I'm curious about that. I wonder if I talk directly with Home Depot or Enterprise if they can make a deal. I'll check it out. My trips are likely to be 800-1400 miles, so they may not see that as favorably. I can ask though.
6000 lb tow vehicle
- Thread starter fritz3000g
- Start date
Nope, I wouldnt have any idea. Service was more expensive than our Toyota and I got rid of it before 100,000 miles. I’d recommend you down load the owners manual and get quotes from a dealer.
I got rid of the BMW because it cost twice (?) as much to service as our Toyotas. To replace it, I got a hybrid 2012 Toyota Highlander for my everyday car (24-29 mpg and plenty of acceleration for highway driving) . The tow capacity is only 3500 because it’s a hybrid.
I also bought a gem of a used, one-owner 2001 Sequoia w/4WD (and with full service record) that I use only for towing. I paid 8k plus tax and fees after adding new tires, struts, and with all maintenance up to date. the Sequoia had 243k miles on it when I bought it, and it now has over 254k miles. The Sequoia still looks and drives like new. It gets 12 mpg towing on the flats at 65 mph and 10 mpg towing uphill at 55 mph in the High Sierras. Tow capacity is 6500, and it’s got plenty of torque to pull at a steady 55 mph in the mountains.
We also have an utterly reliable 1998 Toyota Camry that gets 27-29 mpg mixed driving with 247,000 miles that my hubby drives to the airport.
It works for us.
YMMV.
Judy
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Sorry to keep bugging you. Do you have a sense for whether the service was expensive because things kept going wrong or because it was a BMW (i.e. luxury car)?
Because that what the dealer charged. Service was prepaid thru 50k miles and I sold it at around 70k. . IIRC, service was almost twice as expensive as my husband’s Toyota Camry for a similar service interval.
The BMW X5D is a nicer luxury car to drive than my luxury Toyotas are,, but the Toyotas are less expensive to operate and more reliable, IMO.
YMMV. It’s all about priorities.
The BMW X5D is a nicer luxury car to drive than my luxury Toyotas are,, but the Toyotas are less expensive to operate and more reliable, IMO.
YMMV. It’s all about priorities.
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One of my friends rents a ford 250 kingcab to tow her Corsair F27 from northern to southern CA every fall, about 1100 miles round trip. She told me it cost her about $700 or $800 for one week with about 1000(?) miles, plus gas.
Last time I called around before buying the Sequoia, the rental company wanted around $700 for a week, And around $1500 for a month and around 3000 miles per month. Or something like that.
Last time I called around before buying the Sequoia, the rental company wanted around $700 for a week, And around $1500 for a month and around 3000 miles per month. Or something like that.
It's been a while, and I hardly remember breakfast, but I'm sure they charged me for mileage. The $19.95 was for in town use. I don't know if they even have their vehicle rental program anymore. I'm sure the regular rental companies have a truck or van that would get it done. Probably 2-3 new vehicle payments for a significant rental. Doesn't make sense if you're going to do it a lot, but a no brainer for occasional use. You will want to reserve early and stress that you can't show up and have them tell you "we have to give you a luxury car for the same price because we're out of trucks..."
Does she drop the Ford off in SoCal every fall and leave it there? Or does she take it back to NorCal?
@fritz3000g ,
As a car and truck fanatic, I can tell you that what you end up saving in mileage with a turbocharged Eco Boost will be spent on the premium fuel you've gotta refill your large tank with. I have a several friends who drive Eco Boost F-150s, and they spend around $85 a week on refills...that's down here in Texas where prices are lower! You're going to want a towing vehicle that can tow at least a thousand pounds more than how much your boat weighs so that you're not putting as much stress on the engine and transmission. The only vehicle I can think of with that kind of towing capacity would be a truck, either powered by gasoline or diesel. Diesel trucks offer an amazing amount of torque for towing, decent mileage, and are solid as a rock (as long as they don't say "Dodge" on them). They can be expensive to maintain, though, and are also often available with turbo options.
Here's another thing. I can almost guarantee that a used towing vehicle will either have a ton of miles on it, or be worn out due to all the towing it's already been used for. A lot of people also tend to overprice their towing vehicles, especially trucks, because they think what they have is "special". A good place to look would be on a certified used car dealer website, such as Car Gurus, CarFax, etc., and NOT Craigslist, Ebay or LetGo. The latter sites are ridden with fraudulent scammers and criminals who could lure you into either losing thousands of dollars, or to their own property (this happened to a friend of mine just last week). In a nutshell, it's going to be really difficult to find a towing vehicle for a price lower than 25K, and that has less than 100,000 miles on the odometer. A lot of the other comments here on this forum are filled with really good stuff. In my honest opinion, as long as you don't buy anything built by Chrysler and has an engine larger than 5 liters, you're in the clear for a good vehicle!
