Towing Debate

Need some help with a friendly watercooler debate. If two vehicles have the same tow rating will they be essentially equal in towing experience near their max rating?

Ex. Toyota 4runner and Toyota Highlander. Both have 5000# specs and for arguments sake comparable V6s and transmissions.

My argument is that while equally rated the body on frame and rear wheel drive 4runner will do a better job than the Highlander. Your thoughts?

Backstory, I’m forced to downsize from my half ton later this year. Co-workers are having fun helping tell me what to spend my money on

Depends on suspension and tow packages anti sway this and that, but I would think the frame is better. Most important is the rear suspension and make sure to upgrade your tires.

The two biggest difference makers in towing experience will be determined by which vehicle is heavier and which has stiffer rear springs to reduce sag and sway. Without looking it up, my guess is the 4runnger will be heavier and will have stiffer rear suspension.

How much this matters depends on your boat. If towing 4500, then the difference will be pronounced, if 2500 then there’s unlikely to be much difference at all.

The heavier the weight to be towed, but more critical trailer setup is to the equation.

Grouse

A longer wheel base tows better too.

The other factor often overlooked is the payload rating. A tow vehicle can be within the tow rating but over in payload or rear axle rating. Your tow vehicle is only as good as its weakest link.

And enough power so it is not constantly shifting back and forth on the highway.

Between those two vehicles I’d go with the 4Runner. It is a rear wheel drive SUV built on a truck frame with a solid axle in back. The Highlander is a FWD car based SUV with independent rear suspension. You talk about towing at the max rating. No way I’d tow 5000lbs with a Highlander. It’s a nice vehicle but it’s not meant to tow those loads. I know you fish Canada. That is a haul with a vehicle maxed out. Once you load all your gear in the SUV, then hook up your boat to the Highlander, you’ll not be enjoying life. The cargo weight in an SUV is biased further back than in a pick up so they tend to squat more. I went from an F150 to an Explorer and the difference is noticeable with the same load but not towing. The Explorer is rated for 3500lbs and my little 14′ Alumacraft is noticeable just towing around for a day trip. If you can swing it I’d look at a Tacoma with a topper since you’re focused on Toyota’s.

We have an older Highlander and I would not be comfortable towing a heavy boat with it.

Another thing is power band. My example is a 2003 gmc envoy 4.2 vs 04 chevy s10 4.3.

S10 making max hp of 190 and 240 tq at around 3500 RPM

Envoy max hp of 270 and 240 tq at 4900 rpm

The S10 pulls better because it actually was making more power at an RPM range you would see in real world driving situations, where the envoy though making more max power made it at a very high RPM range meaning I had to have the pedal to the metal to make any real power.

blackbay wrote:

I know you fish Canada. That is a haul with a vehicle maxed out. Once you load all your gear in the SUV, then hook up your boat to the Highlander, you’ll not be enjoying life.

A couple of you said no way to using a Highlander near max rating(I agree). Conversely, would you feel better with the 4runner with the same trailer?

FYI – My Canada trips use boats in the 3000# area. Locally at the cabin we have another boat, let’s say right near 5000#. Couple times a year it needs to be towed on short trips.

Looking at a couple other vehicles than these two but tried to keep the question as much apples to apples as possible to keep on topic. Sorry, no pickups fit in my garage. Bye Bye Silverado

I know this isn’t an apples to apples as you have asked, but I have towed the same boat (a Bayliner 175) which weighs about 3,000 pounds with two SUV’s that have the exact same engine: A Ford Edge and a Ford Explorer. The Edge was rated for 3,500 pounds and the Explorer is rated for 5,000 pounds. I did tow long distances with the Edge several times and it was ok, but the same trips with the Explorer are much, much more comfortable, and I feel much more in control.

Towed my Lund 1700 with my folks highlander a couple times for short trips. I think that was a bit short of 3000 # fully loaded. It was fine but I wouldn’t make it a long term tow vehicle. Transmission was constantly searching for the right gear and I believe it’s a unibody versus a full frame 4 runner. Ratings being that same the 4 runner is a better option imho.

I had this this issue/opportunity last year. Growing family and needing to drive more kids around than my F150 SuperCrew could handle. I run a 20 foot bass boat and needed a vehicle that could pull safely and haul more kids.

We have a Hylander, AWD not FWD, and it is a really nice driving vehicle with the tow package. I would not advise ever towing my boat based on the reason shared above.

When I was shopping I looked at what vehicle could handle a larger towing rating, have a strong enough engine and has 7 seats. This left me with the Tahoe, Yukon, Arcandia and Durango.

The Tahoe and Yukon felt too boxing and small inside cabin. (meaning my passengers would feel cramp) and I also didn’t like the 50K starting price.

