I'm looking to buy a boat in the next couple years and will need to upgrade to a vehicle with tow capacity of 6000 lbs for a couple of extended trips per year. My primary concerns are price (<10k), fuel economy (20+ mpg combined, so <3.5L engine), and reliability (10 years of life and <$8k in maintenance over that time).
With those first two constrains, all the options I can find are diesels with Mercedes engines. These include the 2007-8 Jeep Grand Cherokee , BMW X5, Mercedes GL320 or ML320, and the VW Touareg. Unfortunately these are all European engines (and almost all European cars). When you read reliability reports (e.g. Phil Edmonston, consumer reports, etc...) you find that European cars are almost always the worst on reliability and most expensive to fix, with the possible exception of Jeeps.
If I could just shave off 1000 lbs I could go with a Highlander or Tacoma gas engine and still hit 20 MPG, but sadly that's not likely possible.
Anyone have any ideas for how I should proceed, vehicles I haven't considered, or any evidence for which of these bad options is the least bad?
With those first two constrains, all the options I can find are diesels with Mercedes engines. These include the 2007-8 Jeep Grand Cherokee , BMW X5, Mercedes GL320 or ML320, and the VW Touareg. Unfortunately these are all European engines (and almost all European cars). When you read reliability reports (e.g. Phil Edmonston, consumer reports, etc...) you find that European cars are almost always the worst on reliability and most expensive to fix, with the possible exception of Jeeps.
If I could just shave off 1000 lbs I could go with a Highlander or Tacoma gas engine and still hit 20 MPG, but sadly that's not likely possible.
Anyone have any ideas for how I should proceed, vehicles I haven't considered, or any evidence for which of these bad options is the least bad?