Car search advices

[Meconium]

Shit talking aside,.....This is many outdoorsy families challenge now that people don't really sleep in tents.

. Tents are cheaper and bigger then ever nowadays. Tent camping is the way with a good setup.

[MakersTeleMark]

good to hear from you either way

You too. Welcome back. Now go buy a big ass truck like a true American and bitch about MPG's and gas prices.

[skaredshtles]

. Tents are cheaper and bigger then ever nowadays. Tent camping is the way with a good setup.

I'm with this guy.

And if the weather is forecast to be complete shite, get a motel room.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I'm with this guy.

And if the weather is forecast to be complete shite, get a motel room.

Do you even 18rd? Have you heard of 4mile?

Campground pretty much means RV park these days. The tent pads are unused and the parking is overflowing at fucked at places like Pumphouse. But for many families, my friends included, it is there thing.

[riser4]

I have a pop-up tent trailer that's getting long in the tooth. Frame is good. I'm probably going to strip it down and make it into a much lighter "trailer that I put my tent on and use to carry camping gear." The crank system is still good. I thinking I will keep it and replace the leaking roof with something lighter. A lighter trailer opens up more vehicle possibilities. And keeps your tent out of the mud.

[skaredshtles]

Do you even 18rd?

Sure. But it has always been in a tent.

[Name Redacted]

Get one of those huge cube-like ice fishing tents and a cot to sleep on. It is actually a pretty good way to go if you are too old to sleep on the ground. Easier to get up for old fat guys too. Fits in the Thule box.

I bought a $80 truck bed tent off amazon last year. It was pretty sweet actually. But now I have a $40k slide in. It is definitely $39,920 better

[Foggy_Goggles]

https://clamoutdoors.com/ice-shelters

https://www.camptime.com/collections/cots

https://www.amazon.com/HCALORY-Suppo...=ATVPDKIKX0DER


That's good livin'! but so is hanging out in the camper during a rain storm.

[Danno]

but so is hanging out in the camper during a rain storm.

that right there is the reason to own a camper. In good weather, it doesn't add much, but in shitty weather, having a camper rocks.

[singlesline]

Shit talking aside, I'm surprised there are not better options for renting a tow vehicle. This is many outdoorsy families challenge now that people don't really sleep in tents.

+1. Maddening how there aren't better options that allow you to tow. Normal rental car companies won't let you tow even if they could guarantee you a vehicle that's capable of it. Truck rental companies usually have "work truck" specs that aren't comfortable for long road trips. Enterprise Truck Rental is your best bet if you have locations near you--they can deliver a 250/350 sized truck with crew cab, but then they charge you extra for towing and start to charge you for mileage above some threshold.

Certainly nobody is going to rent you something like a Tahoe/Yukon that can tow.

We did like our pilot. We towed our full raft trailer and our full pop-up camper all over the place. Many times up over I-70.

As my kids turn to teens, I was thinking we'd move from the pop-up to a lite travel trailer. I was reading those could be in 2500- 3500 category, but then we'd have bikes, camping gear, 4 people.

But more often the car is being driven around town, including downtown boulder inside a parking garage. So a beast or pickup won't do. And I was hoping for a nice ride.

I'm so outed as someone who knows nothing. I definitely felt the Pilot suffer on I-70 at times but no bad results. I had been thinking that the 4runner can tow more (and it can - the pilot was only rated at 4500 lbs). I was wrong and so now and debating stepping up to the sequoia lx or tahoe but then I'll really be pushing my luck around town and will get shitty mileage.

So ideally I would think from experience that an SUV that could get me to 6000 lbs would be ideal. Sadly that doesn't seem to exist.

Yeah, you're running into a hole in the US automotive market that I have long lamented. There are few good mid-size options that are rated for towing. Obviously there are practical concerns (bigger vehicles make better tow vehicles), but there's no engineering reason something like a highlander (or even rav4) size couldn't tow a modest travel trailer.
Instead it is just a profitability decision...not enough customers buying vehicles like that care about towing capacity. Why overbuild brakes, add a transmission cooler, and spec an engine/transmission combo that delivers sufficient torque and gearing when your customers won't use it. Turbo-4 is plenty of engine for 95% of users.
The F150 is the best selling car in America and the reality is that most people who need to tow things live somewhere where they have space for a big truck...so they just buy one.

If you could ignore all of its other problems, the diesel VW Toureg could be a good contender here. It was rated for 7,700lbs, was 6" shorter than the Highlander, and people would still get upper 20s mileage on the highway. But they haven't made them in 10 years. I think the V6 still towed 6000+ and didn't have the headaches of the diesel (lots of "engine out" service items).

Mazda was *so close* when they offered a diesel CX5, but it is a little too small and only brings you up to 3500lbs. They made a diesel CX8 that could seat 7 that might have worked (towing capacity should have been around 4500lbs), but never brought it to the USA.

[neufox47]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but we’ve been using our XC90 phev to tow a 4000lb pop up without any problems (knock on wood). My only regret is we got the standard battery, get the extended 33 mile range (which will get you about 25). Wouldn’t buy new but they depreciate really fast the first 3-4 years.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[AK47bp]

I had the V8 Touareg, loved that thing but got rid of it because every time it rained my dashboard lit up like a goddam Christmas tree.

Premium gas sucked to buy too.

