Doing homework

Originally posted by Danielw1 Why do you say you won't go into quality on FR products? Everything I've seen so far looks like great quality. As for the 6 cylinder towing.. I would recommend 6 cylinder f150 ecoboost! It blew the doors off my v8. Don't let number of cylinders be the deciding factor in what you tow with, it's all in how those cylinders are used!

It is also a factor whether those cylinders are turbocharged or not. The Ecoboost engines are amazing. Until our accident, the 4 cylinder Ecoboost engine in the Escape performed very well, much better than the V6 in the Frontier which has twice the displacement. That said, the Frontier is the better vehicle for towing since it is 4WD. When towing, the traction when it is in 2WD is better because it is the rear wheels being driven as opposed to the FWD of the Escape. When the R-Pod was hitched to the Escape, I had to be careful starting. It was easy to spin the front wheels, even with a WD hitch.

If you do go for the Highlander, the LE AWD version is the one you would want. FWD works, but the drive wheels in front is not ideal.

If you go for the Pilot, Honda lists towing specifications as 3500 lbs for FWD and 5000 lbs for AWD versions provided you have the factory tow package. From the Honda web site:

"[3]  Maximum towing capacity for AWD models is 5,000 lbs. Maximum towing capacity for 2WD models is 3,500 lbs. Towing requires the addition of the Honda accessory towing kit, trailer harness and hitch ball."

Neither the Highlander nor the Pilot is a turbocharged engine. If you tow at relatively low elevations, you will not have any problems. The problems happen when you start to gain elevation. Figure on 4% power loss for every 1000 ft of elevation. You can tow at higher elevations with a naturally aspirated engine as long as you realize that you will not have as much power to work with. We did that coming back from our trip with the Nissan Frontier.

One thing you might consider is to purchase used instead of new. You might find a deal on a good used vehicle and you would not have the heavy depreciation hit of purchasing a new vehicle.

Originally posted by Podwan That's excellent advice, Stephen. We are keeping our eyes open for used crew cab trucks. They hold their value well, unfortunately for us. We live in SE Texas, and everyone here seems to like having at least one.

Check CarMax, AutoTrader, or other sites. We needed a replacement vehicle in a hurry, so we went to the CarMax in South Jordan, Utah. It was close to where our daughter and her family now live. That is where we purchased our 2010 Nissan Frontier LE Crew Cab 4x4. There was a private seller who had a 2000 Ford F250 SuperDuty Diesel. I would have liked that, but it had some issues and we felt better getting at least a minimal warranty. CarMax did some work on the Frontier, replacing the back bumper which had been bent previously.

One advantage of being where pickup trucks are more popular is that they are likely to be more available on the used market than they are here in North Carolina. The CarMax in Raleigh has lots of sedans and SUVs, but very few trucks.