As a car and truck fanatic, I can tell you that what you end up saving in mileage with a turbocharged Eco Boost will be spent on the premium fuel you've gotta refill your large tank with. I have a several friends who drive Eco Boost F-150s, and they spend around $85 a week on refills...that's down here in Texas where prices are lower! You're going to want a towing vehicle that can tow at least a thousand pounds more than how much your boat weighs so that you're not putting as much stress on the engine and transmission. The only vehicle I can think of with that kind of towing capacity would be a truck, either powered by gasoline or diesel. Diesel trucks offer an amazing amount of torque for towing, decent mileage, and are solid as a rock (as long as they don't say "Dodge" on them). They can be expensive to maintain, though, and are also often available with turbo options.
Here's another thing. I can almost guarantee that a used towing vehicle will either have a ton of miles on it, or be worn out due to all the towing it's already been used for. A lot of people also tend to overprice their towing vehicles, especially trucks, because they think what they have is "special". A good place to look would be on a certified used car dealer website, such as Car Gurus, CarFax, etc., and NOT Craigslist, Ebay or LetGo. The latter sites are ridden with fraudulent scammers and criminals who could lure you into either losing thousands of dollars, or to their own property (this happened to a friend of mine just last week). In a nutshell, it's going to be really difficult to find a towing vehicle for a price lower than 25K, and that has less than 100,000 miles on the odometer. A lot of the other comments here on this forum are filled with really good stuff. In my honest opinion, as long as you don't buy anything built by Chrysler and has an engine larger than 5 liters, you're in the clear for a good vehicle!
All I know is that the Bossman had (still has) BMW X5 diesel. That thing is always in the shop. He kept it to use as a limo for clients coming in to the airport. We have someone who works remotely several states away, but comes in for a week every month. He's like "Just use my old X5, don't bother renting a car." She gets in the X5 one weekend, turns it on, and immediately gets a check engine light.
I don't know any of the rest of the history of the truck, what's been wrong with it, etc, but his secretary was always driving it over to the dealer, I'd say on average 1x month.
If it's German, it's expensive to buy and maintain. I definitely wouldn't tow more than a ton with any vehicle with an engine smaller than 4.5 liters.
It may be different where you live. Here in Madison, WI there are a lot of trucks that haven't been used for much towing - many of them are for show, or were peoples' work trucks to haul tools. Also, the Jeep diesel can tow over 7,000.
Honestly, the geographical aspect is probably true. Almost every household has a truck here in Texas, it's just the norm! We also use the heck out of them, so that's just my experience. Also, my experience with Jeeps of any kind have always been negative, but maybe it's been different for you! It's all about your decision, but I strongly believe a truck is the way to go.
Edmonston (of Lemon-Aid fame) says that he thinks (most years of) RAM 1500 trucks are the most reliable, followed by Silverado/Sierra 1500s. What's the reason you don't think highly of RAM (Cummins) diesels?
GMC Savannah 2500, 2006, 10,000lb towing with hitch, all disk breaks, 4.8 engine V8. Bought new. Milage 16 to 18 mpg.
My Chevy 1500, 5.3 could not handle 6200 lb towing. It's max was 5000lb
My Chevy 1500, 5.3 could not handle 6200 lb towing. It's max was 5000lb
I've owned two trucks in my lifetime, a Dodge 1500 and a 1994 Chevy C1500 Silverado. That Dodge was given to me by a friend in good condition. It was ten years newer than the Chevy, and had constant issues with the suspension, rust damage, interior quality and transmission. It was also ridiculously slow, even after I replaced the plugs, installed a new intake system and even put a performance chip in it. I had to get that transmission rebuilt once, the second time second gear went out and I just sold the thing. I still have my 94 Chevy, almost all original and I drive it every day. No problems except the air conditioning, which is now fixed.
I had a BMW X-5 a while ago. The cyclops light went out. It cost $600 to replace the switch for that light because BMW thought that you needed a computer to operate the brake lights rather than the $0.35 switch that has been used for that purpose for about 100 years. Got rid of it before the $5K repair came down. Drove really well though, even in snow.
Love my 2014 Ram 1500, it has the Hemi and can tow 10,000 lbs. The early diesel in the Ram 1500 from 2014-2019 are not tow monsters, in fact the are almost certain to have the least towing capability because they were sold as 'economy' for better mileage. Those advertised MPG numbers almost always are the lower gears which severally impact the tow numbers. Do you homework first before blindly buying a diesel because you think it can tow tons.
My Ram has 100k+ miles and has had almost nothing wrong and just runs great. You are asking a lot of a single vehicle, my Ram does pretty good at 16-17 mpg around town and 18-19 mpg on the hwy. I was racking up a lot of local miles and bought a used Hyundai Veloster Turbo which even me beating on it gets 27-29 mpg! That said I'll probably dump it next year when the 5 year warranty is up because I'm not interested in replacing a turbo as the miles build.
My Ram has 100k+ miles and has had almost nothing wrong and just runs great. You are asking a lot of a single vehicle, my Ram does pretty good at 16-17 mpg around town and 18-19 mpg on the hwy. I was racking up a lot of local miles and bought a used Hyundai Veloster Turbo which even me beating on it gets 27-29 mpg! That said I'll probably dump it next year when the 5 year warranty is up because I'm not interested in replacing a turbo as the miles build.
