Towing 3,000 Pounds

[esjay]

I need to buy a new tow vehicle, preferably a pickup, to tow our 3,000 pound Casita travel trailer.
Our Requirements:
1. Comfort, power heated seats
2. Plenty of interior room (crew cab)
3. Safety (good crash protection)
4. Economy, would like something that gets mid 20s mpg on highway not towing and maybe 16-17 mpg towing
Am I asking for too much? Any suggestions?

[APT]

Real world FE difference is about 10% for the same driver and conditions. So if you were spending $200 a month for a V6, it would cost $220 for a V8 of similar vintage. Today's V8s are getting far better than the 12mpg lifetime average I got in my 2003 F-150 5.4L. High teens average and low 20's highway! That's the same as the minivans we have had!

Look at these histograms: Taco V6 17-20mpg
Frontier V6Frontier V6 16-20mpg

There isn't as much data on GM's 2014 models yet, but the average is 17.1mpg for Silverado V8. Ram is 16.5mpg.

[Bumpyroad]

IIRC Chevy had an ad where they claimed 25 for their V6. now 25 vs 15 makes a difference to me, assuming the V6 is adequate for my needs.
bumpy

[boosTT]

V8 is probably 16-19 and V6 is probably 18-21.

I would never get a V6 truck again. 2-3 mpg is not that big of a deal. The extra power is well worth it.

Just a truck with a low rear end gear ratio to save fuel.

[Bumpyroad]

what is the mileage not towing for a V6 vs a V8? At $4 a gallon I would want the best mileage I can get that will suffice.

bumpy

[APT]

rebelopie wrote:

I am not sure why so many are proposing monster trucks to pull your Casita with. I think you'd be happy with a Colorado, Dakota, or similar in SUV form.

Because there is no $ savings by choosing a V6 in a truck, mid-sized for full. There is a huge difference in towing power and comfort by going with a "monster" 🙂 half ton truck.

And nothing will hit his target FE short of a V6 diesel which severely limits choices.

[boosTT]

If you buy an $40k+ truck, you shouldn't be too concerned with spending an extra $60 a month in gas. This is probably why you can't get a loaded truck with an base engine.

Its nice to have the power for every day driving too.

[RWDIII]

If I had your trailer,I would pull it with my DW's 2013 Explorer
It is rated 5000lbs and 500TW with WD.
with AWD 6sp tow/haul and 1436 payload.Hiway gets 25@75mph.Around town 21.5
and would probably get 17towing at 65.Thats just a SWAG,I have never towed with it.
I always order all my vehicles with tow package because of the HD features

[Bumpyroad]

eluwak wrote:
I'm thinking the Highlander might be a good choice for you. It has a tow cap of 5k lbs for V6 models, and should get pretty decent FE unloaded. As I remember, you can get them pretty gussied up too.

that's 5K with towing package, 2,000 without. I get 14 towing my Ascend A171RD and 25.5 up without.
bumpy

[eluwak]

I'm thinking the Highlander might be a good choice for you. It has a tow cap of 5k lbs for V6 models, and should get pretty decent FE unloaded. As I remember, you can get them pretty gussied up too.

[rebelopie]

OpenRangePullen_Ford wrote:
Why not a mid-size truck, maybe try to wait for the new Chevy Colorado...

X2

I am not sure why so many are proposing monster trucks to pull your Casita with. I think you'd be happy with a Colorado, Dakota, or similar in SUV form. We towed our T@B with an '05 Dakota. It had leather, heated seats, comfortable seats for all passengers, drove like a car,...etc. Granted, the T@B is a lighter trailer than the Casita, but the Dakota was more than enough truck for our trailer. I think it was rated to tow up to 5k lbs.

Keep doing your research and get something that meets your needs. Keep us posted on what you decide.

[Whiskeyjack44]

I tow an RPod with a 2012 Tundra DC. I have the little 4.6 v/8 which seems to get very little respect from most people, but is perfect for my purposes. I've got up to 15 mpg towing the Pod, and usually get 13 to 14 mpg, and this is in the passes and foothills of Washington state. For daily use, I'm disappointed when I don't get 20 or better--caveat being that I don't do much stop and go driving. Also you can get a pretty delux Crewmax with the 4.6.

[vermilye]

I tow an Escape 17B, dry weight 2100 lbs, actual weight loaded for a trip - 3010 lbs. I tow with a small SUV (a RAV4 V6 with tow package) rated at 3500/350 lbs. While the trailer weight is within limits, I have to load carefully to keep the tongue weight within specifications. Since the Casita 17's tend to have a heavier tongue weight, I'd suggest going to at least the 5000/500 rated vehicles.

By the way, over 45,000 miles of towing including the rockies & eastern mountains (yes, there are some), I've averaged 15MPG (25MPG unhooked). I rarely drive interstates, and usually tow at 57 - 60 MPH...

[BC_Explorer]

I have a 2012 RAM 1500 with the 5.7L Hemi and 3.92 gears that is used to pull a converted V-Nose cargo trailer of comparable size and loaded weight of the mid size Casita TT's

On a month long trip this past June around the Cariboo central interior and mid west coast (Bella Coola) in BC Canada, the truck averaged 13.8 miles to the gallon overall.

The roads ranged from flatish to low mountains (for BC anyway) to the steepest grades of the Duffey Lake RD (steepest paved highway in BC) and Highway 20 ascending up the long, wet, slippery and infamous Heckman Pass (15% grades) out of Bella Coola where gas mileage hit an all time low of 9.2 miles per gallon.

You may not ever be traveling in this type of terrain, but even at only 3,000 lbs or so, a V8 engine is very useful as compared to a V6.

On the highway and on a good non towing day, the truck can get 22-23 mpg if I keep the foot out of the gas. Not great but still acceptable.

You may want to also look at the 2014 RAM trucks with the Eco-diesel when they are out on the dealer lots as I know I will surely be taking one for a test drive.

[LowRyter]

I pulled a Cassita with my '91 Isuzu Trooper 4 Cyl, 5 speed. Never down even downshifted when pulling on I-44 in the Mizz Ozarks.

[bikendan]

esjay wrote:
I'm forced to buy a 5.7, HEMI 5.7, or a 5.3. At least 50% of the time I won't be towing anything, so I will be sucking a lot more gas than necessary.

i don't think you've looked at mpg ratings for newer v-8's, like the 5.3 or the Hemi, both have AFM/DOD, which is the v-4 feature.
when i was looking for a new tow vehicle, if found that tne newer v-8 trucks had almost the same mpg ratings as their v-6 counterparts, especially the Frontier and Ridgeline. i found that only the Tacoma v-6 has noticably better gas mileage.

my heavy '07 Avalanche with the 5.3 v-8 with AFM/4 spd trans, often gets 20mpg driving from Napa to Sacramento and back.
it had the same mpg ratings as the Ridgeline, towed 2200lbs. more and could seat 6 adults comfortably.

do some research between v-6 trucks and v-8 trucks and i think you'll be surprised.