New owner 179

Welcome and congrats on your 179.  We tow with a Ford Explorer which also is not a true truck but does very well with the camper.  We also have the Anderson WDH and it is very easy to set up and works very well.  My wife is even learning how to set it up properly and she doesn't normally like that kind of stuff.  The P3 is an excellent brake controller, also what we use.  I think you should be very happy with your rig.  When towing we try to stay below 60 MPH and get about 14 mpg even in the mountains of Arizona.  Happy camping.

The Santa Fe should do nicely. I am towing with a 2016 Ford Escape SE with 2L Ecoboost engine. It is rated for 3500 lbs. It handles the R179 quite nicely with the Equal-i-zer 4-way stabilization hitch I have. Our first trip, I was trying to hit 65-70 mph. With the strong headwinds we encountered out west, our mileage was between 8 and 14 mpg with the average being in the 11 mpg area. We purchased an AeroPlus wind deflector and limit our speed to 60 mph. We now get between 14 and 16 mpg. Part of the improvement is from limiting speed, but the AeroPlus contributes significantly also.

I normally have the fresh water tank full but try to have the black and gray water tanks empty if possible. The dealer adjusted the hitch for empty tanks. I found that I needed to readjust it for the additional weight of the water plus the generator and rack I installed. That consisted in adding a washer to tilt the head a little more. If I need to adjust more, I would have to do so with the sway bar brackets since I have the maximum amount of washers installed now.

I added the Equal-i-zer sway bracket jackets. That quiets the hitch significantly. Instead of the metal on metal popping and groaning, the bars sit on the jackets. While it reduces the sway control slightly, it is not enough to affect the performance. I also grease the swivel points of the sway bars per the instructions. I paid too much for the hitch to wear it out prematurely. If we need to replace the Equal-i-zer, I will strongly consider the Andersen hitch. I would like to have gone with it, but the dealer did not recommend it, saying people had a hard time adjusting the equalization. I expect it is just a learning curve that would not have been too hard to overcome.

I hope you will enjoy your R-Pod as much as we are enjoying ours. I have done a number of modifications, most of which are documented in my mods link in my signature line. I need to add the latest mods, which I will do when we get home from this trip and I don't need to use my phone's hotspot.

John in Idaho,
    Thanks for your reply, I do plan to use weight distribution and will be careful how we load.

Thanks

Welcome.  Since your vehicle has a 5000 pound rating you should be fine.  I recommend getting one of many OBDII monitors that are on the market.  Some let you use your phone with an app, some are dedicated (I use an Aeroforce Interceptor).  There are many parameters in the computer you will want to know while towing but aren't shown on the dash, like oil temperature and transmission slip.