4500 GVWR TT; looking to tow with new Enclave

There are some mid-sized SUVs out there that are just plain better for towing. I highly recommend VW Touareg TDI and Jeep Grand Cherokee Ecodiesel. Both will yield mid-upper 20mpg range unloaded and 15mpg towing. Lots of torque right at 2000rpm. And 7000-ish tow ratings, good for about 5-6k loaded TTs.

Towed a Crossroads Slingshot with a Enclave for two years in Texas. Dry weight at 3700lbs, and figured another 1200lbs of gear just to be safe. Set up with a Ezlift WDH and used the tow mode when pulling. Never a problem, but she had to work in the Texas Hill Country. Had the front struts replaced on the Enclave under warranty at 40,000 miles. Not sure if that was the result of the towing or not.

Retired and relocated to the Upstate of South Carolina. As we planned to camp frequently in the NC mountains, upgraded to a GMC Yukon Denali, rated at 7900lbs tow rating. Tows with little effort. Good move for our intended use.

Btw, the GMC Acadia is rated at 5200lbs vs the Enclave at 4500lbs tow capacity.

Asking because wife likes the Buick and is very comfortable. Buick claims a 4500 tow rating, but we would need a very small trailer to get there plus all our junk. All the answers are what I expected; I don't think it would handle anything over a pop-up very well. We also wanted one vehicle for everything, including months when we don't pull, and the Enclave definetly would fit that bill much better. Good point about smaller maybe not fitting our long term needs, as well.

I'll check the links out later.

Another thing we like are the older Airsteams, which have the classy looks she likes, without a huge price penatly a new TV would cost. My truck will handle it; however, depending on how much we save with a smaller unit, a new TV may be in the cards (full size SUV or 1/2 ton).

Either way, I agree; we need something with more grunt and heft.

Basics: 24' max, possibly 2 slides (dining and other for master bed if possible, as we want a port/starboard bed layout),fiberglass body, NOcarpet, a useable kitchen, decent storage inside and out, and MSRP of about $25,000 max.

And this is supposed to be #4500 GVWR TT and be towed by a Buick??? If you find one, let me know! :)

I have a 22' (bumper to hitch) TT and it's a #5000 GVWR TT and weighs every bit of that going down the road (and then some..) No slides and while it's great for long weekends, I could not spend weeks, let alone months in it... ;)



Mitch

I think a good question to ask is why have you honed in on the Buick for your tow vehicle? What amenities are you seeking in your vehicle? There might be a solution that is similar to the Buick but has more guts for towing.

norfla71 wrote:
We currently have a 3500 Ram and Salem 32 Sport TH; while great for the family, the wife and I are talking about the future, and current rig will be way too much. What we are considering is an Enclave (4500 tow capacity) and TT that we can full time in (for no more than a couple of months at a time). Only asking to narrow down a sizeable field....

You will HATE towing anything over 3000# with the Enclave! That 3.6L V6 motor is a greyhound, not a shire horse.
IOW it has minimal torque until you rev the **** out of it. It will not pull your socks off at low rpm and needs at LEAST 3000 rpm to come alive.
Now when it hits 5000 rpm it goes like a rocket, but that is NOT what you want for towing.
FWIW I drive the Enclave's sister vehicle - a GMC Acadia, so I know quite a bit of which I speak. It never knows what gear to be in and shifts up and down constantly.
It is worse than it's predecessor - the Chevy Trailblazer, which had a 4.2L in-line 6.
And let's not even talk fuel economy!
I suggest you should be looking at a Tahoe or similar if you want to tow a unit such as you describe. You are probably going to be in the 6000-8000# range loaded.

I'm not sure how you'll be happy. Full timing in a something about half the SQ as you currently have. Those lightweights are generally not designed to take the an additional 2-3k pounds of weight you'll take with you for months at a time.

4500 pounds, maybe 520 pound TW limit. That's 4k loaded, 3k dry for long weekends and 2k dry for longer terms. Doesn't seem realistic.

What you want to tow would be way too much for an Enclave. I successfully tow an Aliner Classic (17 ft., around 2000 lb.) with my Pathfinder (6000 lb. tow capacity), but it tows like a PUP, so little wind drag. We're looking to possibly tow a small TT, but we understand that the TT should be under 4000 lb. and no longer than 20-21 ft. long. We're even considering a 7 ft. wide TT to reduce the frontal area, since the Pathfinder shouldn't tow a trailer with more than 80 sq. ft. frontal area.

Here's one we're considering: Skyline Aluma Sky 180

And another: Shadow Cruiser S - 195WBS

And yet another: Coachmen Freedom Express 192 RBS

One last one: Camplite 21RBS

You can't pull something with nothing...be careful - just sayin'. We're still not sure we should even pull what I showed above.