The GMC Arcadia wheel based felt too short for me along with the new body style I didn’t like. Drove nice

In the end I went with the Durango RT model that has the tow and Hemi engine. This has pulled my boat well, allows for additional load inside and have not seen any sagging in suspension or drive. Overall the mileage isn’t great but from what I hear most Dodge’s aren’t. Towing or just driving it seems to get about the same. (my car sounds cool…Hemi) I am happy with the vehicle.

Just my 2 cents.

I think Ford made a great move by returning the 2020 Explorer back closer to its roots. RWD, higher tow-rating. Less crossover and more SUV. Hopefully others follow suit.

patk wrote:

Need some help with a friendly watercooler debate. If two vehicles have the same tow rating will they be essentially equal in towing experience near their max rating?

Ex. Toyota 4runner and Toyota Highlander. Both have 5000# specs and for arguments sake comparable V6s and transmissions.
I
My argument is that while equally rated the body on frame and rear wheel drive 4runner will do a better job than the Highlander. Your thoughts?

Backstory, I’m forced to downsize from my half ton later this year. Co-workers are having fun helping tell me what to spend my money on

Rented a 4 Runner while in FL this week. Seems to have a stiffer ride compared to the RAV4 class of rig. Between the two I’d say 4 Runner. But……years ago dad used to tow a 1992 Tyee II with a 1984 Jeep Cherokee. That Tyee pushes the Jeep all over especially when braking. Not to metion the hills of Duluth were hell for the Cherokee.

RWD??? When you have FWD you are pulling instead of pushing which is more stable and less likely to put you into a spin. Funny to be in a car with low clearance and regular tires and to see trucks with great clearance and tires with aggressive tread stuck. Also with FWD the drive wheels are over the heaviest part of the vehicle-RWD you have spinning tires over an empty box-have fun. So if you have a vehicle just for towing cool-then I won’t see you on the side of the road-some are posting about brand new trucks-you will spend some 5 figure amount just to tow? You have more money than me. Oh and yep AWD or AWD with the option of 4wd would be the best IMHO

tim hurley wrote:

RWD??? When you have FWD you are pulling instead of pushing which is more stable and less likely to put you into a spin. Funny to be in a car with low clearance and regular tires and to see trucks with great clearance and tires with aggressive tread stuck. Also with FWD the drive wheels are over the heaviest part of the vehicle-RWD you have spinning tires over an empty box-have fun. So if you have a vehicle just for towing cool-then I won’t see you on the side of the road-some are posting about brand new trucks-you will spend some 5 figure amount just to tow? You have more money than me. Oh and yep AWD or AWD with the option of 4wd would be the best IMHO

Not following your logic.

If towing with front wheel drive is better, I beg to wonder why every “real” tow vehicle since the beginning of time is rear wheel drive???

365 days in a year-how many towing? Every day for some on this site. Some maybe 20x for the whole year-160 days of winter give or take-much better forward traction with AWD or even FWD. Reality.

You are very wrong Tim. Enjoy your fwd.

Yeah I am going to agree with Dustin. If I had a nickle for every front wheel drive semi I have seen I would be broke. Oh yeah I am broke, so there you go.

tim hurley wrote:

365 days in a year-how many towing? Every day for some on this site. Some maybe 20x for the whole year-160 days of winter give or take-much better forward traction with AWD or even FWD. Reality.

You know what’s even better?? Like a lot better??

4X4

Is the highlander front wheel drive?

Take that and a 4 runner to a steep boat ramp with a boat near the vehicle’s max weight rating and see how they perform. The “superior for winter driving” front wheel drive will be stuck on the ramp spinning its tires waiting for someone to tow it out of the way…..

How often are you at the boat ramp and how often do you need your vehicle to just get you to work in the snow-I should stop now-I see the commercials on a daily basis you are using your truck to pull out stumps, boulders are being dumped into the box, you are climbing clifs with your boat on back. I had a steep climb at Burntside lake pulling about 3klb of stuff with a pilot-it struggled but the vehicle and my manhood are intact and mostly the Pilot has been great. If you can only afford one vehicle you will make some compromises. RWD is better for towing I get that-How often do you tow??????

Highlanders are AWD

I would say between work and a boat I am guessing I tow about 100 days a year. I am getting back into snowmobiling next year, so it will go up maybe 20 more days next year.

tim hurley wrote:

How often are you at the boat ramp and how often do you need your vehicle to just get you to work in the snow-I should stop now-I see the commercials on a daily basis you are using your truck to pull out stumps, boulders are being dumped into the box, you are climbing clifs with your boat on back. I had a steep climb at Burntside lake pulling about 3klb of stuff with a pilot-it struggled but the vehicle and my manhood are intact and mostly the Pilot has been great. If you can only afford one vehicle you will make some compromises. RWD is better for towing I get that-How often do you tow??????