Taking Nominations for a Lightweight Tow Vehicle

It is easy to overlook things when you think alone, so I might benefit from readers' ideas about choosing a tow vehicle to pull my converted cargo trailer: 2900 pounds loaded, 6 foot wide, 350 pounds of tongue weight.

But before getting concrete, let's reflect on the temptations in thinking that I can tow this trailer with 'almost anything.' Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said something like 'A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing?' Well, 'brevity is the soul of wit' and that aphorism is brief, pithy, and easy to remember. But is it actually informative about what makes a cynic? I think not.

A cynic is not a "negative" person. Rather, he is someone who has been undisciplined with his expectations about new situations and people. He has the bad habit of expecting too much, and therefore, he is usually disappointed, if not completely disillusioned, by how things turn out. He then reacts to that disappointment by throwing mud at new things that come along; it's his way of protecting himself from yet another disappointment.

And that is my situation with selecting a new tow vehicle for a lightweight trailer. I'm being sucked into exciting fantasies about all the new choices open to me: no more 15 mpg unhitched, impossible parking, difficulty in getting turned around, and taking up the entire width of a dirt road with a whale of a tow vehicle. No more am I enslaved to 3/4 ton pickups or vans, with gas-sucking V8 engines. Now I can at least open my mind to:

1.  Half-ton pickups or vans that ride smoother and get better fuel economy unhitched. Most of my miles are driven unhitched. They are still too large in dimensions though, but I would choose a regular cab with a 6.5 foot bed.

2.  Midsize pickups like the Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier. (They don't come in regular cabs, though.) In 2015 Chevy is bringing back a completely redesigned midsize "Colorado."  Too bad that Ford sells Rangers all over most of the world, but not in North America. And why doesn't anybody make a mid-size van like the old Astro?

3. Truck-based SUVs like the Nissan Xterra, Toyota 4Runner, or Jeep Wrangler.

4. Car-based crossover SUVs (Dodge Durango, Subaru Outback, Toyota Highlander, Ford Escape, or Chevy Traverse) as long as they have V6 engines and tow packages.

And what about the Ford Econoline van's successor, the 2015 Transit full-size van? I would get the half-ton, short wheelbase, V6 model. But I have yet to see one! Ford has worn out my patience on this. Also I'm skeptical about the ground clearance. Ideally I prefer a used vehicle with low mileage; vehicles that are new in 2015 kill that option.

My new tow vehicle needs ground clearance "noticeably" better than a passenger car. That kills the Ford Transit Connect and mini-vans. But what about crossover SUVs? I have ridden in Subarus and been very impressed with their ground clearance. I had another fantasy when riding in my friend's Honda Odyssey minivan. How nice it would serve if it just had more ground clearance! But how do you "lift" a front-wheel-drive minivan? Growl. 

My mind used to be closed against towing with a car-body (aka, a unibody, stamped sheet metal that is spot welded together.) All of the crossover SUVs are built this way. How could you attach a decent hitch to thin sheet metal?

Then I crawled underneath a Hyundai Santa Fe and saw that they had two heavy rectangular steel tubes affixed somehow to the rear of the car. The class 3 hitch was then attached to these two heavy steel tubes. So I am more optimistic about crossover SUVs now.

Four wheel drive is not necessary, nor is all-wheel-drive. I lean towards rear-wheel-drive. Remember that modern vehicles all have (brake-actuated) traction control systems.

I am used to the cargo-carrying capacity of a full-sized van, which is extraordinary! Obviously much of that stuff will have to be downsized; and I am already working on that. 

But it must be able to accommodate two bicycles standing up inside the cargo area. Obviously the front wheels will be removed and I could tolerate lowering the saddle. Storing bicycles inside a vehicle is not as hard as it sounds, because only one gets used in any given season. Therefore it is sensible to spend 10 minutes dismantling the out-of-season bicycle.  You just put them parallel, head to tail, with foam in between, and smoosh the whole thing tight with straps.

Please don't mention storing them outside the vehicle. Unacceptable. 
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Update: I ran into an informative article that explained how the Dodge Durango is the only rear-wheel-drive crossover SUV. It comes with the Pentastar V6 engine standard, but the hemi V8 is an option. It is rare for a V8 to be offered as an option with crossovers. But even with the V6, the tow rating is a whopping 6400 pounds. 

With its standard 8-speed transmission, its EPA fuel economy rating is 25 mpg on the highway!