Full-timing w/4cyl SUV (rated 5000#); tow 16/17' (max ~3500#) or should stick to 13'?

[k0wtz]

steve

well I hope so. I have been at this camping thing 50 years 30 tenting I think. all fun

bob

Originally Posted by steve dunham

Thank you , I will take your remark as a huge compliment !!

[RogerDat]

There are some classic debates on the forum. How much tow vehicle is "required" is one with proponents of smaller is better and others in the more power is less strain. Slower is safer, keeping up with traffic at prevailing speed is safer. Tires is another ST vs. truck on a trailer (haven't had that one rear it's head in a while) Bathroom as a required feature or waste of valuable space. And there are others where the two or more schools of thought will not reconcile.

Many times things people state are not safe or work badly are confronted with others who have done exactly those things for years successfully. I would never meets I have done it like that for 10's of thousands of miles.

Like they say YMMV (Your Milage May Vary) I like some extra power, but generally drive slower than many at ~60 mph. Prefer domestic vehicle for the increased parts and repair availability. Have no problem with the folks that pull a Scamp 16 with a Subaru at it's weight limit. If they can make that work for them I'm not in a position to say they are wrong.


Best advice is to read the owners manual and do the research. Learn from experience. Enjoy the ride.

[Derswede]

Careful with that Auto trans. I have owned about every Volvo made, including P1800's and 122S. Volvo automatics have ALWAYS been a weak point. Ask most any S-60 owner. The 2L is not as robust as the older "white-block" 5 cyl., you may want to get onto VolvoSpeed or IPD websites and ask there about towing with your vehicle. My last S-60 was a 5 cyl. R engined car, with the 5 spd manual, lasted almost a million miles before a kid pulled out in front of me point blank. Strong cars, but I will not own an automatic version.

That said, I tow a 16' Scamp with a 4 cyl., 2.1 L Ford Ranger, 5 spd manual. Slow up hills, but it makes it. Torque is what you need for hills, HP does not always equal pulling power. Up to the "Black Mountain" area here in NC, I am in the truck slow lane doing 30. But it does get up the hill. Our 16' is great, I am 6'2", so a bit tight on height, but I sleep just fine on the bed/dinette setup. Plenty of space, I am an old backpacker, so I don't travel with a lot of gear, but I do have a dual battery solar setup for extended stays. Even my wife likes the Scamp!!

Good luck and happy camping, hope your decisions work out well and you enjoy camping!

Derswede

[pedalmike]

Your retractable hitch is not usable with a weight distribution hitch.

To tow with your XC90 using weight distribution, you would need to start over with a different hitch reinforced for weight distribution towing.

Contact CanAm RV in London Ontario Canada for the best towing advice using your XC 90. A 17’ trailer is definitely doable with the right hitch and hitch setup.

[k0wtz]

I thought I got a lot of miles out of my Cadillac 450k but 1million that's unreal. what did you do to it along the way?

thanks

bob

Originally Posted by Derswede

Careful with that Auto trans. I have owned about every Volvo made, including P1800's and 122S. Volvo automatics have ALWAYS been a weak point. Ask most any S-60 owner. The 2L is not as robust as the older "white-block" 5 cyl., you may want to get onto VolvoSpeed or IPD websites and ask there about towing with your vehicle. My last S-60 was a 5 cyl. R engined car, with the 5 spd manual, lasted almost a million miles before a kid pulled out in front of me point blank. Strong cars, but I will not own an automatic version.

That said, I tow a 16' Scamp with a 4 cyl., 2.1 L Ford Ranger, 5 spd manual. Slow up hills, but it makes it. Torque is what you need for hills, HP does not always equal pulling power. Up to the "Black Mountain" area here in NC, I am in the truck slow lane doing 30. But it does get up the hill. Our 16' is great, I am 6'2", so a bit tight on height, but I sleep just fine on the bed/dinette setup. Plenty of space, I am an old backpacker, so I don't travel with a lot of gear, but I do have a dual battery solar setup for extended stays. Even my wife likes the Scamp!!

Good luck and happy camping, hope your decisions work out well and you enjoy camping!

Derswede

[Renae in MN]

Just a bit of a heads up my husband and I along with 2 dogs under 8 pounds have been living in a17ft casita sd for 2 years now. We went through all those decisions a few years ago. We thought we wanted to use a our Rav4 with a 6 cyl. But couldn't handle the tounge weight, and no extra storage. We left with much more than we needed. Considered a truck and topper, to expensive. We went with a cargo van, it has been priceless. We bought a gmc 2500 with 9000 miles and 1 year old for under 25,000. We set it up with solar and a battery bank and plug in our camper. It also carries our extra water supply. It has been a good experience but with all that said we are now looking to size up. We have never had any towing issues, it is sometimes easy to forget the casita is there.

