Tow Vehicle

[cbboarder]

2007 Tundra TRD with i-force 5.7. Can pull the gates off of hell!

[maxpower220]

I am on my second Chevy Avalanche. First was on 02, 5.3. It got 13.8 city/ 17 hwy, 12 towing. My new 09, 5.3L get 17.5 city and 20 hwy with 14 towing. The Avalanche is a great vehicle for many reasons. It uses the same suspension as the Suburban with is a five link rear instead of leaf springs. This helps with ride quality. 5 adults can comfortably ride long distances in the cab. The covered and locking rear area can carry a lot of stuff, plus you can convert the cab and carry 4'x8' material fully covered. There are very few wake boats made that approach the towing limit of the Avy. Between the 2 Avys that I have owned, I have over 120K trouble free miles. I have never had a failure more than a battery that failed after my 6 month deployment (I accepted that a 5 yr old battery would fail).

Lastly, the truck weighs about 6000 lbs. Even an XLV does not have the mass to push the truck around. Other vehicles will have a weight of 4-5K lbs, and that can lead to issues in emergency stops or other driving situations that arise when your boat and trailer weigh more than the tow vehicle.

There are many factors to consider when looking at a tow vehicle. Most people use their vehicle to tow less than 1% of the total miles that they put on. If your lake is 1 mile or 15 miles, that would make a difference also. I live on a lake, but if I did not I would probably own a diesel truck.

[newyear14]

I tow with a Mercury Mountaineer V8 AWD. No issues so far.

[gcnettl]

I have an '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 4.7l ho. Pulls hard and get 18 hwy and 16 towing. Stays strong and not weak on hills. Also have an '99 f150 with 4.9l triton, NOT recommended! Is weak on hills and drains tank in one trip!! 20 gallons gone!!! You can watch the gauge fall.

16 towing is pretty amazing. For any automobile. Diesel can't even touch that.


I have pulled with a variety of trucks. 05 F-250 FX4 diesel.... got around 11-13.5.

03 f-150 fx4....5.4L... about 6 maybe... just maybe

07 Sequoia... prob my favorite... it got 9. had the big engine for back then, can not exactly remember the size that it was... had 4.10 gears in the back 2 wheel drive... Could load up a bunch of people and head out! driving around it got about 16-17

08 Tundra, 5.7L. Pulls great. Pulled boat on the interstate 700 miles... avg was 11. Could not be happier. A diesel is lucky to get that at 75 mph.

Now when some people say tows well. They mean they can ease around town or through the country with planned stops and starts and gets 13 mpg @ 50mph.

Towing to me is being capable of handling my load in adverse conditions, being able to get on the interstate and not be pushing my vehicle to its limits, and feeling comfortable while towing.


The f-150 is out of the question. Hands down I dont tow my boat with it. The engine pulls weak and has to tach up to 4k rpm for moderate hills. The stopping power is not up to par as well.


The Sequoia was great, didnt like the mirrors on it. But you could sure pack a lot of people in it and it rode like a dream. the 4.10 gearing gave it ample power and the brakes seemed adequate.

The F-250 was nice but it was a big, cumbersome truck. You cannot take these trucks to the mall without having to back up three times to cram into a parking space. The turning radius is horrible and diesel is not cheap. This truck was loud and everything about it was expensive. (100 bucks for an oil change, and dont think you can save hundreds by changing yourself, it holds an oil tanker full of oil). So unless I buy a bulldozer, 13,000 LB camper, or want to start buying all of BP's oil that they have spilled in the gulf, I will not have another diesel.

The Tundra that I have now is amazing. I can pull at 79 mph at get 11 on the zero. At 55mph I get 13 - 13.5. It handles well and when I am not towing is a great truck. Tight turning radius, easy to maneuver, can outrun a telephone call, gets about 17-19 mph, has towing mirrors that do not take away from the looks of the truck, and it's brakes will knock your teeth out when you apply them. The traction control system is one that you would expect to find on a Porshe. You can not wreck this thing! You can fly around a curve and hit gravel and the traction control kicks in and somehow just works. The ECU automatically adjusts when descending hills with a load and holds your speed so you dont have to "ride" the brakes.

To sum it up:

The Tundra is an all arounder for me. I can use it for anything that I want, as well as pulling my boat. It can haul, pull, go get groceries, and go to the outback on saturday night.

The sequoia could hold a lot of people and gear, rode well, and pulled good. Did not get the fuel mileage that i get with my tundra, and had small towing mirrors, and did not have a bed.

