Maybe Im wrong but I was under the impression Sequoia is basically Tundra, Suburban basically Silverado, Expedition basically F150, Excursion F250 etc etc. Im not saying theyre identical but from a size perspective similar enough that to say that a pickup is too large to DD yet a Sequoia isnt didnt make that much sense in my opinion.

 

The Suburban is a 130" wheel base, the Excursion has a 137" wheel base. Plenty for an evo in/on an open trailer or standard ~20ft enclosed. A Tahoe, the touareg, and the Q7 are all 113-116". They do ok with lighter loads, like what we're discussing with a proper weight disto hitch.

We're not talking about a 36' two car trailer, a stacker, some donkey travel/camper trailer or something that weighs 10k lbs + here.

 

Truck and towing section in forums always seem to get up in arms about "OMG YOU NEED A SUPERDUTY TO TOW THAT UTILITY TRAILER...". You just dont. If you can get the specs of tongue vs total trailer weight, and your GCWR and axle weight all within manufacturers ranges, then you're good. Add weight dist hitch (works to good to not use) and sway control (if you need it), and you're good. Like Sean said, the bigger mid-sized SUVs will get the job done no problem.

 

If I towed the car to the track EVERY weekend, I'd probably have an F250 with diesel. But for the 5-6 times a year I do it, the F150 does fine. The raptor is even better with the 6.2.

 

when i was younger i laughed at the old guys saying you needed a bigger truck. id regularly haul 10-12k with my 2006 5.3L chevy .... but i was on my 4th set of brakes on it when i sold it at 80k miles.

just this morning i towed a 9,000 mini excavator on an open trailer with an f150 CCSB with max tow. yes it did the job but i sure as hell wouldnt want to do it on the freeway across state lines.

i use my f150 to move stuff around town all the time - but when youre hauling hundreds of miles it sure is nice to have more stability. we put on 7000-8000 miles towing to races a year and another 3,000-4,000 towing sleds in the winter.

perhaps one thing to note - when we're towing from idaho to utah/oregon/washington the speed limits are 80mph. back east or in more metropolitan areas when the speeds are lower it wouldnt be as big of a deal. right now i have a single cab short bed f150 and a crew cab short bed f150. pulling my 2600lb enclosed snowmobile trailer is fine with both - until i get to 70ish and the single cab gets jiggy but the crew cab is stable at 80.

 

good lord i think i just found my dream solution

https://products.rivian.com/suv/

 

Something tells me the range when towing 5k lbs is probably gonna be half...lol.

 

it'll be interesting to see how the range changes pulling a trailer. If you could tow a car and car trailer for more than 100 miles id be very surprised.

 

Less then half I'm sure. This sounds more suited to the guys that tow a boat to the ramp from their lake house lol. Instead of producing the same product over and over again this money needs to go into a next gen battery.

On the flip side I'm excited to see the 3.0 Duramax hit the market later this year and hopefully, if their smart, put it in the Tahoe/Sub. Denali, all wheel drive, 550lbs tq, yes please.

 

2015 jeep grand cherokee ecodiesel, thoughts?

 

I had an 08 JGC diesel and loved it but had the means to upgrade to something new in 2015. So we could have gone with the Audi Q7, Jeep ecodiesel, Volkswagen, or BMW X5d. Basically we were won over on the 3.0 diesel and just wanted to buy something new.

I test drove the new JGC several times and really wanted to like it but it felt sort of big and lazy compared to my 08. Also the storage space in the back was pretty terrible with the sloped sided. The 08 had vertical sides and a big cooler long ways took up maybe 40% of the space and plenty of room for the dog when traveling with the trailer.

Q7 - just a bit too long for the garage but super nice. Almost wish we would have gone with it for 3rd row and extra internal space. But wifes side of the garage would have been real snug with that extra ~15in of room.
JGC - Wanted to like, tried a couple of times, nope. Just wasn't better than the old one.
BMW - Towing is sh*t. Need some goofy stuff to even put a brake controller in it. Pass.
Touareg - Actually felt like a nicer version of my old jeep. A bit sporty, didn't feel fat and sluggish (Even though they all weigh the same). I went into the search not even considering the VW, almost 4 years later still don't regret my decision. Tows my 5k trailer combo like a dream.

They pretty much all tow quite well (BMW is dumb with the brake controller, but with it it tows just fine).

 

I understand that it's not necessary to have a diesel but man if you can afford it it is def the way to go! I'm pretty biased though as I have a construction business and have a fleet of diesel trucks and have a full service shop at my office.

I'm in the process of a cab off 05 duramax engine build that will be making 1,200 rear wheel tq when it's done. In the meantime this is the truck I'm using. It literally feels like there is nothing behind you :P

 

Wait for the 2nd gen EcoDiesel due this year or next, cranks tq to 440 and towing to 9900 or something. As with all of these though, always watch out for who's the friendliest to mod because you can get another 100tq and 4-8mpg just with the emission crap.

 

Picked up the 2015 yesterday, will load the car up on the trailer this weekend and see how it goes, NASA AZ will be at buttonwillow in April so that will be the first big test. Need to determine what the best hitch is to use and also figure out a new to me trailer options since the move to AZ removed all my extra toys I had in Washington State LOL.

George

 

Likely a prodigy brake controller and one form or another of sway control in those high wind desert runs too cause the Jeep isn't very long.