The German Enigma machine.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Really I think you want a Ford Everest or a Toyota Fortuner

I'm sure it is generally driven by the profit motive. The chicken tax doesn't apply to passenger vehicles correct? The vehicles we all want are not vaporware. They are produced just not for sale in 'Murica.

[m2711c]

Shit talking aside, I'm surprised there are not better options for renting a tow vehicle. This is many outdoorsy families challenge now that people don't really sleep in tents.

How many days a year, about would you be camping with the travel trailer? I'm assuming you are not paying to store that. What would it be worth to you to rents, say, a Suburban?

have you tried renting from home depot? they got beefy lookin' trucks.


https://www.homedepot.com/c/Truck_Rental

[singlesline]

I had the V8 Touareg, loved that thing but got rid of it because every time it rained my dashboard lit up like a goddam Christmas tree.

Premium gas sucked to buy too.

The German Enigma machine.

Yeah, I think it got better when they moved the gas version to the VR6 (and could run regular gas), but it was not a car with a low-maintenance reputation.

I guess you can also buy the Cayenne, which is very closely related to the Touareg under the hood, and is still being produced...but then you are paying Porsche prices.

They've also pushed the Cayenne more and more towards mom-mobile. When it first came out they thought "oh, well we are Porsche...people expect incredibly capable sports cars, so we have to also make incredibly capable SUVs." Now they have realized they are just selling luxury oversized grocery-getters and they have moved further and further away from the SUV chops.

But the Cayenne can still tow up to 7700, the Macan can tow 4400+, and here's a fun one: the Panamera can tow 4400...because of course the only "car" left in the USA that can tow has a $100k+ price tag.

[singlesline]

have you tried renting from home depot? they got beefy lookin' trucks.


https://www.homedepot.com/c/Truck_Rental

I believe home depot only allows their trucks to tow equipment you rent from home depot (not your own trailers).

Also see my original comment about tow truck rental--even if they let you tow their camper, they pretty much rent work-truck spec 2-seat trucks that aren't gonna work for a family trip.

[Dantheman]

https://www.amazon.com/HCALORY-Suppo...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Man, those diesel heaters have gotten crazy nice.

[Foggy_Goggles]

We take them snowmobile camping with the cot and the ice fishing shelters. I similar unit to those with ducting and keep two shantys warm no problem. We are just waiting for a weather window for a spring mission. It's like the RV camping of backcountry skiing.

[Foggy_Goggles]

have you tried renting from home depot? they got beefy lookin' trucks.


https://www.homedepot.com/c/Truck_Rental

I live no where near an HD and I drive an F250, frequently empty, but I tow and haul shit. I'm a contractor.

[BmillsSkier]

Yeah, I think it got better when they moved the gas version to the VR6 (and could run regular gas), but it was not a car with a low-maintenance reputation.

I guess you can also buy the Cayenne, which is very closely related to the Touareg under the hood, and is still being produced...but then you are paying Porsche prices.

They've also pushed the Cayenne more and more towards mom-mobile. When it first came out they thought "oh, well we are Porsche...people expect incredibly capable sports cars, so we have to also make incredibly capable SUVs." Now they have realized they are just selling luxury oversized grocery-getters and they have moved further and further away from the SUV chops.

But the Cayenne can still tow up to 7700, the Macan can tow 4400+, and here's a fun one: the Panamera can tow 4400...because of course the only "car" left in the USA that can tow has a $100k+ price tag.

Cayenne hasn't been that close to the Tuareg since the first generation (which now all seem to be modded into badass offroad rigs). That said, go to any Porsche track day event and you'll see that 2/3+ of the tow vehicles there are Cayennes.

[Hopeless Sinner]

Brakes- Trailers over 3000lbs require brakes on all wheels in Colorado.

Colorado Revised Statutes Title 42. Vehicles and Traffic § 42-4-223. Brakes



(1) Brake equipment required:


(c) Every trailer or semitrailer of a gross weight of three thousand pounds or more, when operated upon a highway, shall be equipped with brakes adequate to control the movement of and to stop and to hold such vehicle and so designed as to be applied by the driver of the towing motor vehicle from the cab, and said brakes shall be so designed and connected that in case of an accidental breakaway of the towed vehicle the brakes shall be automatically applied.

.....snip.......

(III) Every trailer or semitrailer of three thousand pounds or more gross weight must have brakes on all wheels.


Seems to rule out hydraulic brakes........hmmmmmm

[MakersTeleMark]

Why not just get a beater for the tow days? We always had one growing up for driving on the beach. It added to the charm and was fun to not give a shit and rally.

[plugboots]

Why not just get a beater for the tow days? We always had one growing up for driving on the beach. It added to the charm and was fun to not give a shit and rally.

This.
My buddy had a sweet 3-on-the-tree old bronco that he just kept connected to his boat, but drove an Audi.

[stupendous man]

We tow long - raft trips to Deso down 50 miles of washboard after 300 miles. Need something trustworthy.

But realistically, its 2-3 trips camping and 2-3 trips river in a given year, though some river day trip towing is too lightweight to matter.

[J. Barron DeJong]

We tow long - raft trips to Deso down 50 miles of washboard after 300 miles. Need something trustworthy.

But realistically, it’s 2-3 trips camping and 2-3 trips river in a given year, though some river day trip towing is too lightweight to matter.

I said earlier that I’d only get a body-on-frame SUV if I really needed it. I think towing over 50 miles of washboard probably warrants it.