The f-250 was really good for towing or hauling, but to me was too impractical to have sitting around the yard waiting on the one thing it was good at, pulling. It cost more than a gas burner to upkeep and did not like getting around in it. If you buy something just to pull, I would get nothing else but this. If your buying for pulling and/or everything else, then go with something as mentioned above.

As far as the f-150. Lets not go there. I could prob put a different gear ratio in, at a little expense, but I dont think that is needed as I have my Tundra.

From reading the brochures, Tundra has made the other pick-ups step up to the plate. The new Dodge boasts a lot of horsepower as well as the Chevrolet and GMC. I think they have all pretty much upgraded suspension, locking rear differentials standard, and brakes as well.


Being a farmer I have also pulled a cattle trailer with a 4-runner. V-6. It pulled well but was just not beefy enough to handle cattle moving around, wind, etc. But the 4-runner was a nice ride.

[NewmbaTX]

16 towing is pretty amazing. For any automobile. Diesel can't even touch that.

Ok, maybe a little lie or favorable suggestion on my part. But we drove 225 miles total this past weekend to Austin, includes round trip, around town, grocery pick up, ice, ramp drop, and pick up, dinner out... All with boat on it, except at ramp AND when we blew the tire on the trailer (trying to find a tire or help at 12am) and only used 14.72 gallons!

Pulled most of time with OD off, rpm at 2500. And yes pulls good, none of the 4000 junk the F150 does (i was disappionted when I found the Ford pulled so weak, that was the truck I uses to pick up boat when I bought it, STOOD on the pedal the whole time, d**n near!)

Now in favor of the rest, this is rolling hills, no mountains, but hilly! I love my Jeep V8 HO..dont forget the "HO= high output"...I've been impressed myself how well it does, and the power!

[patrick232]

Again, glad it's working out for you. I would just encourage you to stop by a scale sometime and prove it to yourself. Don't forget to unhook from your truck to include the tongue weight. Hopefully your estimates are correct. You're in Canada and we all know that things weigh less there because you're so much closer to the moon.

Careful, you're treading dangerously close to Honda Civic fanboy territory here! You already mentioned VTEC once, so this is strike two.

So is there a big difference in a 05 vs 07 Moomba XLV?
I have towed out to Norris Lake from Ohio up and down I75 twice this year. In April I got 11.5 for both tanks. In July I got 8.4, not happy, but understand.

April trip temp in the upper 70's and 2 guys and 2 duffel bags of clothes

July trip temp in the upper 90's when not raining 3 adults, 2 kids, bed filles with a weeks worth of clothes, 2 full coolers.

For the first 100 miles it rained buckets, even with the drain plug out the boat filled with water. Carpet soaked every place, playpen area filled with over a foot of water. Note to self pull the center bag out before towing the the rain, it formed a nice seal for the drain. Even the foam in the seats filled with water.

I bet the boat and trailer would have tipped the scales at close to 6,500 or more being wet if not more.

What would have happen to the Ridgeline? I bet it would not have been very happy or getting 12 mpg.

FYI I do tow in the fast lane and could improve the mpg, but time is limited.

[JesseC]

This always cracks me up.

Next time your on the Highway and you fill up think how long ago it was that you filled it up. 5 hours?

Yea your sweet little gas burning trucks suck 4 to 6 gallons an hour also LOL.

300 miles at 60 mph getting 15 mpg = 5 gallons an hour.

The reason you dont complain is you can drive all week on a tank of fuel in your truck and only 1 or 2 days in a boat. Lets also remember a car has a 4 to 6 speed trans and a boat is 1 gear forward..

I just think talking about gas mileage and tow vehicles is comical. If I was worried about gas mileage I would have bought a 4 cylinder I/O and pulled it with a 4 cylinder tacoma. I wanted a tow boat that could pull the house...this takes lots of fuel. I also wanted a tow vehicle that could pull in any situation...this also takes lots of fuel.

[zegm]

A good bet is a 5900lb AWD SUV with a V-10 - 5.0L Diesel with self leveling all independent suspension and 550ft-lbs of torque.
About 14mpg towing at 70mph and 18.5mpg around town (ok I drive her hard!)

[JesseC]

My F350 is 8800Lbs and i can tell you for a fact, the LSV cant man handle that truck.

Does your F350 even know it is towing a boat?!?! My buddy pulled my boat with his F350 Super Duty twin turbo and i was not pulling anything. I could not keep up with him giong up hills!!!!!!

[Salyers]

I towed my 09 LS with a 2004 V6 toyota 4runner. It did fine except for hills but I never had any problems with stopping or being pushed around by the boat.
Now my new 2010 tundra Crewmax 4x4 doesn't have any problems. It loves the boat as much as I do. Love my 5.7v8. Great gas mileage considering what I am doing with it!