Which tow vehicle would you choose?

Vann, Nice looking setup on your picture.  Please tell me where you were when you took that.  Thanks.  A great view it is.

I recently bought a new R-Pod 178 and needed to upgrade my Ford Escape 4 cylinder to a vehicle that would be more appropriate to tow my new trailer. You will obviously get a great range of answers for what you should get. There is probably no one right answer although there certainly are some wrong answers. I think it would be easy to have a knee jerk answer to get a full sized/full frame pick up or SUV. The answer depends on your individual needs and preferences. For me I absolutely did not want to have to add an extra vehicle to my garage designated for towing my R-Pod. I wanted to replace my Ford Escape with something that would be an appropriate "every day" driver that I could use also to tow the small percentage of the time that the R-Pod would be in tow behind me. That...for me...pretty much ruled out almost all vehicles that weren't unibody construction. Long story short I ended up buying a 2009 Toyota Highlander 4x4 with factory tow and a 3.5L V6 engine (only 47,000 miles). It has a factory stated trailer tow capacity of 5,000 lbs. We installed a good electric brake control and use a weight distribution hitch.   It gets reasonable fuel mileage, is a joy to drive, and I don't feel like I am driving a big truck that would be totally unneeded 98% of the time I am driving it. 

Originally posted by furpod Of those three, only the F150 ecoboost. But that's just me. I think towing trailers is "truck stuff".  And I think doing truck stuff means using a truck. I have never been of the "what's the least I can get by with" mentality, in any area of my life.

Any that you mention would get you down the road. However, if I were making the choice, I would pick the F150 for the longer wheelbase.

Originally posted by Happy Tripping Originally posted by furpod Of those three, only the F150 ecoboost. But that's just me. I think towing trailers is "truck stuff".  And I think doing truck stuff means using a truck. I have never been of the "what's the least I can get by with" mentality, in any area of my life.  Times change and we should change with them.  My 2200 pound 171 tows quite well, even cross-country, with a Jeep Cherokee at 4500 lb towing capacity and a factory tow package. If the trailer weighed 4400 pounds, or maybe even 2900 pounds -  where a lot of R-Pod models are I believe, I'd agree with you and go with a truck-type, but a lot of 'Newbies' are into trailering because of the attractiveness of using their general purpose family vehicle as a tow vehicle and excluding these seems to be arbitrary.  Note that I am specifically limiting this to the lighter 2200 pound R-Pods, not heavier ones.

Times may change.. but truck stuff still needs a truck in my book.

As much truck as might be needed.