[k0wtz]

I say one of those trade vans yesterday and thought wow big and tall. what sort of milage on one of those?

thanks

bob

Originally Posted by Renae in MN

Just a bit of a heads up my husband and I along with 2 dogs under 8 pounds have been living in a17ft casita sd for 2 years now. We went through all those decisions a few years ago. We thought we wanted to use a our Rav4 with a 6 cyl. But couldn't handle the tounge weight, and no extra storage. We left with much more than we needed. Considered a truck and topper, to expensive. We went with a cargo van, it has been priceless. We bought a gmc 2500 with 9000 miles and 1 year old for under 25,000. We set it up with solar and a battery bank and plug in our camper. It also carries our extra water supply. It has been a good experience but with all that said we are now looking to size up. We have never had any towing issues, it is sometimes easy to forget the casita is there.

[Peder_y2k]

Any engine both supercharged and turbocharged would be built very well to endure the potential loads. Any automatic transmission behind that engine would be robustly built to handle the power. I would have 100% faith in its rated towing capacity, and enjoy the power at higher elevations, and excellent fuel economy on the flats. Personally, I would not own a non boosted TV if routinely crossing the Rockies with a medium weight trailer in tow. Now if the trailer was 1200lbs or less, that would be different.
Only suggestions are improving brakes for heat resistance under long steep downhill decents. Also look into higher load rated tires for the rear that support the trailer hitch load under high load and temperatures.
Life expectancy of small boosted after 7 years can be rather iffy

[k0wtz]

my ford edge has paddle shifiting long mountain drives I use it going up and I use it going down. No o/d ever when tugging!

I remember my 40f eagle bus days and advice from the old guys whatever gear you use going up you use going down and you will have no problems!

my 13f scamp has no brakes and I have never had a problem stopping or slowing down..but if my wife would drive I would probably need all the brakes I could find. LOL

I know most wont agree but I don't drive a rocket ship

bob

[John McDonald]

I see you are “leaning” toward a number of possible fiberglass trailers. But if you are open to a quality built and very lite weight aluminum trailer with a verity of lengths and floor plans you might want to look at the website for http://Taylorcoach.com
Cheers John

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by John McDonald

I see you are “leaning” toward a number of possible fiberglass trailers. But if you are open to a quality built and very lite weight aluminum trailer with a verity of lengths and floor plans you might want to look at the website for http://Taylorcoach.com
Cheers John

John,

Not sure what you mean by "aluminum trailer". Maybe they have other models than what I could find on their homepage, but here is a quote from them:

"The units are made from White Furniture Grade No. 1 Pine with a 15% moisture count, fur select exterior sheeting plywood, lauan panelling, and an aluminum exterior."

[k0wtz]

I checked them out they just don't have the appeal to me that the fiberglass guys have!

bob

[johnwen1]

Roger dat on the stopping going down the hill

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by Jo1

*Our concern with towing a 16' or 17' fiberglass trailer is due to the following experience:
We hitched up a rental lil Guy Max, 3,140# dry and perhaps 3,600# when we loaded it with our huge Yeti cooler, more food, and a number of camping items.
Didn't end up going through due to insufficient research regarding incompatibility with the sway bar/WDH and how the whole set-up looked after hooking to our regular 2" ball hitch -- looked like too much pressure on the back tires. Payload was probably close to maxing out as well (Payload Max @ 1210#)

Well, first of all, congratulations on scoring an EXCELLENT vehicle! I am a Volvo fan, have driven them for 40 years, and my hubby (just recently deceased) was the Volvo dealer here in the 70's.

I tow a 1989 13' Lil Bigfoot with a turbo-charged 2001 V70. It has a 5 cylinder engine. It has the "strength" to tow a heavier trailer, but is restricted by tongue weight. I suspect that your concern about pressure on the back tires is more related to how the rental trailer was packed, and the resulting tongue weight on your vehicle. Others here will give you more suggestions about how to pack, but try to remember not to pack your very heavy items in the front of the trailer... place them mostly over the axles.

I have just been researching tow vehicles, both the XC90 and the XC60. Everything I've read about the 90 tells me that it can do what you need. You don't mention tongue weight above, and I don't remember from my reading, but just make sure that whatever you buy is not too heavy up front!

At some point I'd like to sell my 13" and step up to a 17", which is why I've been looking at new vehicles. My V70 has the power to pull something heavier, but can only accept 165 lbs in tongue weight. So, at some point there will be a sweet little 13" with a front dinette and a porta potty (never used), available in your state :-)... and your XC90 could pull this baby like there was nothing back there!

I see that you live in California. Others have mentioned the difficulty in getting less common vehicles serviced. I have never had ANY problem getting service, at least here locally. Our local independent Volvo guru is the 4th iteration of my hubby's original service manager, and I'd trust him with my life. Whatever we need, he can do, and do it well. So, if you're in Northern California and need any service, go to Valhalla Volvo in Redding.

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Are we still talking about the OP’s largish 7-passenger SUV with a 5000# tow rating and a 13-16’ molded trailer?

