Tow Vehicle: V-8 or V-6?

[dlandersson]

FYI, as I wait for the Chicago Boat Show to roll around...kudos to my tow beast. When you've got 6 - 12" of snow, a tow beast is quite handy for getting around.

[RobertB]

If you have parking for a 3rd vehicle, I totally concur that you should just buy a decade old diesel pickup to tow the Mac and stay with whatever car you drive. Buying ANY vehicle to do everything is going to do nothing well--much like our boats. But with boats, owning more than one is an excessive waste, whereas owning multiple vehicle is not necessarily.

It's all about total cost. If you can pick up a decade old truck for $3000, spend $300 for the year of towing, vice getting half the mileage every day which will cost you $2500/year, then you're better off with a 3rd vehicle.

And I'm all about 4WD for putting into ramps. With all the slime at low tide in San Diego I would NEVER rely on rear wheel drive only to pull a trailer out. You can't even safely walk on the wet ramps without slipping here.

Yeah, but what if that truck becomes the wife's vehicle of choice for half of her driving - mainly to see her horse. The roads at the stable are a muddy mess. I do not have the nerve to tell her she needs to drive an old beater

Now, about that horse, he may be a real cute paint (black and white Tobano), but he definitely cut into my boating time last year

Has anyone figured out how to get a horse on a

[RobertB]

Oh yea, and secure your boat to the trailer.

White hulls are not only faster than blue hulls, but blue cars.

The white blue hull debate is hereby ended.

Coming from the military aircraft industry, I call that conformal boat towing. Cuts down drag and shortens the towing length.

[NiceAft]

I don't agree with Mastreb's comment about a tow beast.

The 2011 Acadia I have is our do it all vehicle. The Admiral drives a Prius, and I have the Acadia.
It gets 22 MPH on the highway (10 MPH TOWING A MAC), and can carry seven people. The Prius only can hold four, five if you squeeze. When we visit our son & daughter in law in mid state NY, we fit the six of us in with comfort. Room for a seventh if needed. When we tow Nice Aft, the Acadia performs. That tow beast does it all for us, and does it well.

Everyone has their own situational needs, and the beast that fits any one persons needs, might well vary from the next guy. Doing it all in one vehicle works for me. Tonight it got me through all the traffic resulting from the latest snow storm. While many struggled climbing the many hills, I didn't. That Acadia kept going.

Ray

On Edit: I should have stated that both the Acadia and the Envoy I referred to in my next post were both powered by 6 cylinder engines.

[mastreb]

I don't agree with Mastreb's comment about a tow beast.

The 2011 Acadia I have is our do it all vehicle. The Admiral drives a Prius, and I have the Acadia.
It gets 22 MPH on the highway (10 MPH TOWING A MAC), and can carry seven people. The Prius only can hold four, five if you squeeze. When we visit our son & daughter in law in mid state NY, we fit the six of us in with comfort. Room for a seventh if needed. When we tow Nice Aft, the Acadia performs. That tow beast does it all for us, and does it well.

Everyone has their own situational needs, and the beast that fits any one persons needs, might well vary from the next guy. Doing it all in one vehicle works for me. Tonight it got me through all the traffic resulting from the latest snow storm. While many struggled climbing the many hills, I didn't. That Acadia kept going.

Ray

To be sure, we have a "do it all" tow beast that we love. My point is that it's not worth swapping out a good car that you like and would not otherwise get rid of just to acquire towing capability. If you're willing to spend for a 2011 Acadia, then by all means save yourself a parking spot and do so!

[NiceAft]

The 2002 Envoy died (may it rest in pieces ), the Acadia is a great replacement . I would have bought another Envoy, but they stopped producing them and now make the Acadia. It is worth every dollar.

[kdarling]

Well I tow my MAC25 with a V8, however I have towed it with a V6 Blazer. The problem was really in the braking capabilities. The V6 Brake pedal had to be pressed harder then the Truck with the V8. But I didn't really run into any power problems either way. But didn't really try my luck.

[BOAT]

I use a 5 cyl tow veh.

[davidbourne]

I love my Ford F150 ecoboost turbo 6 cylinder. Plenty of torque and plenty of wheelbase. You want that and weight for stopping and control. Gets decent mileage for the size.

I have the 4 door, which seats 6 and has tons of back seat room.

A diesel audi q7 has great mileage and pulls like the dickens but the wheelbase would worry me since I'm used to the Ford.

[BOAT]

I don't worry too much about wheelbase with my 5 cyl - I have wheel base to spare - Back seat room is good, I have some of that too - :




I must admit, the diesel torque really does tow like a MAC TRUCK and gets really high MPG:

[NiceAft]

What is the gross vehicle weight on that?

[DaveB]

I will agree the Turbo 6 Ford has out is a beast with low end torque equal to the big V8 and desils.
You only need that torque when climbing the mountains.
The Standard V6 ford will haul our boats with no problems outside the mountains. With 302 hp and 278 torque (tow is 5500 lbs)is much better than my standard trans F150 6cylinder @ 202 hp. 1999 f150. ( Truck is extended cab with tow rateing at 2000 lbs because of standard trans.)
But been hauling the MacX heavy load past 5 years. (4500 lbs on tandem aluminum trailer)
That's Florida flat roads and not so steep ramps.
Dave

I love my Ford F150 ecoboost turbo 6 cylinder. Plenty of torque and plenty of wheelbase. You want that and weight for stopping and control. Gets decent mileage for the size.

I have the 4 door, which seats 6 and has tons of back seat room.

A diesel audi q7 has great mileage and pulls like the dickens but the wheelbase would worry me since I'm used to the Ford.

[BOAT]

What is the gross vehicle weight on that?[/quote

What is a "gross vehicle weight"? I'm not sure what that mean. I'm sorry. You mean if i picked it up in the air what would it weight?
I guess the van would weigh north of around 5000 pounds I suppose.

The sticker on the door says 8900 pounds, but i think that is something else because I know it can't weight 9000 pounds so i figure the the 9000 pounds on the sticker is probably how much weight the tires and axles and stuff can carry. I guess it's a 3/4 ton truck? Mike Inmon said my van could carry two MACs on the roof if you could tie them up there so I assume the van can carry about 4 or 5 thousand pounds.

There is a long steep grade getting from the harbor up to my house which is on a mesa and the van does not seem to notice towing the boat up the hill. The grade is steeper than the launch ramp.

They make another van just like it (or did) that has dual wheels in the back and they tell me that one can carry an awful lot of weight. I guess these things are originally designed as delivery vans - we use ours as a camper.

[NiceAft]

8900 lbs would be the gross vehicle weight (GVW). That is what the manufacturer says the vehicle would weigh if fully loaded. That number on the door is what the police would go by if you were stopped because they suspected you of driving somewhere that had a weight limitation lower than the weight of your vehicle. It would make no difference if you were empty, or fully loaded. That number is all that matters.

Ray

[BOAT]

Okay, sorry Ray - I am not real well versed in such things. I don't know what the actual "curb weight"? of the truck is so I can't say how much there is there left for me to carry a load. It may be less than 4500 pounds for all I know - we don't have a lot in it.

I guess to me that GVW rating thing does not mean much if the truck already weight as much as what that GVW is. Or whatever it's called.

I guess whats important to me is what can the truck haul OVER it's own weight, not what the total weight of everything combined is possible to haul. I guess the best would be a light truck that hauls a heavy load.

?

I guess