Most Fun Tow Vehicle

Hi All,

I'm looking for a tow vehicle that would be fun to drive also. It would have to my daily driver too, so good mpg would be nice. We have a travel trailer that weighs about 3200 lbs, that we take out a few times a year. Here are the ones I have come up with and their pros and cons...

-Mercedes Benz ML55; cheap ($4-5k), but probably not the sportiest ride -Porsche Cayenne Turbo; price OK ($12000), fast, poor MPG -BMW X5 diesel; pretty fast, good MPG, expensive ($17000)

Then I just thought about this wagon

-Dodge Magnum; cheap ($6-7k), tows up to 3800#, decent MPG (about 20)

What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

TIA

Henry

Get the worlds best Roadmaster wagon?

I want to vote Cayenne Turbo S manual but I'm very afraid of maintenance costs on those. I've been sorely tempted by them on CL, but imagine 90s Range Rover reliability.

How much can a Troll-blazer tow?

A friend of mine used to tow his Alfa with a V8 Mustang- this was in the early 90's.

In other words- if you really want fun, check the European tow ratings, and then just be careful when you are pulling your trailer.

Or watch the threads for the 2017 Challenge pick ups. I would bet most will retain some decent towing capacity.

Go for a trailblazer ss or a Jeep Cherokee srt8.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Go for a trailblazer as or a keep Cherokee srt8.

The first Gen Cherokee won't tow (easily) because center exhaust. Jeep didn't want you towing with it. The new one will, but $$$.

I would consider the VW Toureg over the Porsche because it looks better IMHO and had an awesome V10 Diesel that has more power than Halliburton. The V8 and V6 options are no slouches either, and both will tow your trailer.

V10 TDI Touaregs are getting pretty cheap these days....

Seems like a Trail/Trollblazer SS/Aero would be fun, or a first gen 4.6is or 4.8is BMW X5.

I knew a transmission shop owner who towed his boat to NH from MA with his mid-10 sec El Camino...

Poor mileage though.

2nd-gen Ford Lightning? How much seating do you need?

I'm personally a bit skittish about German cars of the last 15 years once they are out of warranty.

There's a reason why the V10 Touaregs are cheap, its because they're maintenance nightmares. Don't even consider buying one without a warranty. Several friends have had them and the warranty has paid out $15-20k over the few years of ownership.

Porsche never made a manual Cayenne Turbo. Only the first gen Cayenne GTS' were manual and they weren't very impressive. I bought a Cayenne Turbo S instead, its a much better car and easily tows my trailer/M3.

They have some faults that you should make sure are addressed before you purchase. As with any older German luxury car, don't buy the cheapest one you can find. Buy the one with the best service history that's been maintained properly.

I vote volvo V70R. Rated for 3500#

docwyte wrote: There's a reason why the V10 Touaregs are cheap, its because they're maintenance nightmares. Don't even consider buying one without a warranty. Several friends have had them and the warranty has paid out $15-20k over the few years of ownership. Porsche never made a manual Cayenne Turbo. Only the first gen Cayenne GTS' were manual and they weren't very impressive. I bought a Cayenne Turbo S instead, its a much better car and easily tows my trailer/M3.

So are you saying that the Touareg diesel is worse than a Cayenne Turbo S? I would think that, powertrain aside, there should be a lot in common between them. And if anything, the Porsche should have more stuff to go wrong.

2006-2009 V8 4Runner. 7000lb tow rating, incredibly nice/comfy (especially the Limited versions) and if you get the 4WD version you can also get through nasty weather and plenty of off-road stuff without much of a thought.

I miss my 2007.

I found this in a thread titled "Fun to drive tow vehicle" on grassrootsmotorsports forum from June 02, 2011.

Use the search feature n00b! (since you are actually new here... we have a thread going on discussing ... bah, nevermind. I was kidding)

I wouldn't call my tow vehicle fun to drive but it has won highway races against a BMW 135i, a Focus ST, and a modded 6.7 Powerstroke pickup.

Also a good choice: Saab 9-5. Again rated at 3500#

Most fun tow vehicle I've ever driven was an SVT F-150 Lightning. Supercharged V8, spins the rear tires at a whim, but they didn't nerf the towing capabilities when they did it, so it's still rated for 5000 pounds.

Saab 9-7X Areo

codrus wrote: Most fun tow vehicle I've ever driven was an SVT F-150 Lightning. Supercharged V8, spins the rear tires at a whim, but they didn't nerf the towing capabilities when they did it, so it's still rated for 5000 pounds.

Friend of mine has one with an assortment of Hotchkis suspension goodies thrown at it and it's a hoot.

I think a late model F350 diesel is a good time and turns expensive rubber into smoke at will and sometimes not at will if you forget to turn traction control back on.

I've got an '01 Super Duty with the 7.3L and the manual transmission. The most fun thing about it is that I can hammer it down a twisty road, heel toe downshifting, threshold braking, cornering at the limit and hammering the throttle on corner exit and...nobody can tell.

Yes, the Touareg (in particular the V10 TDI) has WAY more issues than my Cayenne Turbo. While the drivetrain really is the crux of it (trans and motor, turbos), the interior falls apart on the VW's while that doesn't happen on my Cayenne.

I test drove both and was surprised at how differently they drive. The VW felt ponderous and you could really feel the additional weight of the V10 on the nose. The cayenne handled, stopped and accelerated much, much better.

My cayenne has been very reliable, a few normal maintenance issues, stuff that just wears out on a 125k mile vehicle, but that's it....

I get what your trying to have,I do the same but don't underestimate how UNFUN it is trying to tow without something not suitable for the task.

Is the trailer a pop up?,also if the trailer weighs 3200'ish how much does the other crap weigh your taking along plus yourselves?

Pretty easy for the 3200lbs to be closer to 5k all tallied up.I wouldn't consider any of the cars/wagons mentioned suitable.

but seriously, I'd buy a previous-generation 4Runner V6 with the XREAS suspension (SportEdition). It tows 5k no problem, has serious off-road abilities, looks good, and with the XREAS suspesion it actually handles really well on the road compared to standard suspension models.

I actually enjoyed driving our 08 4Runner whenever I drove it (towing or not)....as opposed to our current Sequoia, which tows well but is a heavy, plodding, unfun beast.

Alternately, I thought the current-generation Acura MDX was a blast to drive and handled damn well as my WRX did stock...and it can tow 5k. Same goes for the current Lincoln MKZ...one of our rallycross buddies easily flat-tows his M50 e30 with one.

Ram SRT-10? Quad cab models were rated to tow 7500 lbs. I don't think you were supposed to tow with the regular cab, manual trans models.