A tale of 4 tow vehicles

[skyfree]

I pulled together photos of each of our tow vehicles we have used with our Escape 17B. I thought some of you may find this interesting and fun.

We picked it up in February 2017 from ETI with our 2012 VW Touareg TDI. This was an awesome tow vehicle with nice power and great fuel mileage at 20 mpg (diesel) towing the trailer. Of course this was a "cheater" diesel, so that fuel efficiency was not legit as far as emissions go. VW bought it back from us at a price we couldn't refuse. We used a weight distributing hitch with this vehicle because it had normal steel suspension without airbags, which was saggy with the trailer connected.

We took the payment from VW and bought a new 2017 Honda Pilot which was almost completely paid for by that check. Best deal ever. The Pilot was an adequate tow vehicle as I have said here before. It works, but the engine has to work pretty hard and the 6-speed shifts a lot. 4-5K RPM was not unusual pulling hills. We used the same WDH with that vehicle. We got about 16 mpg (gas). It was really useful when we had passengers being an 8-seater. We had as many as 5 people + a dog when towing and it was a pretty heavy load for the vehicle but it worked like a champ.

We also still have a 2018 Chevy Colorado ZR2 2.8 Duramax diesel. This is also a decent tow vehicle, but the limited power of 182 hp can be a struggle sometimes. An example was climbing up Sonora pass which is a 25% grade in spots. I do not use the WDH with this vehicle. We still use it to tow when some light off-road boondocking is on the menu. We've gotten the trailer into some really remote and interesting sites. Average MPG averages about 17-18 (diesel).

Lastly, we just had our first trip (2000 miles) with a 2021 Audi SQ7. This is the best of the bunch for sure. A 500hp V8 makes towing ridiculously easy. It's quiet and pulls hills at 2000 rpm with little effort. It has air suspension which self adjusts when you drop the trailer on the ball. We do not use the WDH with this vehicle. It doesn't need it and I suspect distributing weight to the front would confuse the air suspension. It has 4 wheel steering which seems to make tight campground navigation easier but that is hard to say for sure. We get about 15 mpg with this vehicle which actually matches the city mpg rating. Our usual not towing is 18 mpg combined so not a big hit, but you don't buy something like this with fuel efficiency in mind. One listen to the V8 rumble (with pops thrown in) is all it takes and you are off to the races!

We love our 17B and will probably have it for at least another decade or more so there will probably be more tow vehicles in its future.

[Eggscape]

Interesting observations, thanks.

[Brian B-P]

Interesting comparison, thanks.

Since diesel fuel contains about 15% more energy for the same volume than gasoline, the Pilot and Colorado are using about the same amount of energy to haul themselves and the trailer, and the Touareg wasn't much better despite not meeting emissions regulations - diesel efficiency isn't always very impressive. Of course the big gas engine of the Q7 hurts efficiency.

The Q7 is Audi's version of the VW Touareg or Porsche Cayenne. The new Q7 is on a different platform from the 2010 Touareg, because both models were updated (in 2015 for the Audi and 2018 for the VW), but the engine is probably the biggest difference, although the Q7 is a bit larger.

[gklott]

Originally Posted by skyfree

Lastly, we just had our first trip (2000 miles) with a 2021 Audi SQ7. This is the best of the bunch for sure. A 500hp V8 makes towing ridiculously easy. It's quiet and pulls hills at 2000 rpm with little effort. It has air suspension which self adjusts when you drop the trailer on the ball. We do not use the WDH with this vehicle. It doesn't need it and I suspect distributing weight to the front would confuse the air suspension.

You made a good choice for towing and everyday. The SQ7 is one of the best tow vehicles for all Escape Trailers, and many others. It ranks right there with the Mercedes GLS580, Infiniti QX80, and Toyota Land Cruiser. The 7700 lbs towing is great!

Thanks for the summary.

73/gus

[azjack]

About 50 years ago we left the in-laws at Jamestown and headed for Colorado by the shortest route with a Ford Ranchero with a 351 V-8 towing a very heavy 25' traveleze trailer. A short distance up the pas Nancy said she smelled the car. It was the auto trans boiling the fluid, we turned around and went down hill and another route that went through Vegas where I stopped at a auto parts store to buy and install an additional trans cooler.
AZjack