Infiniti qx80 Towing Opinions

westend wrote:

jaydub74 wrote:
So when Westend say I should purchase a trailer between 24 and 26'. Is he talking box length or total length?

I was thinking box length and as a suggestion to a starting point.

Here's what usually happens. A person inexperienced to towing opens the owner's manual and reads "towing maximum-8000 lbs". He then proceeds to a dealer's lot or RV show and starts shopping with his spouse. By the time they exit said sales lot, they have expanded their choices to include a list of amenities, standards, and options that all come with a 30' trailer, most of them around the 8000 lb range. If they discover that the true towing capability of their vehicle is considerably lower, they then shop for the same layout but with lower weight. The weight chosen corresponds to the absolute maximum of vehicle capability and no further thought is given to handling or impact on the vehicle. The layout and details of the trailer rule their choices. To get some of these choices, the length needs to remain close to their original shopping experience.

This method, IMO, leads to a mismatch between vehicle and trailer. What can (and does) happen is that the owner then upgrades their vehicle to handle the size of the trailer. Or, the owner suffers the mismatch and every camping trip becomes a "white knuckle" experience. You will find folks that have this mismatch and will state that they have no problem or that the driving experience feels like, "don't even know it's back there". I question how anyone can pull a few tons of trailer and not feel the effect.

My suggestion is to shop with the vehicle's ratings in mind, first, and not listen to salesman's advice or suffer the aforementioned mismatch. I believe your camping experience won't be overly impacted by the choice of a smaller trailer.

X2!

This post should be a "sticky" or least qualify for some sort of "Post of the Year" Award..

To many folks seem to think when they see a 8,000 lb weight "rating" it is OK to buy a trailer at 7,500 lbs empty.. Justifying it by saying they will only take a few hundred pounds with them..

The truth is you WILL drag along more than you think and a 30ft trailer WILL have LOTS of room to take more than you should..