Suggestions for tow vehicle with good mpg

Francesca Knowles wrote:

itguy08 wrote:

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Check the towing ability of the Ford Flex. With the Ecoboost 3.5L, it should be able to tow 5,000 pounds. The engine is more power than needed. I think it can seat up to 7.

Fred.

This. Almost bought one of those. A Friend told me to also check out the Taurus SHO. The rest was history.

I think far too many folks believe that a given weight limit means that the vehicle will perform as well with that weight as without- and regardless of the shape/type of the tow. But weight isn't everything- frontal area of the load is a big consideration, too.

Ford gives maximum recommendations in that department for all vehicles' towing specs, and warns that, here quoting

Ford wrote:
. Exceeding these limitations may significantly reduce the performance of your towing vehicle.

For the Flex, that number is either 20 or 30 sq. feet, depending on equipment. Ford Flex link

Per the Taurus SHO:

I'm confused as to what's meant above by the above reference to that car since the base Taurus is only rated to tow 1,000 pounds and the Sho is excluded from any recommendation at all-? Ford Taurus link

Recommended max frontal area for that one, by the way, is only 12 sq...

Again referring to TYPE of load- while a vehicle may well be able to efficiently tow 3 or 4 thousand low-profile pounds of snowmobiles or a boat, the 64 sq. foot-frontal area of a comparable weight 8w x 8t TT may prove to be problematic.

I would say the the trans and diff would be the limiting factor in the SHO because of the available power. That would be about like looking for a tow rating for my Vette. 400 hp and 400 lbft takes a lot of drive line cooling to pull a load and hold up. The HD trucks are just now getting to those hp numbers and look at the running gear set-up they have.