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Originally Posted by sjrayfie
We purchased our 17 ft Casita Spirit Deluxe in December of 2016 from the original owner in Arizona. We are first time RV'ers and just recently retired. We are avid hikers and enjoy the peaceful outdoor. We will be joined by our 10 year old Labradoodle "Izzy". I am expecting that we will be 'dry camping' most of the time. We also plan on staying in some RV sites for the experience. I am not very mechanical so my starting projects will be the easy kind.
We are in the process of looking at tow vehicles as my 2002 Honda Odyssey is barely capable of this task.
We are currently looking at the Toyota Highlander XLE, the Honda Pilot Elite (concerned about 9 speed transmission??), Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited and intrigued with the soon to be release Subaru Ascent.
Looking forward to meeting other fiberglass RV owners.
Scott
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Scott,
Welcome to the forum. In brief, we started with a teardrop trailer, upgraded to a Casita 17 and now have an
Escape 21'. The teardrop matched the towing capacity of my then-current Passat AWD. We bought a used Audi Q5 to pull the Casita. We then bought a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland as the
Escape 21 would have pushed the Audi to or beyond its tow rating.
When casting about for a vehicle to replace the Audi Q5, I shied away from the pricing for a Q7 and was particularly troubled by the fact that they no longer provide a spare tire. Somewhere in the course of events we watched a Consumer Reports video touting the Durango for towing. It sounded like a lot of vehicle for considerably less money. So, we went out to look at some, which led in turn to the Jeep. The third-generation Durango is built on the same platform as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The wheelbase of the Durango is longer than that of the Grand Cherokee. It features three rows of seating compared to the Grand Cherokee's two rows.
Pros and cons, the JGC is more "garage-able" as it is not as long as its cousin the Durango. It also offers a 60-40 rear seat where the Durango has second-row captains chairs. The JGC does not have a 3rd row of seats. All of this better suited our needs as we don't have a need for a people-hauler and the cargo space is much more flexible.
We opted for a V8, the first I have owned since some 1960's vehicles; I can't say that it's strictly "necessary", but it increased the towing capacity slightly and offered much more torque and HP. The
brakes are nicely oversized. It rides quietly, tracks well, and has comfortable seats. It's trimmed out similarly to the Limited; basically at a "champagne" level. The Overland trim is "trail rated" which means that we should be able to hazard its expensive bodywork off the road where I used to drive work vehicles. It has a full-service spare tire, slightly narrower than those mounted on the four corners.
Cons; coming from an Audi, the interior trim looks cheap and the overall fit and finish are "OK" at best. One rear door rattles its trim when it's being closed; the
license plate frames also rattle and will require some aftermarket innovation to pad them. The prominently featured contrast stitching on the dash looks cheap and garish to my eye. However, for the $5K difference in MSRP, I can take all that in stride.
The UConnect 8.4 infotainment system is frustrating and slow; it substitutes several screen taps each for too many of the now-missing knobs and buttons. In fairness, I suspect that many manufacturers have gone this route, but it's irksome all the same and I feel strongly that they could have reduced the number of the taps required in many cases. The touchscreen is also not always responsive, adding additional taps. The bluetooth is acceptable for phone calls, but fails to cast music from the phone without skipping, so I load music onto an SD card.
I recently put my Garmin back on the dash after giving the navigation system a more-than-fair four-month trial. In my opinion, the on-board navigation graphics are too ambiguous, lacking in visual "punch" and clarity. The 8.4's graphics don't "pop" at a glance. The graphics require too much study, while the 8.4" screen is too far off the sightline that I feel one should maintain while driving. The dash and screen
lighting will sometimes alternate between day and night mode when travelling through dark clouds followed by
light sky in the afternoon; the Audi never did that sort of thing.
Personally, I anticipate some trouble down the road with reliability on the Jeep. The air suspension system is said to be a significant weak point. I suspect the powertrain will be robust. Other "bolt-ons" seem to contribute to the below-par reliability. One can buy a lifetime extended factory warranty on the Internet for some $2,690, and shorter-term warranties for less; I am keeping that option under consideration. I personally use Consumer Reports as a source of information. Interestingly, CR rated the UConnect as third, behind Tesla and then Audi, for their infotainment system. All of the others are distant fourths or worse. Apparently, buyer's expectations in this area are far ahead of what the market offers as other owners are reported to be similarly frustrated by most of the systems offered.
And, yes, some folks have regretfully bought vehicles that weren't rated or as capable as a salesman had stated them to be. It's also very true that the limitations imposed by rated cargo-carrying-capacity can effectively reduce your towing capacity by a lot. So, it's best to do all you can to get yourself educated, do your research and study the owner's manual carefully before a purchase; I was able to do this by downloading a PDF online.
In summary, being new to this and having a Casita 17 with its attendant heavy tongue weight, I think you would be well served by going with something like a 5,000/500 rated capacity at minimum; the Audi was 4,400/400 and that was rock-solid when towing the Casita. You also might consider a bit more for "future-proofing" against the possibility that you might end up with a larger trailer later on.
However, it's so hard to say what works for different people. You have to be the expert in what works for you. Good luck and be sure to tell us how it goes!