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Towing question

Yeah I know but I can't afford the Escalade.
 
Me neither!! I figure the bank is just loaning it to me! Although I bought mine used (18,000 km's) and couldn't believe how much it dropped from MSRP. I had been looking for a used Yukon Denali, but they ended up being the same pricing as the Caddy! I noticed a bunch of Escalade's flooded the market at that time, I was told it was because of all the executives getting cut/retired with the big auto crash. Score for me though!
 
I like the 4wd option better on our Suburbans.  Of the 110,000 miles on the truck i have used the 4wd for about 1,000 miles.  The mileage is bad enough without turning all the wheels full-time.  The couple of times I needed to get the boat out of its parking place with wet , muddy grass the 4 wheel low locked was the only way to get up the hill.  
 
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I read somewhere all the 2015 Tahoes, Yukons, Suburbans with 4WD wil be equipped with the 2/4High/4Low transfer case, no more All Wheel drive.   My 2012 Yukon SLT had the 2/4L/4H transfer case and I liked it much better than my current 2014 Yukon Denali with All Wheel drive.  Supposedly helps fuel economy, but I liked the selectable drive transfer case also to use 4L to move trailers around on slippery/steap terain, and boat ramps.
 
Well the thing about 4WD.....it has to be in it to be using it (obviously).  With AWD, it's ALWAYS in AWD (obviously).  If you have 4WD and it's not in it, then you are in rear wheel drive.  To each their own I guess but again, my last SUV was 4WD and I like my AWD one now much better.
 
I just went to the GM build site. For  2015 ,currently there is no offering for AWD on the large vehicles .

Just check the Escalade ,no AWD  either for 2015 .
 
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Try one of these for towing just about anything!

Jack

my truck.jpg
 
What does everyone think of an expedition? We are looking for something used to replace the envoy for towing.
 
We had considered one when we were looking. I talked to a few people that had them and read many, many reviews. Everyone I talked to didn't like theirs! Haha most reviews said the motor was underpowered for that much weight and drank fuel like crazy. No full size suv is good on fuel, but they were especially bad.
 
We were looking at getting one with the 5.4 not the 4.6. It's odd as all the reviews I have read people love them and are trouble free. Gas mileage isn't a concern as it will only be used to tow the boat once in a while. It will sit the rest of the time.
 
TomS said:
Jared, I'd take that Denali off your hands ;-)

My wife thinks I need to give up my beloved Audi Avant S Line for something with more ground clearance after this horrible winter, so I've been shopping for trucks and SUV's again, after owning many over the years. I had a 2007 Acura MDX that was a fabulous car, but it only tows 5,000 lb in a pinch. The Honda Ridgeline would be nice but the same 5,000 rating, not a "real" truck in that sense. Same with Pilot, Acadia, and almost all the crossovers. All have short wheelbases and are lightweight, not good for pontoons.

I've also looked at pickups and am kind of shocked to hear Keith say the Hemi struggled. I had the hots for their new EcoDiesel 1500 truck but I've never been keen on any of Dodge's interior designs (sorry Semper), and they're just now hitting the lots so no deals at all. They offer the EcoDiesel in the Grand Cherokee but it's only in huge money versions, they still depreciate like a rock, and I think they have a questionable reliability reputation.

I learned the VW Touareg, BMW X-5, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne all tow up to 7700 lbs (3500 kilo in Euro-speak) and have diesels available. Online reviews rave about how good the Touareg tows, so I'm looking at a used VW Touareg V10 diesel on Friday. It can pull large trees out of the ground with 550 lb-ft of torque. It's also pretty hefty so doesn't get moved around so much and has great brakes. I test drove a new V6 TDI Touareg tonight and loved it. It gets great mileage too, but it's just too much $$$ for as infrequently as I tow. I really wanted it to follow me home, but alas, it's not happening.

I suspect when all is said and done I just need add a truck to the fleet, but I really don't want yet another vehicle to maintain.
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The new Dodge trucks have fabulous interior packages.  They're a far superior truck to the old models.  Mechanics have always been strong.

People in the used car business run from the VW Toureg, X-5 Bimmer, Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne.  They don't want to put so much money in low volume, low sales vehicles that has a very limited retail market.  They're just too fancy for the regular Joe.  Frankly, I'm surprised they're even still making the Toureg and Cayenne.  (My nephew runs a large Lexus dealership, and I've heard him talk about how he wholesales out these vehicle trades.)  But you could always lease'em and turn them back into the manufacturer at lease end--no risk in reselling them.
 
lakeliving said:
What does everyone think of an expedition? We are looking for something used to replace the envoy for towing.
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I had an Expedition loaded with options and 5.4 L engine.  It was very reliable and towed quite well. It had the vehicle air leveling pkg. Besides towing the boat, I towed heavy equipment using a 12,000 lb GVW trailer with load leveling hitch.  Main reason I got the 2014 Yukon Denali is I got a much better deal on it, just couldn't deal with the Ford guys.  I'd recommend test driving an Expedition prior to deciding.  I'd have no reservations about buying another Expedition if it was a good deal.
 
Thanks for the info. Hopefully we can find a good used one.
 
Bamaman said:
The new Dodge trucks have fabulous interior packages.  They're a far superior truck to the old models.  Mechanics have always been strong.

People in the used car business run from the VW Toureg, X-5 Bimmer, Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne.  They don't want to put so much money in low volume, low sales vehicles that has a very limited retail market.  They're just too fancy for the regular Joe.  Frankly, I'm surprised they're even still making the Toureg and Cayenne.  (My nephew runs a large Lexus dealership, and I've heard him talk about how he wholesales out these vehicle trades.)  But you could always lease'em and turn them back into the manufacturer at lease end--no risk in reselling them.
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I guess we all see things differently, which is why there are many brands for different folks. The new Dodge interior is the main reason I couldn't buy one at all. I just didn't feel right in there. They wouldn't sell me an EcoDiesel on my supplier plan yet, and wanted pretty much list price for the incoming stock, which is not happening. I really liked the GMC interior much better, but couldn't bring myself to spend that much $$$ with Gubmint Motors as a matter of principle, and they're made 5 miles from me by some of my own neighbors. The new Ford F150 should be great, but it's many months off so was a no go.

I settled on a new Touareg TDI and expect to be very happy with it, after owning 3 Audi's and a VW that were all great. They had very cheap money this month (0.6% lease/0.9% buy) plus my company gets a supplier discount that with incentives netted to about $3000 under invoice so I don't think I can get hurt too bad. But, I never think of vehicles as an "investment" either, they just depreciate like most consumable assets.

Maybe it's your nephew's market that's limited for them, because here the Q7/Cayenne/Touaregs are in strong demand. It was quite a scramble during the VW March TDI event to find one in the configuration I wanted because every time I'd get one lined up it was sold out from under me. The Audi dealer who I've bought several from said all of their Q7's are pre-sold so none were available when I called. Both of the CPO Q7's I looked at sold in 2-3 days. He also sells Porsche and the Cayenne is their strongest seller in the line, mostly to women as does the Q7.

Given how profitable they are, I don't think any of those models are going away any time soon.
 
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