Is Nissan Pathfinder a good tow vehicle? I'm used to a Suburban...

dickmsp

New member
Poor old Subby starting to nickle and thousand dollar me. It's been great to tow with but I'm thinking trade in my car and Suburban in on a smaller suv I can use as a daily driver and cut my expenses in half... Then I can spend more money on snowmobiling!!!
Thank you in advance!!
 

1fujifilm

Well-known member
Poor old Subby starting to nickle and thousand dollar me. It's been great to tow with but I'm thinking trade in my car and Suburban in on a smaller suv I can use as a daily driver and cut my expenses in half... Then I can spend more money on snowmobiling!!!
Thank you in advance!!

NO, NO, NO AND NO.

V-8 or bigger my friend.
Unless, you are ok driving 10 under the speed limit.
Towing is about more than towing capacity vs. the load weight; wind resistance makes towing a Beeatch.

Bear
 
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blkhwkbob

Active member
NO, NO, NO AND NO.

V-8 or bigger my friend.
Unless, you are ok driving 10 under the speed limit.
Towing is about more than towing capacity vs. the load weight; wind resistance makes towing a Beeatch.

Bear
Come on, my 4.2 liter inline 6 Trailblazer does fine. You don't need 8 cylinders to tow.
 

heitz66

Member
Had a 2016 Nissan Frontier V6 pulled a 2 place enclosed trailer loaded with 2 snowmobiles. Pulled just fine at any speed but the gas mileage about drove me bankrupt. Didnt matter if I was going 60 or 80 it got about 8 or 9 miles per gallon. Switched to a Ram truck with V8 and get between 12 to 14 miles per gallon.
 

old abe

Well-known member
I've got a F150 with a ecoboost V6, and have not found a V8 able to out do it yet. It performs like it's a V10. I spec'd the truck out to tow, and it does what I wanted it to do.
 

sjb

Member
I've got a F150 with a ecoboost V6, and have not found a V8 able to out do it yet. It performs like it's a V10. I spec'd the truck out to tow, and it does what I wanted it to do.

Agree. Really love the motor. Hauled some stone this past summer, and weighed in at 19K#'s. Pulled it fine, but my next load was much less from a safety standpoint. When you need the power, it simply spools. And I am not brand loyal. Have owned many different trucks through the years.
 

old abe

Well-known member
Agree. Really love the motor. Hauled some stone this past summer, and weighed in at 19K#'s. Pulled it fine, but my next load was much less from a safety standpoint. When you need the power, it simply spools. And I am not brand loyal. Have owned many different trucks through the years.

This is absolutely the best pickup truck I could ever wish for. Set up for 13 K towing. I tow 15K from farm to farm regularly with no effort, and no problems. I stayed with GM trucks way too long. With way too many major, high $$$, problems. Never again!
 
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ICT Sledder

Active member
I recently sold my 10 year old Tundra for $19,500. A Chevy, Dodge or F150 of same year would have sold for $8,000. Wonder why...

$19.5K versus $8K for comparable pickups on paper outside of the badge on the front? Did you actually type that with a straight face?

Insert Jennifer Lawrence’s “yeah... okay” gif that I’m too lazy to look up right now.
 

dickmsp

New member
Thank you everyone. My trailer is a fiberglass Topcap covered trailer with usually 2 snowmobiles so within the towing limits of most mid sized SUV's. Interesting gas mileage heinz66, but that makes sense. The smaller engine is working a little harder. I went from an '04 diesel Excursion with the 6.0 which was overkill when it was running. ( you may have seen me on the shoulder of highway 2 in northern Wisconsin many times when it wasn't running ) I went to the Suburban and thought that was a small suv compared to the Ford but it worked pretty well. I'm still on the fence, and I appreciated the input from everyone. I'd love to buy a new suburban but I can't believe how much money they are! I'll check out pick ups, looks like some better deals on them now. I'll let you all know what I end up with. Until then I'll continue driving myself insane over what to get!!!
Again thank you for the input
 

indy_500

Well-known member
You can usually find end of the year new Silverado 5.3s extended cab lt package for $36k and crew cabs for $39k. Not sure what your price range is but considering you mentioned the cost of suburbans are too high and you’re considering trucks I just thought I’d throw that out there
 

old abe

Well-known member
$19.5K versus $8K for comparable pickups on paper outside of the badge on the front? Did you actually type that with a straight face?

Insert Jennifer Lawrence’s “yeah... okay” gif that I’m too lazy to look up right now.

Most of the guys I know who have gave the Tundra a try, don't seem to keep them very long? I am not picking on the Tundra, but it seems the MPG's were the big complaint, along with cab seating? My snowmobile bud ran the smaller Toyota trucks for a work vehicle MPG's. But they always seemed to have a real bad rust out problem.
 

blkhwkbob

Active member
You can usually find end of the year new Silverado 5.3s extended cab lt package for $36k and crew cabs for $39k. Not sure what your price range is but considering you mentioned the cost of suburbans are too high and you’re considering trucks I just thought I’d throw that out there
That's not a lot for you, huh? You are a couple years in the trade, have three snowmobiles, a house and a $40k truck? I'm definitely doing something wrong.
 

SledTL

Active member
I tow my single place with a salt shield behind my crv 70 mph no problem. If you need a V8 for an extension down there, remember that two sleds weigh less than 1000 lbs. Things you do want are lockable 4x4 and a real transmission.
 

twodeere

Member
2016 Ford Explorer 3.5 V6 tows my two place enclosed Triton with no issue. Has trailer tow package and 5000# tow capacity although I’m nowhere close to that with the two sleds & trailer. Makes a great daily driver rest of the year.
 
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