Anyone towing a 19' Escape with a ~2016 Highlander?

[BruceC]

I'm contemplating the purchase of a 19' Escape trailer, my tow vehicle is a 2016 Highlander. Is anyone using this combination. My Highlander is a 3.5l V6, rated at 5,000 lbs towing, 6 speed automatic. I do not haul many things with me, maximum two people. Mostly highway miles in Canada.

I understand the basics of towing, in the past I have towed large motorcycle trailers with Suburbans, which was overkill. My concern is the Highlander, which is my only vehicle.

Thanks,

Bruce
Ottawa, Canada.

[thoer]

Several of us tow 21's with Highlanders and are very satisfied with the combination. IowaDave just traded up from a 19 to a 21 with his Highlander.

[rjbny]

Originally Posted by BruceC

I'm contemplating the purchase of a 19' Escape trailer, my tow vehicle is a 2016 Highlander. Is anyone using this combination. My Highlander is a 3.5l V6, rated at 5,000 lbs towing, 6 speed automatic. I do not haul many things with me, maximum two people. Mostly highway miles in Canada.

Bruce
Ottawa, Canada.

We tow a 2017 19 with a 2012 Highlander that has the towing package that increases the capacity to 5,000. Have had no troubles, although we've only towed about 500 miles to date.

[rubicon327]

Bruce: This thread should be helpful.

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f1...nder-9742.html

[Defenestrator]

I can now add a data point to this after this previous week. We towed our brand new 19' 1000 miles home from Sumas with no problems. 2015 Highlander, AWD V6 XLE, with the weight-distributing hitch and sway bar.

You'll have to give it a bit of gas to maintain highway speed up hills, but it'll definitely do it. I tended to drop from 60-65MPH to 55MPH on steeper hills, but deliberately for the sake of gas mileage. I'm sure it could do 65MPH, but it gets a lot thirstier at 4K RPM.

Downhill was even less of a problem. The trailer's like a giant fiberglass sail, so moderate slopes I could just coast down. The "sport/manual" mode is infuriatingly useless for any sort of actual "sporty" driving, but it does let you downshift and aggressively lock the torque converter for some good engine braking. Even on extended 6% grades I barely had to use the brake pedal.

For merging, I'd describe the power as "adequate". I had to floor it on the onramp, but it got up to highway speed by the time I needed to merge. Might be a bit worse at altitude. I'd say it's about the equivalent of a modern bottom-end economy car like a Smart or Yaris (or basically any 4cyl car from the 80s or 90s)

The WDH and sway bar are probably overkill, but I'd rather err on the side of overkill than under. We were passed by semis and even went past semis going the other way on a 55MPH 2-lane road and had no sway issues.

From about Seattle to Portland, we managed just under 16MPG. After that we spent some time in cities and a couple days idling outside the DMV for A/C, so it dropped below 15MPG.

[BruceC]

Many thanks for taking the time to craft this answer, it is very insightful! I'm now planning on the WDH, will likely make things a bit easier and safer.