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After looking at a lot of vehicles, I may end up choosing a cheap truck and trying not to drive it much beyond towing. The early-2000s Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, and Nissan Frontier with 4.0L engines are available in my area for $5000 with reasonable miles and generally get about 17-18 MPG combined and tow >6000 lbs. Of course I'll bring them by a good mechanic before buying.
I'll plan to also speak with some diesel mechanics to get their thoughts on the 2007-8 Jeep and the VW Touareg. If I have a good mechanic it might be worth tolerating higher/more repair bills for 20% more MPG and a longer engine life.
I know some folks think that I need a bigger vehicle to tow 6000 lbs, but honestly my family has a long 3-generation history of overloading tow vehicles around 30% overload over distance and much more over short distances (my uncle tows a 5000 lb boat 2 miles to the ramp with his Civic). It shortens their life for sure, but driving very conservatively we've still been able to get reasonable lives out of them. So... running a vehicle that is actually rated for the load is a big step for me
All that's to say trying to convince me I need a bigger vehicle than these is a tough sell.
I'll plan to also speak with some diesel mechanics to get their thoughts on the 2007-8 Jeep and the VW Touareg. If I have a good mechanic it might be worth tolerating higher/more repair bills for 20% more MPG and a longer engine life.
I know some folks think that I need a bigger vehicle to tow 6000 lbs, but honestly my family has a long 3-generation history of overloading tow vehicles around 30% overload over distance and much more over short distances (my uncle tows a 5000 lb boat 2 miles to the ramp with his Civic). It shortens their life for sure, but driving very conservatively we've still been able to get reasonable lives out of them. So... running a vehicle that is actually rated for the load is a big step for me
All that's to say trying to convince me I need a bigger vehicle than these is a tough sell.It’s not always a question of what you can tow, its what you can tow safely.
Your uncle towing a trailer 3-5 times the weight rating of the car is doable - but not safe - even if it’s on a private road. The issues are steering and braking. Tongue weight of the trailer Is likely greater than what the hitch/car is rated for. (Gross vehicle weight). This is putting you at risk of tearing the hitch off the vehicle leaving a run away trailer and damaged vehicle, over loading the rear suspension and reducing the weight on the front wheels - reducing or in some cases nearly eliminating steering ability of the tow vehicle - tail wagging the dog is a common occurrence. (I’ve seen lawn tractors tow boat and rv trailers in dealer lots on level ground. The difficulty is stopping them! I definitely don’t want to see them on a public road)
Braking with a trailer places a tremendous load on the tow vehicles braking system - even if the trailer has its own brakes. As brakes heat up they lose effectiveness - called brake fade. Enough heat and you effectively have no brakes - unless the trailer has electric brakes this would mean no braking from trailer as well. Doing an emergency stop will be virtually impossible - think a kid popping out between cars, or on a bike swerving out in front of you as you travel “slowly“ on a back road.
You might want to have a look at boat ramp launch fails - not all due to undersize tow vehicles, but many of the most entertaining have to do with the rear of a small tow vehicle being lifted into the air, or the vehicle slowly sliding backward down the ramp with tires spinning.
two further items directly related to your pocket book. fines can be substantial for an overloaded rig if you are stopped by LEO. Insurance coverage for any damage/injuries caused by your vehicle (even if not a direct result of overload) may be denied leaving you on the hook for those costs.
Your uncle towing a trailer 3-5 times the weight rating of the car is doable - but not safe - even if it’s on a private road. The issues are steering and braking. Tongue weight of the trailer Is likely greater than what the hitch/car is rated for. (Gross vehicle weight). This is putting you at risk of tearing the hitch off the vehicle leaving a run away trailer and damaged vehicle, over loading the rear suspension and reducing the weight on the front wheels - reducing or in some cases nearly eliminating steering ability of the tow vehicle - tail wagging the dog is a common occurrence. (I’ve seen lawn tractors tow boat and rv trailers in dealer lots on level ground. The difficulty is stopping them! I definitely don’t want to see them on a public road)
Braking with a trailer places a tremendous load on the tow vehicles braking system - even if the trailer has its own brakes. As brakes heat up they lose effectiveness - called brake fade. Enough heat and you effectively have no brakes - unless the trailer has electric brakes this would mean no braking from trailer as well. Doing an emergency stop will be virtually impossible - think a kid popping out between cars, or on a bike swerving out in front of you as you travel “slowly“ on a back road.
You might want to have a look at boat ramp launch fails - not all due to undersize tow vehicles, but many of the most entertaining have to do with the rear of a small tow vehicle being lifted into the air, or the vehicle slowly sliding backward down the ramp with tires spinning.
two further items directly related to your pocket book. fines can be substantial for an overloaded rig if you are stopped by LEO. Insurance coverage for any damage/injuries caused by your vehicle (even if not a direct result of overload) may be denied leaving you on the hook for those costs.
Understood. The topics you describe have led to interesting debates at Thanksgiving. Folks have interesting strategies for managing them, including driving at 2 am and strategically adding weight to the back of the civic while unloading.
In any case, all I'm saying is that having lots of experience learning how to manage and be as careful as I can around (arguably) very unsafe situations leads me to have some confidence that I can manage a potentially marginally unsafe one (coming close to my vehicle's tow rating) without risking anyone's survival.