New and need Trailer options advice
Morning RV.netters Over the past couple of days the wife and I have finally came to a decision and have started shopping for our first new trailer. In conjunction with the trailer we also have to u...
Forum Discussion
Acdii wrote:
Or go the other route. Just starting out, do you really NEED an SUV? How often will it be used? If you plan to use it as a daily driver, do you really need a massive vehicle? Start out small. A really good small TV would be the Ford Flex with Ecoboost. And get a popup trailer. You would have a nice car that seats 6 or 7 depending on the second row, with a lot of room to move around in. It also makes for a really good daily driver. I had one, sadly lost is in a 7 car pileup which we walked away from, but you should have seen the car we hit at 45 MPH. I have a 7500# gross, 3500# empty horse trailer that i towed a few times with the Flex, and it handled it very well. I wouldn't pull anything more than 4000# gross with the Flex though, even though it is rated at 4500#.
It may not sound ideal, ew, a pop up? but think about it, if you go out and buy a massive SUV, which nets you about 13 MPG not towing, and you drive it every day, you will soon tire of it, but will be stuck with it. If you buy this large trailer, and find you don't enjoy camping like you thought you would, you are stuck with it. Buy a smaller SUV that has decent towing, and gets decent MPG, and a small starter trailer, and give it a go. You can upgrade from there. For the record a Ford Flex EB can get about 21+ MPG in daily driving, provided you don't have happy feet all the time. They are fun, roomy, and unique.
Or, instead of buying a large TV and TT, look for a decent Class C, they make good starters for a family of 4.
We started in a pop up and I would really advise OP not to go that route since he's able to get a suitable tow vehicle at the same time. Every trip involved three setups and tear downs - once to get it loaded, once at camp and once after we got back home. For a while we were able to get everything cleaned and addressed to avoid that third setup/tear down, but once you add multiple kids to the equation it's survival of the fittest on breaking camp day. Plus they're only suitable for camping - you're not going to want to overnight at a walmart or wide spot in a pop up on a longer vacation.
The reason many of us are advising to think big right now is so OP can avoid all the costly in-between steps that lots of us went through. Basically, buy your last trailer first.
