Garandman
Member
We have three kids and a Labrador Retriever, and often take friends on trips. Along with other vehicles I have a Subaru Outback 3.6R and my wife was driving a 2011 Honda Odyssey Touring Elite, which had a set of rims with Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 winter tires for ski trips.
We have a 21’ RibCraft and had a Melges 24 sailboat, both easily towed by the 6 cyl Outback. But my wife wanted to sail a heavier bost called a Thunderbird, which is about 5,000 lbs on the Trailer, and we have to tow it back from Canada, 600 Miles. That’s more than most unibodies can handle.
We’ve always towed bigger boats with cargo vans (most recently a Chevy Express 2500 and a Ford Transit T250 with. EcoBoost 3.5) but as we live in Boston it would be another vehicle to park. So I told my wife she was going to have to get an Expedition, Sequoia or Tahoe. We rented a Sequoia for a week to see what it was like in the city and on trips, and while you give up a lot of cargo room and utility and mpg compared to a minivan, it would still hold 6-7 people and wasn’t a lot bigger footprint than the Odyssey (203” Long, 79.6” wide). Suburbans (and most pickups) don’t really work in the city because they are 224” Long and city parking spaces are 20’ - 240”.
We started looking for used SUV’s with tow packages, and a 2016 Tahoe LT with Max Towing popped up locally and I made the deal with the owner. We’d checked out complaints about excessive oil consumption in 5.3’s and that seems to have been remedied 2014-on and we are assuming the rusting brake lines of older models have been remedied as well. While the Ford has the terrific 3.5L EcoBoost and independent rear suspension, we know lots of people who used Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban for heavy towing for well over 200,000 Miles with few serious problems.
Frankly the Odyssey can drive rings around the Tahoe while having more useful space and getting 3-4mpg better mileage. But we have to tow what we have to tow so that’s what we have and I’ll keep driving the OBW.
We’ve put about 200 Miles on it so far and the Trip computer shows 15.4. Bought some drawbars and plug converters, WeatherTech floor mats, mirror extensions, etc. Also bought some 18” Z71 rims (takeoffs) for winter tires as it came with 20” polished rims with “ All Season” tires and that doesn’t work very well for Ski country.
We depart for Ontario first week in October. Boat will get towed to Boston for a once-over than to a Boat Shop, then to Winter storage and get launched next spring. Maybe I’ll get an enclosed snowmobile/motorcycle trailer in the meantime!
We have a 21’ RibCraft and had a Melges 24 sailboat, both easily towed by the 6 cyl Outback. But my wife wanted to sail a heavier bost called a Thunderbird, which is about 5,000 lbs on the Trailer, and we have to tow it back from Canada, 600 Miles. That’s more than most unibodies can handle.
We’ve always towed bigger boats with cargo vans (most recently a Chevy Express 2500 and a Ford Transit T250 with. EcoBoost 3.5) but as we live in Boston it would be another vehicle to park. So I told my wife she was going to have to get an Expedition, Sequoia or Tahoe. We rented a Sequoia for a week to see what it was like in the city and on trips, and while you give up a lot of cargo room and utility and mpg compared to a minivan, it would still hold 6-7 people and wasn’t a lot bigger footprint than the Odyssey (203” Long, 79.6” wide). Suburbans (and most pickups) don’t really work in the city because they are 224” Long and city parking spaces are 20’ - 240”.
We started looking for used SUV’s with tow packages, and a 2016 Tahoe LT with Max Towing popped up locally and I made the deal with the owner. We’d checked out complaints about excessive oil consumption in 5.3’s and that seems to have been remedied 2014-on and we are assuming the rusting brake lines of older models have been remedied as well. While the Ford has the terrific 3.5L EcoBoost and independent rear suspension, we know lots of people who used Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban for heavy towing for well over 200,000 Miles with few serious problems.
Frankly the Odyssey can drive rings around the Tahoe while having more useful space and getting 3-4mpg better mileage. But we have to tow what we have to tow so that’s what we have and I’ll keep driving the OBW.
We’ve put about 200 Miles on it so far and the Trip computer shows 15.4. Bought some drawbars and plug converters, WeatherTech floor mats, mirror extensions, etc. Also bought some 18” Z71 rims (takeoffs) for winter tires as it came with 20” polished rims with “ All Season” tires and that doesn’t work very well for Ski country.
We depart for Ontario first week in October. Boat will get towed to Boston for a once-over than to a Boat Shop, then to Winter storage and get launched next spring. Maybe I’ll get an enclosed snowmobile/motorcycle trailer in the meantime!
Garands all look alike at some distance....
