Forum Discussion

MARK_VANDERBENT's avatar
Aug 22, 2020

Anyone towing small trailer with Acadia, traverse??

Well we downsized our camper to a 19 ft.passport.
It is 4200 dry and gross 5200
Thinking of downsizing from our 2009 suburban and wife would love an Acadia.
Looks like max towing of those is 5200 with towing package.
Any thoughts?
  • What’s the expected payload of the Acadia?
    600 to 700 pounds of tongue weight?
    Does the Acadia manual allow a WDH?
    Towing at max isn’t fun.
  • Max towing is generally given with no passengers or cargo and figuring a 150 pound driver in the tow vehicle so unless you travel alone and weigh 150 pounds you will be over with a 5,200 pound trailer.
  • A while ago I considered Acadia’s twins, the Traverse and the Enclave. Clearly not built for towing 5,000 pounds despite the claims.
  • For some reason the Acadia seems to have a lower towing capacity than the Traverse.

    If it's downsizing you're interested in, maybe a Tahoe? Same 'truckness' as the Suburban, and most of the bulk, but in a shorter package. Just a thought.
  • I had a traverse with 5200. I bought a used TT that was about 4200 lb. it felt maxed out and drank fuel like crazy so I went back to tge dealer for a real reaming on the lease turn in and bought a 1500 pickup with 9700 rating and it pulled it well.
  • My 2008 Toyota Highlander had similar power and a 5000/500 lb tow/hitch rating. It felt okay for a 17' TT of less than 3000 lbs loaded weight, keeping speed to about 60-62 mph. I would not have wanted to tow anything close to 5,000 lbs in the mountains, but maybe for short trips in the flatlands it would be okay.

    I'd say, keep the Burb at least for the towing duty. Get an additional vehicle for wife's daily driver if you can afford it.
  • Have been driving suburban for the last 20 years.
    Wife and I decided we would miss our suburban if we got rid of it.
    Does everything we need it to
    Plus now that we downsized camper can't even feel it behind the burb!