Towing with Touareg or Cayenne

If you want a very reliable SUV with more towing power I would look at the Toyota 4Runner and the Toyota Sequoia. The Touareg would not even be on my list with its reliability problems and repair history.

yep, informing us, in a RV forum, that you're talking about a boat, would've helped.

boats are a totally different animal. as others have said, go for it!

What about a Chevy Tahoe ? Is it that much bigger than a Cayenne or a Toureg ?

Boats tend to have about 8% TW, plus the far better aerodynamics.

I agree^

TT = not a good match. But a boat should work out great!

Even if you had to move the bow-stand back on the trailer to reduce tongue weight, it will still pull well because the center of mass will still be over the axles.

Yes a boat is different because the drag is less, but you still need to verify your tongue weight first because that is going to be the limiting factor. I'm not sure you can use one with boats, but you will need a WD hitch if it's more than about 400 lbs. I've towed about 5,000 miles with mine and no problems so far. I've even had the bumper off after someone hit us in a parking lot so can verify that there was no frame flex damage done by the WD hitch. Lots of people on the Club Touareg forums report towing huge boats.

Boat is a different story. Go for the TDI version of that platform and tow happy!

Thank you all for your input here. I'm pulling a boat, not an RV ... perhaps should have included that in original post. The boat is 23 feet, so the trailer + hitch = almost 30 feet long. Double axle. Boat weighs 4500 lbs, trailer weighs 1600-1800. With gas and gear, total weight can approach 7000.

I tow the boat from Bay Area to Tahoe ONCE in May, then back ONCE in October. In the winter, I occasionally tow it in the flat to launch in the SF Bay. So, as you can see, the low frequency of use of my tow rig motivates me to potentially be able to retire it. However, if the Touareg (or Cayenne) cannot not safely or effectively make the trip up to Tahoe, then I would just keep my Suburban for those needs. In that case, I will probably buy a different small-SUV for a "family car" and not worry about towing with it.

Any further thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

I love the Touareg and Audi Q7 TDIs even more. But 7k loaded TT is too much. The receiver rating and payload are the limitations for RVing. They are in the 740 pound and 1200 pound range. And VW does not recommend using a WDH, although many people do.

I'm going suggest that it's not a great idea, but opinions vary and some people tow trailers like you have with one. I tow with a 2012 3.0 TDI, but at a much lighter 4,500 lbs fully loaded. The problem is not power, but tongue weight capacity. I don't see how you would even stay under the rated 770 lbs tongue weight with a 7,000 lb trailer (is that dry or loaded?). I'm way under that at about 550 lbs and I wouldn't want to go any higher than that. We use a WD hitch with 600 lb bars pretty much maxed out. This is a unibody vehicle with the bumper bolted to the unibody, so beefier WD bars are not something I would feel comfortable with, although opinions vary here.

Sway is not an issue. Although it is a short vehicle, it actually has a decent wheelbase at 114". That's only 2" less than a 2014 Chevy Tahoe.

Look at the offroad and towing section of the Club Touareg forums for more opinions and info.

We love the Touareg, and it's perfect for our situation right now, but if I were you I would keep the suburban and use it just for towing, or get a truck.