New Boat Towing

[Sea N' Things]

Is there anyone towing with a 2010 or 2011 GMC Acadia by chance, if so is it ok?

Towing capacity of 5200lbs

[Razzman]

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.

[skiyaker]

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.

[kennedy]

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.

[Ian Brantford]

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.

[rc5695]

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.