Economical tow vehicles
 

I am looking for a tow vehicle that will be used to tow a 7500 lb trailer once a month or so. I would like some ideas for an economical tow vehicle to buy. The ideal vehicle should have a low cost of ownership (includes things like gas mileage, maintenance costs, insurance, and initial purchase cost). Gas mileage while towing is important to me. Vehicles that have nice aftermarket support would be nice too, but not required.

With tow ratings for similar vehicles differing substantially between the United States and other markets, if liability is a matter of concern, it sounds harder to get anything other than a pick-up. On a sidenote, have you ever considered a Diesel-powered tow rig?

If a lower towing capability would be sufficient, the Passat B5 1.9 TDi (130PS AWD) can tow 2000 kg or 4400 lbs.

I have been thinking about a pickup, but it is pretty crazy how much people think that used ones are worth around here. A diesel would be very nice, but they are the worst offenders. I would hate to pay $15k for a 2004 pickup.

VWs are nice, but the trailer I am towing is very large and weighs 7500 lbs. I need something that can tow that amount safely.

The considerations should be is the frame and attach points strong enough and is the braking system adequate for stopping the load under trailer brake failure? Power on tap is not relevant to anything except acceleration. Upgraded brakes on anything carburated and 4 + place would suffice

I have seen many undersized vehicles tow many insanely huge things such as a semi tractor towing a 3story house or the toyota pickup dragging the space shuttle down 10th st east in Palmdale.

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My first thought is an AMC Gremlin with a nail-head Buick and Pontiac 8-lug finned aluminum drum brakes.

Once a month... But how far?

If it's once a month and you're not towing far the cheapest vehicle would be an old pickup, even if it get's terrible fuel mileage.

If you buy some old Ford or Chevy V8 (70's or 80's) that runs and doesn't have any major issues that would be the cheapest option. The vehicle could cost under $1,000. Even if it needed some work, if you can do it yourself that would be far cheaper than a newer vehicle, unless it needed a new everything.

But if gas mileage while towing is really that important to you, you'll want a newer vehicle, prefferably a diesel or even the new Ford F150 electric pickup. But then you'll be paying a lot more on the initial cost.

However, if you drive far once a month, like 1,000 miles at least, then it would make sense to get something like a diesel pickup, or a much newer gasser. There are Chevy Colorados that can tow up to 7,700lbs. The diesel version gets 30mpg, according to the EPA. But again, those won't be cheap to purchase.

https://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-towing-guides/

I’d be thinking 2001ish Silverado 2wd reg cab 5.3l w 3.08 gears would be hard to beat for total cost, if it has enough seats

Let's say you get an old truck that gets 5mpg with your trailer and you do 100 miles once a month. That's 20 gallons a month, or $80 a month if you multiply that by $4 per gallon. So if you own it for 5 years that would be $4,800 total. If the truck cost you $1,000 and you had to do $1,000 worth of work to it you're now at $6,800 total after the five years, plus tags and insurance.

If you get a truck that gets 10mpg, you'd break even if the truck is $4,400 and needs no work.

You'd also break even if you got a truck for $5,200 that gets 15 mpg while towing.

A 20mpg truck while towing would have to cost no more than $5,600 to break even.

Of course the farther you drive, the more fuel costs per gallon, or the longer you intend to do this every month the more it makes sense to get the newer, more expensive, fuel efficient truck, at least from an economical standpoint.

There was one important thing I forgot to mention: it will be my wife's business vehicle. So it can't be too old or ugly. We were thinking about a large SUV because it can seat a lot of people, which would be nice. Was diesel ever an option on the older models (early 2000s or so)?

3 manufacturers make a half ton diesel pickup now. The Ram apparently can get 30 MPG.

https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...m-1500-diesel/

AFAIK the last year for Diesel half-tons before their recent comeback was '99, for the GMT400 Chevrolet C and K series and the GMC Sierra. Odd enough, at least until 2004 there were export-only Diesel versions of the Tahoe.

A quick search and I found a diesel 2000 Ford Excursion that can tow 10,000lbs (or so Google says) for $5,900. It does have over 300,000 miles though and only gets 17-18mpg (also googled). With careful driving you might get 20mpg or better.

