Upgrading Tow vehicle

[BigBald]

My family is looking to upgrade from a 1999 Tahoe (5 passenger) up to a SUV that will hold 7 or 8.

We pull a 99 Sport Nautique....and we tow almost every weekend of the summer. Those trips also include one or two 5 or 6 hour trips.

I am thinking about a 2002-2004 Suburban, Expedition, or Excursion. I was wandering if anybody could give me some help.....things to watch out for? Is a 1500 Suburban going to be OK....or should I push for a 2500? Any thoughts about an Excursion? V10 -vs- Diesel?

Thoughts?

[NautiqueJeff]

I picked up a new Excursion a couple of months ago with the 6.0 Diesel. It has been an outstanding tow vehicle so far.

You might also want to check out THIS THREAD.

[FatBoy]

The excursion with the 6.0 is the way to go. I have the F-250 with the 6.0 cause I need the truck bed, if not for that I would have the excursion. It is on the same frame as my F-250 super duty.

[winebrad]

We have a Superduty F-250 Super Crew with the V10, 6" Lift and 36 14.5's and it works great we trailered the boat to Tahoe last summer and there was no issue even through the July Sacramento Heat. I also just purchased a Dodge 1500 Crew Cab with the Hemi 5.7 and no issues with towing. V-10 Mileage is about 9-10 on our truck which is not great but acceptable to us.

[bkhallpass]

I have a 2000 Yukon XL 1500 (same as a Suburban). It has the 327 engine, 5.3 Liter I believe. Get
17 mpg commuting, and about 13 when towing my 2001 Super Air. Never had a problem towing.
I've pulled a couple of model Ski nautiques, and don't even notice the boat is there. Pulled
a 2002 Air (same as your sport) on a trip of about 250 miles, no problem.

I also take it to the mountains for skiing 20-25 days per year.

I've got nothing against Ford, my Dad worked for Ford for most of 30 years. But I find the Suburban
to be a much smoother ride, quieter, and more comfortable than the Ford. The Burb also has
a better turning radius. My wife even loves to drive it.

The XL/Burb is only 18 inches longer than your Tahoe, but it makes a huge difference in interior space.

I've got 105,000 miles on the Yukon XL, and have never done anything other than tires and
scheduled maintenance. According to the mechanics, I've still got 40% brake pad on the thing.
It's been a great workhorse.

BKH

[AbunDiga909]

2004 Dodge Durango w/ a Hemi... never been in an Excursion I'm sure its great but this car has pulled the crap out of the boat, no dissapointments here...

[Hollywood]

I'll second the Suburban/Yukon XL. Plenty of power with the 5.3, and SMOOTH AS SILK. Any 3/4 ton chassis is overkill for a 5k# boat, not necessarily a bad thing though. The Expedition isn't any bigger than your Tahoe. I believe new Tahoes/Yukons come with the third row seat too.

[speck]

i too have a 99 tahoe with the 350 and 220 000 kms on it. the suburban is what you want (or yukon xl) i also own a 2002 3/4 ton 4x4 duramax diesel gmc. here is my 2 cents: the diesel is great but expensive. i saves money when you tow heavy loads, not if you just city drive or even hwy drive unloaded. i thought i was going to replace my 99 with a 4 door diesel truck with a 6 ft box, because i believe the suburb is no longer availible with the duramax. when i really thought about it, my usual trips to our launch is about 15 min each way, 3 or 4 times a week during the summer, plus we also have two trips north in the summer that are 4hrs each way. i figure that it is not worth it for me to spend on the diesel for just two trips a year. i should clarify, our 02 truck is only a reg cab and the kids don't fit, so we tow with the 99 tahoe, i use the truck as a work vehicle..
so my point is the length of your trips are the important thing, your load is light and the 1/2 ton will pull it fine. if you had the 226 loaded it might be different, but my 99 tahoe towed a 23 malibu all last year and was fine, but on the long trips full of stuff (the truck and boat full) it would need to be manually shifted between drive (3rd) and OD arounf the hills as not to be too hard on the tranny.
sorry such a long rant, hope it helps,
graham

[CHassmann]

I have a 2004 1/2 ton Suburban that pulls my '02 196 with no problems at all. We don't tow often but did pull from north central Ohio to Lake Cumberland with no problems at all. You can barely tell that your towing.

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

Excursion Limits

I beleive the Excursion has the most storage room behind the back seat. HOWEVER, the big limit on the Excursion comes from your desire to seat 7 - 8. The Excursion does not have shoulder belts for the middle seats. This is a HUGE disadvantage from a vehicle safety point. Believe the Chevy products have addressed this issue.

If you want more information on the "value" of the shoulder belt, contact me offline and I will refere you to someone at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institue (UMTRI).

[jasper]

RE: Excursion Limits

I've had both a 1500 Suburban and a 2500 Suburban as towing vehicles. I'd recommend the 2500 over the 1500 hands down. I drove an Excursion on an 1100 mile trip with no boat and it averaged 20mpg with incredible passing power. But CWB's point above about the shoulder harness is a concern. The torque from a diesel would be nice. Supposedly, Chevy is coming out with a diesel burban in 2007. I'm holding on till then. Currently over 130k miles on my 2500. I want a diesel!!

[NautiqueJeff]

Re: Excursion Limits

I beleive the Excursion has the most storage room behind the back seat. HOWEVER, the big limit on the Excursion comes from your desire to seat 7 - 8. The Excursion does not have shoulder belts for the middle seats. This is a HUGE disadvantage from a vehicle safety point. Believe the Chevy products have addressed this issue.

I must respectfully disagree. My '05 has shoulder belts on all seats except the center of the third row bench. Here's a picture of one of the second row captain's chairs.

[NautiqueOasis]

Upgrading Tow Vehicle

I have had a '99 Suburban 1500 and a '02 Expedition and have pulled a 196 from OH to KY/TN. We will be turning in the Expedition in August '06. We'll be going back to the Surburban. Not much difference drive-wise; but I miss the interior room of the Suburban. I also think the Excursion is overkill. The interior room is outstanding but I'd rather put all that extra gas into my ski boat, especially if you need to use the tow vehicle around town when not at the lake.

[bkhallpass]

RE: Upgrading Tow Vehicle

I don't believe the 3/4 ton is necessary for these boats. In addition to the 1/2 ton Yukon XL I described above,
I also own a 2004, 4 X 4 Crewcab 2500D Silverado with the 6.0 . While I love that truck, it is not significantly better for pulling the boat than my 1/2 ton Yukon XL. Because the Yukon is more comfortable and gets better mileage, I rarely use the Silverado to tow the boat on trips.

The only time when I might prefer the 3/4 ton is if I were taking a LOT of heavy crap in addition to the boat. Even then, I would probably choose the Yukon unless I was hauling a dirty load like firewood.

If you can only have 1 tow vehicle, and if you use that vehicle primarily for non-tow driving, my 2 cents is to go with the 1/2 ton.

BKH

[Hollywood]

RE: Upgrading Tow Vehicle

NautiqueJeff, I think he is referring to the middle seat (width wise) not length wise of the vehicle. You have captain's chairs, but more the middle of a bench.