Tow Vehicles

[sx998]

Honda Odyssey - SX 192
70-75 mph gps at 14mpg.
Had to put smaller tires on the front to lower the final drive ratio (-9%) so that it would stay in overdrive on the interstate at speed. Pulls like a champ now. Put air bags in the rear coil springs to help keep it level.
I've been wanting something with a V8 but cant make myself trade in a paid for minivan for a car payment.

 

[veedubtek]

Also, remember everything with a diesel is more money.

Maintenance is cheaper. Longevity is greatly increased. Resale value is exponentially higher, far offsetting the initial purchase price.

For me, it's all about the drive. I love the torque, any other benefit be damned.

 

[ncnmra]

2014 Ford Explorer Sport. Not towing: 14mpg in the city (20-21 highway). Towing is usually 11-12mpg, but I did almost 14 recently with a big tailwind.

I have a 212X which is likely pushing it close to the limit for the Explorer (we call her 'Dora'). I put in airbags for extra bum lift, but not sure it actually did much.

 

[Matt Phillips]

2016 Cayenne Diesel and behind my 242x, I seem to be getting about 17. Remove the trailer and the mileage jumps up to 31-32.

 

[ripler]

'17 Nissan Armada, just over 14 mpg heavily loaded on a flat highway. Same highway, I got around 10 mpg with my '12 Durango R/T

@MrMoose You have the same 0engine/tranny that's in my Titan, does your transmission seem to be gear hunting or have hesitation? I had mine reflashed with an update a few months ago and it ran like a totally different truck, I liked it, now it's acting like it did before the flash.

I agree that the LCD sucks, I didn't realize until after I bought the truck that you can't put coordinates in as a destination, and I need to do that for work.

 

[maboat]

Also, remember everything with a diesel is more money.

Including more resale or trade-in value. Many people forget to include this benefit when doing the cost-benefit analysis. Also, people often complain about the higher cost of oil changes but they don't factor in the longer oil change interval. Yeah it cost more for each oil change, but you do them less often. You need to look at the whole cost of ownership start to finish.

And then there is just plain common sense. The freight and shipping industry runs almost exclusively on diesel power. That wouldn't be the case if diesels weren't more economical to operate overall

 

[MrMoose]

@MrMoose You have the same 0engine/tranny that's in my Titan, does your transmission seem to be gear hunting or have hesitation? I had mine reflashed with an update a few months ago and it ran like a totally different truck, I liked it, now it's acting like it did before the flash.

I agree that the LCD sucks, I didn't realize until after I bought the truck that you can't put coordinates in as a destination, and I need to do that for work.

@ripler, on a relatively flat highway, like in Florida, there's no gear hunting with my Armada. I've even forgotten to put it into tow mode, and still no gear hunting. When I was towing through New Mexico, it was up and down hills consistently, the tranny was really busy, and my mpg dropped to 10 just over 10 mpg.

 

[Bruce]

I tow with a toyota tacoma. Towing 14-16 mpg.

You have a 190, that is cheating on towing MPG.

My 2007 6.2 V8 Sierra Denali would get 14 to 18 towing a LX210 but gets 10 to 13 with the SX230 in tow.

 

[Rainmakr]

You have a 190, that is cheating on towing MPG.

My 2007 6.2 V8 Sierra Denali would get 14 to 18 towing a LX210 but gets 10 to 13 with the SX230 in tow.

The SX190 does tow pretty well, even behind a midsize truck.

 

[chris oftedal]

Well, I didn't like any of the SUV options in this size range, but I needed to buy something for my recent road trip to/from Ft. Lauderdale. I am impressed with the Armada's size and towing ability while being fully loaded. I got the Platinum model and my boys really like the back seat, but not as much as the Cadillac ESV.
One thing that I like about it is that when I'm in tow mode, a slight tap of the brakes causes a down shift and hence engine braking; smart system and saves brakes.
Although it's a pretty big SUV, parking it is a breeze with all of the electronics in it, 360 degree proximity sensors, plus a birds-eye camera view.
The safety stuff on it is top notch, from the intelligent cruise control, to the feature that hits the brakes if there's cross traffic in your blind spot as you pull out of a parking spot.
The only real complaint that I have is that relative to the competition, I think that the quality of the lcd screen, and some of the ease of use of the nav/sat radio/climate... is older vintage. I think that this is because, although it's a new Nissan model for North America, it's not really a new model.
All that said, I think that the Armada Platinum will hurt Infinity QX sales.
Here's a pic from our recent road trip. One boy is playing Xbox and the other is watching a DVD.
View attachment 62387

Thanks!

 

[AZDANSX230HO]

2016 Chevrolet 2500 HD Duramax Diesel

Maintenance is cheaper. Longevity is greatly increased. Resale value is exponentially higher, far offsetting the initial purchase price.

For me, it's all about the drive. I love the torque, any other benefit be damned.

Diesels are the best tow rigs period!!!

 

[Lake_Spray]

Honda Odyssey pulling an AR190 getting 14 mpg. Does fine here in flat Midwest but wouldn't use this as tow vehicle with even low mountains. Replacing with something more robust in the next year.

 

[Brandon_SC]

2005 Yukon XL Denali 6.0 AWD
15.2 mpg mixed highway use; 11.8 mpg towing

 

[Speedling]

2016 Cayenne Diesel and behind my 242x, I seem to be getting about 17. Remove the trailer and the mileage jumps up to 31-32.

How is maintenance and repair vosts gor that thing? Thats impressive numbers!

 

[haknslash]

2010 Ford F-150 5.4L. I get anywhere from 8-12 mpg depending on how aggressive or where I'm towing. I usually like to tow at 65 mph which puts me in the 10 mpg range unless it gets hilly. I'd like to tow at 60 mph but I don't want to die from road ragers lol. This is with a bad O2 sensor that I've been putting off to replace since it's the mother of all to remove apparently. Need to replace my spark plugs too as they are the originals with 150k miles now. Bad thing is they tend to break coming loose on these motors because of the spark plug design so I will likely need the spark plug removal kit thus adding to the cost of a plug change.

 

[mark_m]

Is anyone here towing with the Chevy Colorado/ GMC Canyon baby duramax 4 cylinder diesel? I am pining for a pickup. I love my Tahoe 5.3 gasser but wonder about going for a truck instead.

 

[Scarabpaul]

Is anyone here towing with the Chevy Colorado/ GMC Canyon baby duramax 4 cylinder diesel? I am pining for a pickup. I love my Tahoe 5.3 gasser but wonder about going for a truck instead.

I got a canyon SLT with the v6 motor, it does well with my scarab 215. I am sure the diesel will tow even better.

 

[BlackandTan]

2014 RAM 1500 Hemi. I get about 12 - 14 mpg until I hit the mountains, then 11-12 mpg.

 

[bumpy]

2017 F350, 6.2 gas- about 10-11 mpg towing, working on 14.5 mpg not towing. Got to really baby it to get 14.5 mpg though!

 

[NewBoater]

We averaged just under 15 MPG (14.6-14.8 ish) towing on this trip. Tow vehicle is Sierra Denali 6.2 with the V8 that switches back to V4 when cruising. Surprising a couple of times during the trip it throttled back to V4 and was getting great gas mileage but any hill pops up and goes right back to V8 mode.

It's a powerful beast of a truck with tons of horsepower, very luxury feel inside, good looking exterior. We've really enjoyed it.

The V4 to V8 thing works well especially when not towing. I average 17-19 MPG in town which is great for a truck then 25-35 MPG on highway with cruise on 63-66 mph. V8 with all that power is always ready to go with a touch of the gas it switches right in