Edit:

I also found a 2009 Mercedes-Benz GL320 BlueTec 4MATIC diesel with 155k miles for $6,990. I'm not sure what kind of fuel mileage it gets though, but is rated for 7,500lbs towing.

The excursion sounds very good actually. I think it is closest to what I want/need!

Those half ton diesels look very nice. The other day I was looking at some of the newer Rams. They definitely have a luxury look to them. Surprisingly a 2014 Ram on Carmax was not a whole lot more expensive than what some people wanted for their 2004 truck on Facebook.

Not sure to which extent a modern Mercedes-Benz could be considered economical to run, due to maintenance cost. Everything is more expensive when the 3-point star is there...

The excursion diesel is a permanent camper shell version of a short bed regular F250 with the F350 spacers, so all the appropriate stuff applied. Rated to 16000 max. Vehicle and trailer, CLASS 5 towing and can get +20 mpg, +25 with the handshaker 2wd. Economy dives in traffic. Slush box needs extra cooling, couple of maintenance oddities but can run 500,000 miles with normal maintenance. Stay away from the 6.0 & 6.4

I'd consider getting 2 different cars at that point.
One for towing, one for not towing.

Yeah, I've heard bad things about the Ford 6.0. So we will get the Excursion if I can find one and if my wife doesn't think it is too big. Otherwise we would probably have to settle for an Expedition.

We have 2 vehicles right now already. We will probably end up with 4, with each having its own purpose.

The 2004 Sequoia with the 4.7L V8 and 2WD has been doing well for me. 55-70mph trips it gets about 18-21mpg and average for my tanks are about 16.5mpg locally. Bulletproof reliable and still drives like a new car at 218k miles after doing the timing belt with aisin parts for $250. People compliment the looks with the white paint job and the limited pack wheels. Sequoia is rated for 6500lb but a Tundra will tow 7100lb.
Towing the boat or jet skis it gets the same gas mileage as the 3.0 Ranger that normally gets 23-25mpg avg so just remember all the gas burners get about the same mpg towing.
Purchased for 4000 so it was pretty cheap as well. Friends who have bought similar mileage Tahoes in the last year with the 4L have rebuilt 1-2 times so careful with those.

Just my opinion but just because a vehicle is rated to tow a certain weight doesn’t mean it should. Too short of a wheelbase and an improper hitch and load often leads to trouble. I have towed many trailers for over 40 years and tow a 35’ triple axle Avion bumper pull trailer. I tow with a Suburban wheel base truck. This is the shortest wheelbase that I would recommend for this trailer. My Lincoln Navigator is rated to tow it but I would use it only in an emergency due to the wheelbase and the 1/2 ton running gear.

The weirdest wheelbase to trailer ratio I've ever seen ws a Smart ForTwo towing a trailer with a glider inside it.
These trailers are almost 10 m long, it looked hillarious.

Note: That was *not* on public roads and you absolutely shouldn't do that.

Considering most tow rigs with a wheelbase that could be seen as excessively short that I have ever seen were either agricultural tractors or those "mules" which are used to handle containers on port zones, at a relatively low speed, it seems reasonable to consider wheelbase as a matter of safety while towing.

I retract my suggestion of an AMC Gremlin. I was thinking the short overhang from the rear axle line to hitch would be a benefit when backing up.

I stand by the Pontiac drum brakes though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaYTaMhsdvs

VW and their wide fives? Pffft. Pontiac has the wide eights.

I said during the hieght of the pandemic, if the goverment really wanted everyone to stay home, they should give eryone a used Mercedes.

Don't buy an old pickup, buy the same year Suburban and you will save a bunch. GM is just more solid in the 20 year old market than Dodge or Ford. I don't know why the Suburbans are less, they were more when new. Just most young folks looking for their first truck always want a pickup not a soccer mom suburban that is just the pickup with an enclosed bed and more seats.

Either this, or some buyers who are actually looking for a workhorse are willing to pay a little more for a vehicle which is supposed to be meant for work, while the Suburban is eventually seen as either a soccer-mom cruiser or more focused on leisure.

I believe that you get a burb fully loaded with creature comforts. Bet they dont make them without A/C, power seats, electric outlets. Those options must make a ton of profit

Funny enough, the suburbans around here are all priced high. I could get a similar year expedition for a lot less, which may work for me. The excursions are a bit expensive too, but that isn't too unexpected.

