit the brakes and use the trans and engine as a brake. It will also hold this lower gear untill you press on the gas at which point you have distrupted the system and it should upshift.
My F350 doesnt have a O on and off due to i have a 5speed auto in it. I do have Tow/Haul and i love it love it.
I have done several experiments and my milage really doesnt change to much maybe 1 mpg with Tow/Haul on. I will use it when in town and in the mountins but once im on the highway i turn it off because it takes a lot longer for my truck to get to 5th gear.
I personaly love the fact my truck tows Fierah at 70 at 1750 RPM