Tow vehicle/PUP camper help, please!

[PoohNRoo2]

I know you folks always have good advice and informed opinions here in this group!!! I need your help! DH and I are looking for a new tow vehicle, and are considering a 2011 Chevy Equinox to pull our Coleman Westlake. So I guess I have two questions:

a) Your general thoughts,
b) If you pull a pup with your Equinox, how does it feel going down the road? OK or overwhelmed? Let's chat...

We are currently using a 2006 Nissan Frontier, but would like to split the towing time between two vehicles. Please don't recommend another Nissan, as our stories with the Frontier is a a different topic, different day...

As always, thanks for your help!

 

[2goofycampers]

Do you know the tow limits of the Equinox and weight of your pup ?

 

[acenorm]

From what I could find, the Equinox can tow 3500# with the V6 and the Westlake is about 2000 dry depending on the year of the trailer. Add your equipment, propane, people etc, you would probably be at your limit and to me that is unsafe. There should be some buffer for safety.

Best Regards,
Norm

 

[tim5055]

Get a copy of the Chevy towing guide and verify the tow ratings of the specific vehicle you are looking at. The tow rating can vary depending on engine, transmission, rear end gear ratio, bed length and even if it is a 4X4 or not. Do NOT take a salesman's word of it. I have found that if the salesmans lips are moving untruths are usually being spoken.

Open the manual and follow the instructions on how to determine the rating. Note that many times the rating will be based on an empty tow vehicle with a single 150 pound occupant. Any weight added to the tow vehicle over this deducts from the amount you can tow. This is how folks easily find themselves towing too much trailer.

Once you have the rating figured out do not exceed about 80% of the tow rating.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

I agree with all here,,you absolutely wanna know your tow weights (with everything loaded, & that includes Passenger weight),
Over loads can ruin your vehicle and more importantly, endanger your loved ones.

 

[baboiler]

We have a Wildwwod 17EXL and have towed it with our 2003 Envoy. It does ok. Our Wildwood may be a bit heavier than the Pup and I have no idea of the tow capacity of your vehichle. If only venturing a couple hours or so from home the Envoy did fine. We made a 5 hour trip to southern Indiana last fall and realized before we travel to Disney (from Indiana) we needed a different tow vehichle. Wind really put alot of strain on the Envoy. With a head wind we had to really push the small SUV to maintain 55mph. With a tailwind coming home 65mph was no problem. I turned lower rpm's at 65mph coming home than 55mph going.This is all flat land driving also. Hills would really strain the Envoy. As mentioned before stay way under your capacities. We are under by nearly 1000lbs and I feel it still worked Envoy to hard. Not a comfortable tow IMO. On a side note we picked up our Chevy 3500 crew cab last week. Ready for first Disney trip in July with our to small daughters. Not sure if this helps but it is what we experienced with our small SUV and towing a 17 1/2 " trailer. Another thought is be sure to get a good weight distributing hitch with sway control. I would not attemp to pull any distance without it on this type of setup. Good luck

 

[gillenkl]

We have a Westlake. We first towed with our 2000 Chevy Venture - it was OK for flat roads but we couldn't do any hills or mountainous trips - and we never filled up the water tank until we got to where we were going. We now tow the Westlake with a Chevy Express van with no problems. Definately check on towing capacity (don't go by what the salesman tells you) and remember to add in the weight of all your belonging and people too.

 

[Teamubr]

I just looked at the Chevy web site. www.chevrolet.com/equinox/features-specs/ The Equinox has a 3500 tow rating with the 3.0 V6 engine. and any configuration (2WD, AWD, any trim level) It also comes with a "Trailering" package that includes the hitch and wiring. The trailering package is only available with the V6.

Now you need to know the weight of your trailer fully loaded. I found a 2009 Westlake with a "dry weight" of 2155 and a GVWR (max loaded weight) of 3000. That sounds pretty typical of pup's. You get 1000 lbs or less for accessories and all your gear/food/clothes/junk. www.rvguide.com/specs/coleman/expandable-trailer/2009/destiny-series/westlake.html

IF these weights are close (the Equinox weights came from the Chevrolet site), I would say you will be fine. The pup is low profile and doesn't put up as much wind resistance as a full TT.

Go weigh your trailer to confirm it comes in around or below the 3000, but 500lb margin is OK. That puts you at 85% of capacity.

j

 

[bama_ed]

I looked up your hometown and you are in the hills above Harrisburg. I think this is still a borderline tow. You don't say how many people are in the family and how you plan to camp.

More people in the family (and the longer you hold onto the trailer) mean more weight now and in the future. Our 3 kids are 7 years older than when we bought the camper. The teenage boys are like men, we carry adult sized bikes now (no more trikes), etc.

How you camp matters too. Do you plan to dry camp? Then you will be filling the fresh water tank (water weights about 8 lb per gallon). So on and so forth. Those kind of considerations should be accounted for in the max camper weight of 3000 lbs.

Does the camper come with an A/C unit? That is not not included in the dry weight either if you plan to have one.

Headed up to Black Moshanin and some of the state parks over toward Altoona and State College? Taking it up past Horseshoe Curve? Them's some hills over that way.

As Baboiler said too, it might work but it will be a struggle. You'll probably take a 6-7 mile hit per gallon on your mileage. My Suburban pulling our pup only drops down 1-2 mpg.

So I think it will fit okay but it will leave little margin. Just IMO.

Bama ED

 

[Phil'sFrontier]

lol...no way! I currently drive an 06 Nissan Frontier. I tow a Jayco Jay Feather(gvwr 4750) 18 footer with mine. Sounds like your Frontier has not been good to you...too bad as they seem to be a hit or miss vehicle. Some people have lots of trouble, and some like me have little or none.

My vote goes to Ford. With Ford's 'sync' and the new 'my ford touch' adds soo much to a vehicle experience imho. The new Explorer is out and seems nice. I don't really know though. I just like the my ford touch so that is what I would check out. My wifes tows with her 2008Pathfinder too and loves it but I won't recommend that
The other suv I would check out is the 4runner. Besides the Pathfinder, the Toyota is one of few that are a body on frame design. I think this is a good thing when adding the extra stress of towing.

 

[juligrl]

The only thing I have to tow at the moment is a kayak trailer, but a PUP is a possibility for our family in the future. That said, we just bought a new car last weekend. We considered the Equinox, V6 equipped with tow package. The mpg rating dropped considerably in comparison to the 4 cyl, and the price increased, putting it on par with the Chevy Traverse. My husband wanted the added seating room so that's what we ended up getting.