Need to Purchase a New Vehicle for Towing

[iam1ru12]

Hello Everyone,
My family and I just got back from out first camping trip with our new pop-up camper. On our way out to the camp site, I stopped at a travel plaza and weighed my camper and Honda minivan. I was 300 pounds over on the GCWR for the van of 8,265 pounds. I also did the same on the way back as was still over but by a little less (my weight in the way back was 8,380).

The trailer is below its weight limit of 3,030 pounds, it comes in at 2,700.

My wife and I have agreed that it's just not safe to risk running over the limit and need to trade up vehicles on sometime that will tow more weight (in case we ever decide to upgrade from a tent/pop-up camper to a travel trailer or hybrid trailer). We looked at the following options, 1st gen Sequoia, 1st gen Honda Pilot, and a Ford Explorer. While I was drawn to the Honda (I'm a long time Honda driver) especially for the mileage rating of 17/22 versus the Sequoia's 14/17, the Sequoia is just more truck and has won out. We're looking at 2001s, 2002s and 2003s.

Now comes the task of finding the right one. Since we have 3 young children, leather is a requirement (wears better than cloth with kids...I know, my CR-V has cloth versus my wife's other cars that have had leather).

However my big question is 2WD or 4WD? We live in NC and rarely get snow. I do a fair amount of off-roading for astronomy purposes but most of that is with my CR-V and almost always there's a good path to where I'm going. We do occasionally go to the NC mountains for camping but not when it's below freezing outside (out pop-up is really a 3 season vehicle - pipes could freeze in below freezing weather).

For towing a pop-up trailer, is a 4WD Sequoia needed or preferred? Or would a 4WD drive, for my purposes, just be an extra added expense/option that I would never need (less the rather rare ice/snow storm in NC.

Your feedback and recommendations would be most welcome.

Thanks!
-Mike

[JBK23]

I checked your dealer and they have a nice 04 with a 100K Limited for 14,995 maybe you could work something out with them. Vehicle Detail Here's the link for it looks to be in good conditon I seen 01 on ebay for this price so to get a 04 like this is a good deal.

[pagemaster]

The trailer is below its weight limit of 3,030 pounds, it comes in at 2,700.

A Honda Pilot would do it.

Same platform and engine as your van

[iam1ru12]

Originally Posted by pagemaster

A Honda Pilot would do it.

Same platform and engine as your van

True, the Pilot would tow the camper but not much more should we decide to get a bigger camper. Right now we're pretty maxed out for space in our pop-up with the wife, 3 kids (7, 4, & 16 months) and me. In a few more years we won't all comfortably fit with clothes, food, etc.

Do get me wrong, I love the Pilot's fuel consumption figures and I'm a big Honda fan, but there were 2 strikes against the Pilot. First, there were no A/C vents in the 3rd row. Secondly you could not get the middle row (60/40) to flip forward without the "40" hitting either the car-seat or the booster-seat.

The van pulled the camper pretty well from a power standpoint. Yes, I defintely could feel it back there but the engine never really strained even on 7% and 9% grades heading into Cherokee, NC. The only place I could really feel a lack of power was on I-40 just East of Asheville (I think it was a 7% grade) where speed limit was still 55mph or 60mph. The van kept downshifting alot to keep those speeds. No so in the 35mph roads heading into Cherokee.

-Mike

[iam1ru12]

Originally Posted by JBK23

I checked your dealer and they have a nice 04 with a 100K Limited for 14,995 maybe you could work something out with them. Vehicle Detail Here's the link for it looks to be in good conditon I seen 01 on ebay for this price so to get a 04 like this is a good deal.

My wife found an '05 SR5 on the lot with 47k miles > Toyota Certified. I think we're getting that one.

Thanks!
-Mike

[imdav2u]

Don't jump into anything,shop around.Everybody is getting rid of their big suv's,it's a great time to buy.The local dealer here in St. Louis has a 2005 Limited 4wheel drive for $20k.There isn't much differance between the 4wheel drive and rear wheel drive,and it comes in very handy if you ever need it,plus the resale value on a 4x4 is better.

[iam1ru12]

Well the dealer came back with some pretty poor numbers. We looked at the Pilot again then called the Toyota dealer to ask them what their best deal was. That was Friday. I got no response from the salesguy or the sales manager until yesterday (Wednesday). Well we purchased the Pilot on Saturday.

Thanks for everyone's input.

-Mike