Is my Ford Escape worthless for fullfilling my dream? :-(

[GaiaGoddess]

I've had this dream to live in an RV (travel trailer, specifically) for about 5 or 6 years now. I was drawn to the Ford Escape and was happy to learn they can tow up to 3500 pounds. I bought one last year. Step one complete!

Now i've run into a problem...people are telling me my Escape shouldn't tow that much, it's not safe. I heard horror stories about Escapes not being able to handle it. They recommend I stick to 2000 pounds or less, but what trailers weigh that little?! I want to live in this thing which means it needs to be self sustainable, with a full kitchen, bathroom, and at least a full size bed. All the trailers I found with that stuff are at least 3000 pounds. And then you have to figure the weight of the fluids and cargo, which would be a lot since i'd be living in it. I cannot live in a pop up camper or a teardrop camper.

Are there any decent trailers I can safely tow? Is my Escape worthless for what I wanted to do with it? I bought it specifically for this reason! By the way, it's a 2008 6-cylinder automatic transmission, front wheel drive. There is no towing package on it yet but I was planning on having one put on, IF I can even find a trailer I can tow! Any advice?

[gmw_photos]

I have discussed monthly fees at various campgrounds I have stayed at, and found they usually run from the low $300 range and up per month. Electric is metered so that cost is added on top of that.
Where I spent this last winter in Arizona, it was right around $650/month plus electric, which ran me about $50/month.

OP, you will need to figure in what your propane costs will be as well.

I apologize if all this has been covered, but I didn't want to wade through 20 pages of posts.

[pawatt]

Good luck & keep us posted.

[lbrjet]

Best of luck!

[Trail-Mate]

Just to give you some seasonal CG prices in the northern Maryland, Gettysburg PA and Harpers Ferry West VA areas range from $550 to $800 mo plus electric for most of them and are open all year,you may find some higher in price like the one near DC. These areas offer good commuting options for work. Best of Luck to you and your plans.

[GaiaGoddess]

UPDATE!

Hi everyone! It's been 5 months since i've posted and thought i'd give an update on my progress. I now have my Escape paid off, which is great, i'm saving almost all the money I make now and at the moment I have about $11,000 saved up! Due to some circumstances under my control, I might be quitting my job within a month. I will find out in 3 weeks after a doctors appointment. If I am able to keep my job, I will continue to save money but will most likely purchase a 2013 Forest River Vibe 6502 (the model I was saying was my favorite), there is one for sale somewhat near me, and hardly any anywhere else in the country, so if I am able to keep my job, I will be buying that one, as long as it's still for sale in 3 weeks!

If I am unable to keep my job, I decided I will buy a cheaper RV, I have seen some ones that I like for under $5000. There is a campground a few miles down the road from where I live where the seasonal fee is $1300. It is open year round so i'm not sure if that's just until fall or for the whole year but i'll find out more when the time comes. So then I plan on living in the RV in the campground as much as I can, putting the RV in storage during the winter if I have to and then living with a friend during the winter. This friend also has an RV and an Explorer which he said will be able to tow an RV for me, since I'll only need it moved twice a year, if that. I also thought maybe I could move around to different campgrounds and just stay in a different one every year!

If I am unable to keep my job, I have enough money to buy a cheap RV and a year's worth of campground fees and live a few months without a job, then find something later, maybe part time if I can afford it. Since my car and "home" would already be paid off, the only money i'd need would be for my cellphone, gas, groceries, and whatever I want to spend money on for entertainment, etc. I could easily find a part time job when I don't need a big income.

So I am pretty happy right now, and will be posting here more often once I am officially an RV owner! 🙂

[vacuumbed]

carringb wrote:
My $0.20:

1) The Escape has more payload than most CUVs.

2) Aftermarket hitches are available for up to 500 pounds tongue weight

3) Traveling solo should make staying under GVWR achievable, as long as the car is packed smart and the trailer is setup correctly.

4) Exceeding GCWR may make the car work harder, and fuel economy will be way worse, but if you stay under GVWR and the trailer has good brakes, GCWR is hardly a safety rating. Lower you expectations (i.e. travel at 55 instead of 75MPH) then traveling over GCWR isn't the end of the world.

5) Frontal area is a killer, but a good trailer profile can mitigate some of that.

6) One of my customers (when I was running a Napa AutoCare) towed a 18' full-size TT with her 2010 Escape hybrid. She had a proper hitch receiver and wiring. She was 5x her tow rating (maybe more), but she LOVED the way it towed, including pulling in the hills. After the first couple oil changes, we moved back to the regular Ford recommended oil change intervals every 10,000 miles because at 7500 miles the oil still looked brand new.

I second this. ^^

Goddess, sounds like to made a good choice with your two picks as well.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

GaiaGoddess wrote:
I picked the Vibe because it is the only trailer I found with the floor plan that it has, it has a very unique bathroom design I LOVE and I haven't seen it in any other trailer, plus it has a step up full size bed and a side dinette, so it's all the features I want in one trailer. I also love the look of it from the outside.

Sounds like a nice trailer for you.

GaiaGoddess wrote:
I didn't want a motorhome because that would be another vehicle to maintain, engine, transmission, brakes, etc. I don't want to have to do the upkeep on 2 vehicles, that's why I like trailers because you only have to fix problems as they arise, there isn't all those trips to the dealer for maintenance every few months.

If it's sitting in a park most of the time, maintenance and repairs to the chassis/engine/drivetrain are next to none. Keep the starting battery charged and start up the engine and run it for a few minutes each month is about all you need to do.

