Tow Vehicles, Keep what you have or Upgrade?

I'll share a little personal history that will perhaps provide some helpful information.

We started out intending to purchase a Casita. I had found a Craigslist post and thought I had arranged to purchase with escrow. Turns out, it was a pure scam that set me back $2K. In view of that purchase, we traded our 2009 Ford Escape which was inadequate to a 2016 Ford Escape SE with 2L Ecoboost engine which had the factory tow package rated at 3500 lbs. I did not want to give up on the idea of a camping trailer. My search led to the Forest River R-Pod 179 which we purchased from a dealer (no more Craigslist for me!).

The 2L Ecoboost engine in the Escape was pretty good on the highway but average in town. For towing, Ford recommended use of premium gasoline. Premium is much more expensive than Diesel in every place we have traveled. While I can use regular when not towing, our trips were much more expensive with premium gas.

Last December, we had an accident when we hit ice with a strong cross-wind in Wyoming. Because the Escape was going to be out of commission for longer than we could wait, we purchased a used Nissan Frontier LE Crew Cab with a 4L naturally aspirated engine. It also has the factory tow package. An advantage is that premium gasoline is not required. The down side is that at any significant altitude, the Frontier has less power and torque, with a loss of 4% per 1000 ft. The Escape did not have that power loss.

Mileage in both vehicles is around thae average I have seen other people post which is about 12 mpg. In the Escape, I could get a little better, around 14 or 15 once I learned how to deal with hills. The Frontier does not have as many gears as the Escape had. I learned that if I keep the RPMs lower than 3000 RPM, my mileage was much better. That means no cruise control, especially onuphill stretches.

Don't expect to be the first one up the hill. Become comfortable with the right lane. Limit top speed to 60 mph--all these will help you get better mileage.

A turbo diesel is probably the best for towing, and will give good performance when not towing. A turbocharged V6 will likely outperform a naturally aspirated V8 in most cases, especially when at higher elevations. If Nissan were to release a Diesel Frontier, I would definitely be looking hard at it. Ford is supposed to have a Diesel F-150 next spring. If so, that would be a good choice. I understand that Fiat/Chrysler has some emissions problems with their diesel, so the diesel Grand Cherokee is not currently available. I'm not sure about the diesel Chevy Colorado.

If not the diesel, then a Ford F150 with Ecoboost engine would be a good choice for towing an R-Pod. I have grown to like the Frontier because the pickup bed has been very useful. Before, I did not have a good place to carry spare propane or gasoline for the generator. Now, I can put things like that in the pickup bed. That is something that can't be done with an SUV.

We towed our 179 with our Dodge Grand Caravan for many years, it handled good, ranged from 12.5 -16.5 depending on wind. We really liked it and still have it,BUT this year we purchased a 2017 Ford F-150 with the 5.0 engine and really like it, tows the camper with ease, taking it on our first trip with it to North Carolina next week. Will report back on mileage etc.

I have been retired since January of 2014. Below, you can see what I purchased about 6 months prior. No regrets. It does anything I ask of it.

Expect about 10-12 mpg when towing, regardless of vehicle. The bigger engine does not have to work as hard to do the job. I don't plan to replace vehicles frequently so, having something that would do the task easily is/was important.

Personally, my experience with V6 engines is that they don't get THAT much better mileage than a V8. I'd rather pay a few extra pennies at the pump and have a capable vehicle.

Here is my real life mpgs (all are + or - a little):
City = 16
Highway = 20-21
Towing = 10-12

Yes, I do use an E2 w/d, anti-sway hitch.

IMHO, if you are a Ford guy, (if it were me) I'd go with the F-150 with the 5.0. By all accounts, it seems to be a "darling" among the blue oval fans.

We have a 173 model annd have towed it for 6 years with 2 very different vehicles. We started with a Chevy Astro van, 6 cyl with tow package. We towed from Florida to Michigan  several times. It was adequate, but we aways felt like we were on the edge. We were waiting for something to break.Finally, the transmission gave out.

We had the same issue with our Caravan it had a 20 gall tank, I really didn't like travelling with it much below half a tank so we were stopping all the time. Was hoping for a bigger tank with our F-150, but it has a 23 gallon tank oh well. Will still have plenty of stops to get out and stretch!