Need a new SUV to tow!

Thanks for all of the advice. I looked at the Ford Excursion's with diesel but there is nothing available after 2005. I had never even considered the Toyota Sequoia until Andy's post. After a little research, I think I am going to look heavily at that option. It appears to be hands down, the best for towing heavy weight while not giving much up on gas mileage. The family comfort also appears to be excellent. Now I just need to find the right one!

your in full size van territory for sure. no suv in production will have the payload you need. towing capacity is just a magic number and almost never is the limiting factor

8 Passengers and 8500-ish pounds is borderline for my 3/4 ton SUV. A later model or new 1-ton GM van would work. 8 people in 3 rows of seats seems unpleasant. If your trips are shorter, I'd say a modern 3/4 ton pickup and a second vehicle, minivan or current Suburban as people hauler for example.

8 passengers, and a 8600# trailer? Forget about an SUV. Forget about a pickup too for that matter. You will need a friggin bus! You will need a much older worn out vehicle for that many people, the Excursion is probably the most practical, provided you can find a well maintained 7.3 diesel version.

I had an eye opener this weekend. I got the truck and trailer all loaded up, 2014 F150 Screw, short short bed, and Coleman 274BH. When I first got it, I scaled it, and it fell right in where it neded to be, but without passengers in the truck. My eye opener, my wife, two kids and mom, trailer will full fresh water and all our goodies, the weight was mind blowing. I was 500# over my axle weight! Everything else was good, WD was good, loaded, unloaded front axle was near identical with the bars attached, and there was transfer back too, but with the passengers in the truck, I was too heavy in the rear. So only option for us at this point is to take two vehicles. My wife drives a 2015 Focus, gets 40 MPG highway, so she will be taking that with my mom and kids, and that alleviates the weight on the rear axle.

Other than that, the whole rig drives very well, in fact I caused a couple people to go holy S**T and have to step on the gas when I left at a red light, and these people in the left lane expected a pickup with a big trailer to be slow moving. Yeah, I wasn't slow, they had to floor it to get around me. LOL I gave it a lot of thought trying to determine best way to get 500# off the rear axle, and with 4 passengers, wasn't going to happen. The weight of water is only 332#, and it is in front of the axles, and not by much, so that might let up about 150# off the tongue being empty, but that still leaves me with 350# to deal with. I can move 85# to the rear of the trailer by putting my generator inside and behind the axles, but that still leaves me with almost 200#, and I want to be under GAWR on the rear.

These are the things you have to consider when looking at a tow rig, if you want the take passengers with. For me replacing the F150 is NOT an option, and until you actually hookup to a trailer and weigh it, you never will know if it will be within specs of the tow rig. By running numbers, it appeared to be OK, and with just me, it is.

GL with whatever you decide to use, but keep in mind, carrying people and pulling a trailer can be quite a battle.

8 passengers will weigh more than 1000 pounds most likely, does a suburban or yukon have 2500 pounds of cargo capacity? Even if it does I would not want to try putting that much weight inside and then attempt towing a trailer big enough to house them all. Good luck with the search but for my money I would be looking at 2 vehicles.

Before I got my diesel, I used to tow with a 1998 Suburban 2500 with a 454. In the Sierra mountains it was ok but would struggle pulling a TT about the same size on steep grades. You seem concerned about the mpg...if so you need to down size your whole rig. With the Suburban it would average about 8 mpg on mountain trips and that was keeping the speed down to 55 mph. These old big gas motors, especially at altitude would guzzle the gas.

Look for a 2002 to 2006 Suburban/YukonXL with 8.1L to tow that kind of weight. Still, with 8 passengers and about 1100 to 1400# tongue weight for your TT, it would be close if not over on payload. But, mine handles a 7000 to 7500# TT with 1200# tongue weight and 8 passengers with ease.

If you're going used, look for a Ford Diesel Excursion. It'd be worth it

As has been mentioned, you would have to get a used 2500 suburban or excursion. They still make 15 passenger vans that might fit the bill but it is a tough ask to be able to haul that much trailer and carry 8 passengers as well. Most vehicles will be close to cargo limits with that many passengers leaving you very little capacity left for tongue weight.

You would probably be better off with a second vehicle to carry most of the people and gear. Maybe not what you want to hear.

I beg to differ with Naturist. I have an 05 Suburban 2500 with 4:10 rear, 8.1L engine, and full factory tow package. It is rated to tow 12,000 lbsand a 19,000 GVRW & pulls and stops my 38' 9,000# trailer just fine.
I traded my 2010 Ram 2500 CTD for it because I needed to carry more people that the pick-up would carry (7). The rating is only 1300#'s less than what I had in the Ram, but what I do miss is the torque of the CTD & exhaust brake. Other than that, no issues whatsoever. Just had it through the CAT scale fully loaded on a trip and was well within all specified ratings.

The only issue that OP may find is that Chevrolet doesn't make the 2500's anymore, and used ones are fairly hard to come by, when they do go up for sale, they go quick. That's a shame because there are families out there that like to camp, but are larger than the people carrying capacity of a pickup.