[GaiaGoddess]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I vaguely remember this Vibe. That was like 200,000 posts ago in this topic, LOL. Anyways, I seem to remember it as a very small trailer that your Escape could maybe possibly tow but probably shouldn't?

If that's the case, why not get a much bigger trailer, that you can really LIVE in, if you're not going to be towing it yourself anyways?

Plenty of nice, gently used trailers for sale that are much bigger and easier to live in, if you're putting in a park, and likely don't cost any more than a new Vibe.

I picked the Vibe because it is the only trailer I found with the floor plan that it has, it has a very unique bathroom design I LOVE and I haven't seen it in any other trailer, plus it has a step up full size bed and a side dinette, so it's all the features I want in one trailer. I also love the look of it from the outside.

Or, a used class C motorhome. You can still park it in the park and live in it, but you don't need to hire somebody else to tow it for you. And if you want to move with it, you can tow the Escape with the motorhome.

Just my opinion. Good luck.

I didn't want a motorhome because that would be another vehicle to maintain, engine, transmission, brakes, etc. I don't want to have to do the upkeep on 2 vehicles, that's why I like trailers because you only have to fix problems as they arise, there isn't all those trips to the dealer for maintenance every few months.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

GaiaGoddess wrote:

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I just suffered through reading the first 30 pages of this post, then skimmed the last 5 pages, hoping I would find the final post where she said what she ended up doing and reported how it worked. No such luck. I guess we will never know what happened.

And now I can never have back the first 4 hours of my Thanksgiving holiday that I spent reading this post! But it was very funny, some parts I was busting up laughing!

This is why I quit posting in here, I know everyone is sick of talking about it and I haven't even been on here in about 2 months I think, because I did come to a decision on what to do, but it's buried many pages back by now. I am going to buy the RV I wanted (a Vibe) and have someone tow it to a campground where I will live permanently, but in the meantime I will buy a teardrop trailer just to travel in to and from work.

This is still a year or two off though, since my car isn't paid off yet and it will take me at least a year to save up money again.

I vaguely remember this Vibe. That was like 200,000 posts ago in this topic, LOL. Anyways, I seem to remember it as a very small trailer that your Escape could maybe possibly tow but probably shouldn't?

If that's the case, why not get a much bigger trailer, that you can really LIVE in, if you're not going to be towing it yourself anyways?

Plenty of nice, gently used trailers for sale that are much bigger and easier to live in, if you're putting in a park, and likely don't cost any more than a new Vibe.

Or, a used class C motorhome. You can still park it in the park and live in it, but you don't need to hire somebody else to tow it for you. And if you want to move with it, you can tow the Escape with the motorhome.

Just my opinion. Good luck.

[GaiaGoddess]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
I just suffered through reading the first 30 pages of this post, then skimmed the last 5 pages, hoping I would find the final post where she said what she ended up doing and reported how it worked. No such luck. I guess we will never know what happened.

And now I can never have back the first 4 hours of my Thanksgiving holiday that I spent reading this post! But it was very funny, some parts I was busting up laughing!

This is why I quit posting in here, I know everyone is sick of talking about it and I haven't even been on here in about 2 months I think, because I did come to a decision on what to do, but it's buried many pages back by now. I am going to buy the RV I wanted (a Vibe) and have someone tow it to a campground where I will live permanently, but in the meantime I will buy a teardrop trailer just to travel in to and from work.

This is still a year or two off though, since my car isn't paid off yet and it will take me at least a year to save up money again.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

hone eagle wrote:

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
If Michelle (GG) ever does come back-

You have no reason to be afraid of driving a pickup, or a motorhome, or any kind of vehicle because of your small size. My ex is only 5' tall and about 100 lbs and she drives 18 wheeler semi trucks, dump trucks, water trucks, and even loads the dump truck herself with the skip loader! Small girls can drive anything they want, you just have to quit being afraid! 🙂

I always tell timid girls to look at the typical school bus driver (you know blue hair. etc etc )- if they can do it so can you.

Yep!

I taught my daughter, somewhat shy and also of diminutive stature, how to parallel park in my F350 dually 4wd with 8'x11' flatbed. She was intimidated by the truck at first, but quickly got used to the size of it and learned to put it in the space without hitting cones, in one short afternoon of practice, in the rain even. She had not been driving any vehicle at all very much before that, as she did not have her license yet, so she was very green to driving in general.

[hone_eagle]

SoCalDesertRider wrote:
If Michelle (GG) ever does come back-

You have no reason to be afraid of driving a pickup, or a motorhome, or any kind of vehicle because of your small size. My ex is only 5' tall and about 100 lbs and she drives 18 wheeler semi trucks, dump trucks, water trucks, and even loads the dump truck herself with the skip loader! Small girls can drive anything they want, you just have to quit being afraid! 🙂

I always tell timid girls to look at the typical school bus driver (you know blue hair. etc etc )- if they can do it so can you.

[SoCalDesertRid1]

If Michelle (GG) ever does come back-

You have no reason to be afraid of driving a pickup, or a motorhome, or any kind of vehicle because of your small size. My ex is only 5' tall and about 100 lbs and she drives 18 wheeler semi trucks, dump trucks, water trucks, and even loads the dump truck herself with the skip loader! Small girls can drive anything they want, you just have to quit being afraid! 🙂

[SoCalDesertRid1]

I just suffered through reading the first 30 pages of this post, then skimmed the last 5 pages, hoping I would find the final post where she said what she ended up doing and reported how it worked. No such luck. I guess we will never know what happened.

And now I can never have back the first 4 hours of my Thanksgiving holiday that I spent reading this post! But it was very funny, some parts I was busting up laughing!