Newbie here - Is R-Pod a good choice?

braindead0 wrote:

Acdii wrote:
There is much more to it than tow weight! The salesman was smoking some really good stuff that day! LOL I bet one trip down the road with a larger heavier trailer in the lexus and you will be wanting to run him over! :)

Honestly, I would not look at anything larger than what I posted for that type of tow vehicle. One, its an SUV, and not really designed to tow a large trailer, two, it has a short wheelbase, and trust me on this, you don't want to be towing a long box on the interstate with a short wheelbase SUV. I used to tow my 18' long horse trailer with a 97 Ford Explorer, which I believe has a pretty similar wheelbase to the Lexus. Every time a truck went by, it would push and pull the rig. It got old after a while. The one I listed is much lighter than my horse trailer, and I think is a perfect match for what you have.

Indeed, just because you can 'tow' it doesn't mean it'll be fun. Previous TV was an '07 Nissan Frontier, 265HP claimed towing capacity of 6800#, towing 3000# in the mountains around here was an exercise in flogging the heck out of the engine. That V8 probably isn't as high strung as the Nissan V6 however take those tow rating with a HUGE grain of salt.

Ok, I'll bite :) .... I tow my 4000 pound 19' funfinder with a '06 Frontier, with the V6 you mention, and a six speed manual. I've towed it close to 30,000 miles now over the last almost 5 years. From sea level at the gulf coast to the highest passes of Colorado ( I go to Colorado every summer at least once, usually twice ). Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona twice, all around the midwest. All kinds of weather, all seasons. Not once, ever have I felt I was "flogging" this truck. In fact, I can, and usually do get the job done, even in the mountains, with no more than 3500 rpm. Redline is 6200 rpm....so 3500 or even 4000 is more like "loafing".

Honestly, this ( and the Toyota Tacoma ) is one of the most under-rated trucks out there. And yes, I do in fact do some towing. Four trailers ( two goosenecks on the F350 dually ) and two bumper pulls ( one camper and a horse trailer ).

People often think that 4000 or 4500 rpm is "flogging" a gas engine.

Hmmmmm........;)

EDIT: to the OP.....towing with your 4.7L V8....you are going to have to rev it more than you would in normal non-towing driving. You are not going to hurt it. "revving" engines while working them ( within limits of course ) does not hurt them. At all. Especially considering you will likely never have to rev it to redline at all, and most times you will only be at 50% to 60% of redline, even on steep climbs. If you find yourself "having" to run at redline, you may want to reconsider your driving habits. Most of these modern gas engines can do this kind of towing at rpm that is at or below where the engine makes it's torque peak, not it's HP peak.