Economical Tow Vehicle

[BCDave]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Andrew do the newer diesel engines have a lot less issues with cold weather starts than those of the past decade?? Reason I ask is many of the mountains where I go to ski it gets down into -20C or greater for a few days -30C isnt unheard of. In the past I know friends with diesel engines had problems starting them if they had been sitting for a few days in that temp and block heaters where not use. Just wondering if that has changed and if I should reconsider diesel as an option.

One of the major issues with starting a disease-el in very cold temps is not the engine itself, but the fuel - which will gel in "minus a zillion" temps - also know as "worse than minus 20".

There are a whole buncha dieseasel fuel additives to cure that.

The new glow plugs are now quite efficient, too.

Disease-els have come a long way since the days when I used to laugh at my Dad's M-B 300D which - at minus 10 had to kept inside the garage at minus 20 had to be plugged it. At minus 30 it had to be plugged in, AND in the garage. At minus 40 it had to sit while the taxi was called.

BTW - for CARS - I go Japanese every time - no exceptions.
For trucks - Domestic every time (Floyd and I disagree on WHICH domestic)
SUVs - might be domestic, more likely Japanese.

After owning 2 Audis, one M-B and one Volvo, I will NEVER allow another European car of ANY make to even park near anything I own lest something fall off it and harm my car.

[alan in alberta]

As i said before we are just starting to look for a smaller suv that can tow 3500#

Our mechanic asked us to steer clear of the the hyundai and kia even though he could make more cash on those over time.

I have a 2008 Ford Ranger now. It has been really good but the new escapes are in the first model year and the Ford service people border on the criminal here in alberta. Exploders are not on my list

Beamer's seem a bit pricy

Carol with a lottery win porshe cayenne turbo would merit a look.... i catch a glimpse of one flying by me now and then

The front runner right now is the mitsubishi outlander even though it has a relativly low tongue weight. Great warranty, the split tailgate lets you open the back when hooked up, handled well on the test drive and seemed quite solid. Carol liked it too. ( i went here first as i thought it would be a quick elimination but got surprized)

Next up Rav 4 but probably not for a few weeks as we are quite busy for a while

[DonFromTexas]

I completely do not understand your statement about Hyundai and Kia. An American made car with a 100,000 mile, 10 year warranty seems like a good thing to me, I bought a new 2009 model Kia and my mechanic has not seen me since. Just exactly how was your mechanic going to make any money off that? Methinks he advised against because he would not even see you again for 10 years and he might go hungry.

[alan in alberta]

Originally Posted by DonFromTexas

I completely do not understand your statement about Hyundai and Kia. An American made car with a 100,000 mile, 10 year warranty seems like a good thing to me, I bought a new 2009 model Kia and my mechanic has not seen me since. Just exactly how was your mechanic going to make any money off that? Methinks he advised against because he would not even see you again for 10 years and he might go hungry.

He knows i keep a vehicle for 10 to 15 years .......the new one will be replacing a 1994 olds

He thought they would be okay for 3-4 years

After that he felt we would be seeing him more and he has had to wait up to 2 weeks for parts on some of them. Maybe the USA has better parts distribution and\or the cold up here in the frozen north gets to them.

[MCDenny]

I think a Jeep Grand Cherokee V6 is a good choice in the medium size SUV category. 5000# tow, 500# tongue weight. The tow package includes the usual plus load leveling rear suspension for $595 msrp. Vehicle stability system has a trailer anti-sway function.

[Carol H]

Consumers just came out with their Annual Auto issue which may be worth a read. Funny enough one of the Hyundai's got in the top 10 best scores & the lowest scoring car was a Toyota (an FJ) - go figure.

Edit to add a link to Consumers report cards re Best Car Manufactures

Floyd - Did I mention that I luv my Subaru

[Andrew Gibbens]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Andrew do the newer diesel engines have a lot less issues with cold weather starts than those of the past decade??

I'm in Britain where we don't get much cold weather - a daytime temperature below freezing is rare here - so can't comment.

Modern diesels have definitely been designed for drivers who know nothing about the motor, so those old things like a glow-plug light coming on, and having to wait till it goes out before starting the engine, are long gone.

[David Tilston]

We have two vans. One is the vacation limo. It is a Savana travel van conversion. The other is a 2WD 1997 Safari. The Safari would be a good tow vehicle for a smaller family than ours. Not bad mileage, 500 lb tongue weight and also 5000 lb tow. Cheep, and lots on the road, and in the wreckers.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Consumers just came out with their Annual Auto issue which may be worth a read. Funny enough one of the Hyundai's got in the top 10 best scores & the lowest scoring car was a Toyota (an FJ) - go figure.

Edit to add a link to Consumers report cards re Best Car Manufactures

Yes and not to long ago Hyundai gave the 4 cyl Elantra a 3,000lb tow rating. The same year GM rated the 300HP V8 Northstar Cadillac DTS at 1,000lbs.

[mcbrew]

Cold weather starting is not an issue with modern diesels. It is one of those things that will always be remembered in this country, as we haven't sold many diesels since the early 80s. Glow plug and fuel injection technology has improved to the point where you don't even really need to stop and let them glow, because they do their job in under a second. Heck, my tractor doesn't even have glow plugs... And it starts fine in our coldest weather, although it usually only gets down to single digits around here. My last VW diesel, which was a 2003 (so technology has already advanced quite a bit since then) would only fire the glow plugs when the ambient temperature was below 50 degrees. Even then, it was only a few seconds. Much better than the old filament type that took 30 seconds or more. 30 seconds is a LONG time to wait to turn the key.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by MC1

Yes and not to long ago Hyundai gave the 4 cyl Elantra a 3,000lb tow rating. The same year GM rated the 300HP V8 Northstar Cadillac DTS at 1,000lbs.

The 3,000 pound rating was a mistake... A car magazine published the European tow rating for the Elantra before it was available in the US. They later did a retraction.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

The 3,000 pound rating was a mistake... A car magazine published the European tow rating for the Elantra before it was available in the US. They later did a retraction.

Yes, the retraction noted the adjustment of the rating to 2,500lbs for NA.

[Carol H]

Would be great if someone has actually experienced a newer diesel in the double digit negatives temps - trust me when its that cold that last thing you want is to have trouble or have to wait even 5 secs to start the car and heater up.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Would be great if someone has actually experienced a newer diesel in the double digit negatives temps - trust me when its that cold that last thing you want is to have trouble or have to wait even 5 secs to start the car and heater up.

Diesel fuel itself has changed dramatically in recent years and Diesel engines have changed in response. Much of what we knew about cold starts or seasonal fuel blends has changed, especially on 2007 and newer engines.( Also the year I retired from the refinery and fleet service and lost interest)