Questions about towing.

[XxthejuicexX]

So, I am sitting here thinking about pulling my boat with my wife's Xterra( slow afternoon due to rain). It has the 3.3L V-6 and should get around 18 Hwy driving. My F150 gets like 13. it's the 4.6 V-8. Now I am leaving for G ville next week and wondering if the V-6 would get better gas mileage that the V-8, it gets like 9 MPG towing. What do you guys think?

[Travis C.]

When my explorer was new i pulled my bassboat to seminole and got 19 miles to gallon. Similar to your wifes car. On the other hand my old F150 with same motor size uses almost 3/4 tank pulling same boat to the caney and back it seems.

I would take the V6 it should do a little better but probably not a whole lot.

[XxthejuicexX]

I think I am going to give the Xterra a shot. I had a 2002 super charged frontier back in high school and pulled the same boat with ease. Same engine just SC. I'm thinking the Xterra has to get 12-15 pulling a boat, which is better than my 9 with the truck. I should say I have larger aggressive tires on my F-150 than normal. Maybe I will win the grand prize 2014 tundra this weekend and won't have to worry about which vehicle I use.


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[Pookie]

Choosing a tow vehicle is kinda like choosing a vehicle to drive in snow and ice. It's not whether it will go or not, it's whether it will stop. If a tank of gas makes the difference in whether you can go or not, you ought to stay home.

[thehick176]

Add the stress on the transmission, suspension, etc.... I pulled my 19FT Triton with my wifes Trailblazer one time and one time only. The motor handled it just fine but the brakes and suspension didn't like it at all!

[XxthejuicexX]

Yeah I know all about stopping. I used to pull my boat with my 4cy Toyota tacoma. It pulled just fine but you had to really be careful stopping. Its not that the tank of gas means I can't go it's that I'm a cheap ass and want to save as much money as possible. I changed my mind and I'm rolling with the truck as normal anyways. I drove the x terra today and missed my truck, something about being in a truck the size of a tank.

[tkwalker]

Originally Posted by XxthejuicexX

Yeah I know all about stopping. I used to pull my boat with my 4cy Toyota tacoma. It pulled just fine but you had to really be careful stopping. Its not that the tank of gas means I can't go it's that I'm a cheap ass and want to save as much money as possible. I changed my mind and I'm rolling with the truck as normal anyways. I drove the x terra today and missed my truck, something about being in a truck the size of a tank.

Juice I ran into this problem in the early 90's I had a new Nissan Frontier Hard Body 4X4 loaded and decked out V6 ... Now these mid sized pick ups utilized a full rail Frame ... Not a unibody ...


I was pulling my Bass boat 17 foot Astroglass with a 150 HP Merc ... Like everyone has stated ... Stopping is the issue ... This is the big problem ... One evening I was towing my rig right after a little rain shower (what forms on the roadway after rain is called viscous paste after it gets wet) it is when the accumulation of Fuel, oil, and even exhaust is exposed to the road way ... That is when it is the slickest ... I topped a hill entering a traffic light intersection which I have traveled thousands of times, not speeding and applied the brakes ... It was just like trying to stop on ice ... And this was a hot summer day ... It didn't even slow down ... It got faster if anything ... Needless to say we slid (My son and his buddy also) right through the intersection ... fortunately we just got the green light from the car in front of us that tripped it ... I am just glad he got out of the way ...

After that I went to a full size truck .. I had no problem with about anything I hooked up to ... especially my 3800 pound guide boat ... <'TK><

[XxthejuicexX]

TK I slid through a couple lights with the Tacoma. Decided that if it was going to be close, I ran it.