Which Crossover or suv is best for towing??

APT wrote:

spike99 wrote:

If buying new from dealer, I never ask for factory Tow Package "inclusion". They charge way too much. For me, I simply add my own ATF Aux cooler, add my own Timbren SES units, add my own Brake Controller and add my own Trailer hitch. And, I install at fraction of their selling price.

I do not agree with at at all. In fact, it's often far cheaper and more reliable to get the OEM's most cpaable towing pacakge. Anywhere from $200-500 MSRP for the package that usually includes receiver ($150-$250), trans cooler ($50), 7-pin trailer wiring ($80-$150), and sometimes better gearing ($500-$3000), all factory backed and already done.

Also, rear suspension "help" should not be used for bumper pull trailers. They often make WDH adjustment more difficult as well as mask overloaded rear axle and payload.

Back to OP: Towing any high walled RV is a lot of work as the aerodynamics are so poor. You are pulling two sheets of plywood through the air at 65mph. Ever wave you hand out the window at 65mph and feel how strong the wind is? Your tow vehicle needs power. That's why almost every gas engine towing any high walled RV gets 8-11mpg. For most people that RV for recreation less than 2000 miles per year towing, that's fine. For those that travel across the country annually, they should focus on towing fuel economy a bit more.

So, you need power just to maintain highway speeds and more to accelerate up hills/mountains, and headwinds. The only 4-cyls I would recommend be something like the Escape 2.0T, which is really more like V6 power anyway.

Another important part of towing an RV of any kind is tongue weight and dry weights. Neither are what anyone tows. Peopel live in these, short term or long. You need clothes, food, towels, cooking stuff, plates, cups, plus recreation stuff like chairs, games, water sports stuff. It all adds up, to the tune of 1000 pounds of the average RVer. Now a smaller RV won't have the space for as much, but 700 pounds is easy to add. And so goes up the tongue weight from MFR dry numbers. Every trailer and vehicle manufacturer recommend 10-15% loaded TW. RVers tend to recommend the highjer of that scale, 12-15%, and I suspect people are towing RVs with more like 14-18%. It is more stable and a WDH confuses scaled TW calculation. Anyway, 3200 pounds loaded TT will have about 400 pounds of TW. Many of the smaller SUVs cannot handle 400-500 pounds of TW.

So now what? I highly recommend a modern V6 diesel. That will extremely limit choices. 2007-ish Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty CRD. 2011+ VV Touareg TDI and 2014+ Jeep Grand Cherokee ecodiesel. All of those will get around 15mpg towing a high walled RV and mid to upper 20's unloaded mixed driving in mid-sized SUVs. So you get 4-cyl FE with better than V8 torque (400+ pound-ft under 2000rpm. But you are paying a large premium for these, like $45-60k new. That isn't worth it for most people that tow 2k miles per year and drive another 12k otherwise. Compare to a V6 in same/similar mid-sized SUVs that will be more like 11mpg towing, 17mpg mixed driving.

Another option is dedicated tow vehicle. You can find a 10 year old V8 2WD pickup for $10k or less. Drive vehicle that uses far less fuel when not towing.

I bought a year end 2013 VW Touareg TDI Sport turbo diesel for $40,200, did not use their financing, in end of July 2013... Add in $180 for the hitch, and I found a used wiring harness and module that activates all the good stuff for trailering, for $200, so that was $380... and it's not worth it, buy the damn factory towing package pre installed, on any german SUV, like I did on the 2012 Touareg Sport TDI.

So you can get in for around $40k. I trailer about 4-8000 miles per year, now that I am retired. The Touareg makes a good tow rig, for a 4000 lb travel trailer, but I'd not go much beyond 21-24 feet and 4500 lbs, if you tow in the Western USA in the Rockys. The Touareg has a 7700 pound tow capacity, and 700 pound tongue weight limit.