What's nice is that it seems that most of these SUVs changed to a newer body style in 2007 or so. That is still old, but it wouldn't feel old.

Nobody knows what year my 250 is, and they are suprised when I say '00

The Expeditions are cheap because the 2003 up 3 valve 5.4 is a complete peice of garbage.

We bought a 2009 4x4 Expedition knowing this at the auction for $1500. They may be garbage but $1500 for a 4x4 2009 just couldn't be beat. Around here a 2005 Silverado 4x4 will bring $6000 all day (if not $10,000 for a clean one) while the same year Suburban will struggle to bring $4000.

Good news:

My wife now thinks a shorter 3000 lb trailer would work for her business, so my Jeep can tow that. That saves on buying an extra vehicle!

That's definitely the most economical way: what you already have.

It's not helpful since you're no longer towing 7500 lbs but I came here because I was stunned to find out that many Porsche Panameras are rated to tow over 7700lbs. Perhaps not "economical" but certainly better than a truck.

I know you've decided to stop looking at options, but I felt the need to chime in in case someone else needs this info. I actually own a short bed F250 with the V10 in it. It actually gets very good towing mileage for a gasoline powered vehicle, and save for the spark plug issue (which has been well addressed by the aftermarket), it's an extremely reliable engine that rivals diesels in that department. Towing that heavy I get 7-8mpg. Not what anyone would consider fantastic, but when you consider that maintenance costs are so much lower and the initial cost of the vehicle is so much lower, it actually ends up being cheaper to own and operate for someone like me who only tows and hauls with it occasionally. Since I switched it to 3.73 rear gears it actually gets 14+ mpg on the highway. Again, not fantastic, but for a gas engine that's really good in a 4x4 straight axle vehicle that weighs almost 7k lbs and can tow 10k+ lbs with a good safety margin. This is a better option IMO than a newer half ton towing the same weight because the trailer will push those trucks around a lot more.

In addition to pickups, an economical tow rig is a Ford E-350 van or GM 3500.

I have always been a truck guy, I like Dodge with Cummins, but I just bought a 2002 E-350 powerstroke 7.3 diesel and it is a bear. I find it comfortable and nice to drive for a Fullsize vehicle.

Rated to row 10,000 lbs trailer, and should do 8,000 comfortably

Does it also apply to the USA and Canada?


Economical is something I would probably never say about a Porsche.

I was thinking about a van initially too but I wasn't too sure about which ones to look up.

There is one more thing I would like to mention: we will be getting a Rav4 Prime (if we can find one) in the near future. That has a tow rating of 2500 lbs. If We can find a trailer light enough, the Rav4 would definitely be very economical, especially because I might be able to tow with the electric only driving capability.

Does anyone know how tow ratings are determined? Are there any negatives to towing above the capacity by a few hundred pounds? I assume that the Rav4 Prime would be limited in the areas of suspension and perhaps the frame. I would think that there is plenty of pulling and braking power to tow well above 2500 lbs.

Edit: Supposedly the only relevant difference between the Rav4 Prime and the Rav4 TRD Adventure (tow capacity of 3500 lbs) is that the latter has a transmission cooler. Would simply adding a transmission cooler be sufficient to tow a little more?

I have towed more than 2000lbs in my Insight. It has no tow rating at all. Some factors that seem important:

-Being able to stop - trailer brakes basically make this irrelevant
-Being able to control the load - the weight of the tow vehicle and distribution of weight in the trailer are hugely important here
-Drivetrain needs to be able to handle the cooling load. In a manual, transmission temperature is a non-issue.

Tow ratings for the same vehicle are vastly different in different countries.

I'm inclined to believe that tow ratings are (at least to some degree) political and subjective.

It's political. The same vehicle will have a tow rating in one country and none in another.

The Lexus LX400h/Toyota Highlander electric rear axle had an oil cooler option. It was a towing package option, and standard in Korea for some reason.

1/4 ton trailers are sorta standard. How often would you need something heavier?

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...1423191269.jpg

https://ecomodder.com/forum/member-f...9-p1010027.jpg

I have a Westfalia like the last picture. The wheels are out for powder coating right now, But I don't have car with a trailer hitch at the moment.