IDK Jon, some people here are commenting as though the OP is wanting to tow with a mini. And as though the Volvos are not built to be driven hard for YEARS.

The XC90 is a robust vehicle. The only reason I'M not looking at it is that 7 passenger thing. I do not need that third row passenger seat. I barely need the two seats in the back of any vehicle. I think the XC60 would do everything I need, but its max tongue weight is 310, and most 17's are heavier there, so I have some mulling to do.

Sorry, folks, don't tell me to buy a truck. I'm not going to drive a truck around town during the 340 days a year when I'm not camping, and as a newly widowed person, I do NOT need two vehicles... one of which will sit parked most of the time.

If she winds up with a 13' trailer, that XC90 will handle it FINE., and it will also handle a 17" trailer without any difficulty.

[thrifty bill]

My comments about service were not about where you live but instead where you camp. Since the OP referenced boondocking I am guessing they will not be in a major metro area. I was a Volvo fan until they sold the company.

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

My comments about service were not about where you live but instead where you camp. Since the OP referenced boondocking I am guessing they will not be in a major metro area. I was a Volvo fan until they sold the company.

When we were shopping for the 2001, we avoided the models that were built in China. I was not happy about the sale. I've read some unhappy posts here about something going wrong, costing a lot, and selling the vehicle. However, those are anecdotal, kind of like the stories you hear from people who say it's OK to smoke because Grandma smoked 5 cigars a day and lived to 105. Also you hear the same stories about almost any make of vehicle.

In general, in our experience, Volvos have been bulletproof. I consider it the vehicle that I would want to boondock in, because stuff is less likely to go wrong. I have read about the reliability of Toyota over the Volvo, and gave it some thought.

But I go back to who I trust to work on the vehicle. We trust our service guys, in the same business which has been around for (gasp) 50 years. I'm more concerned about who is doing maintenance when I'm at home, because that is a given, over what might happen out in the world, because that's only a "possible." Plus, if you take care of what you drive and do proper maintenance, worries over what may happen on the road should be minimal.

[Geronimo John]

Originally Posted by Justus C

...My understanding is that turbo engines suffer a steeper hit to fuel economy when towing than a non-turbo engine with comparable output, but that's based solely on a comparison of the F-150 ecoboost engines vs the V8.

You are correct on the relationship of fuel economy and turbo boost. I tow a 6,000 pound (all in) Oliver Elite II. My TV is a 2019 F-150 Lariat, 3.5 EcoBoost (Twin Turbo).

Flat land interstate towing MPH/MPG looks something like:

65 MPH No Trailer 24 MPG
75 MPH No Trailer 21-22 MPG
80 MPH No Trailer 17 - 18 MPG (Western States with 80 MPG speed Limit)

With Trailer:

64 MPH 14.5 MPG
67 MPG 14.0 MPG
70 MPG 12 MPG
75 MPG 8 MPG (Western States with 80 MPG speed Limit)

Point is to get "Good" MPG, I need to keep my foot light on the Turbo Boost zone. The more boost I use, I more I pay a real penalty in MPG.... when towing my Oliver. This is basic physics of turbo boost.

All that said, If purchasing today, I would get the 3.5 EB over the 5.0 Coyote V8 due to pulling grades a lot west, the 3.5 shines brightly. But many others would prefer the rock solid Mustang Coyote.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Derswede

Careful with that Auto trans. I have owned about every Volvo made, including P1800's and 122S. Volvo automatics have ALWAYS been a weak point. Ask most any S-60 owner. ...

FWIW, the 'redblock' 4 cyl volvos of the mid 80s to mid 90s, many of them used an AW70 or 71 transmission which was made by Aisin-Warner of Japan and virtually identical to the transmission used on various Toyotas such as the classic RWD 4-cyl Toyota pickup, Turbo Supras, etc from the late 80s

THOSE transmissions were /rock/ solid. simple 3 speed + overdrive, torque lockup only on a few subversions, no electronics, simple hydraulic automatics. We put 250K miles of hard driving on a volvo 240, had the transmission R&R'd when it started to slip a bit in 2nd gear at high throttle, then put another 250K miles on the repaired trans, and it was still going strong when the car was taken to the great junkyard in the sky due to excess moisture in Humboldt causing the interior to get all moldy. I also had a 300K mile Volvo 740 Turbo wagon, tranny is still going strong by its new owner, my son's now ex-GF, these had the AW71 variant (heavier duty for the turbo)

the later electronic versions were not so reliable. an old Transmission Shop manager told me that in his opinion, every gear added to a transmission halves its reliability and doubles its repair costs. "Keeps me in business!" as he climbed back under a nearly brand new Land Rover Discovery that had a 8 speed

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

an old Transmission Shop manager told me that in his opinion, every gear added to a transmission halves its reliability and doubles its repair costs. "Keeps me in business!" as he climbed back under a nearly brand new Land Rover Discovery that had a 8 speed

That is a great quote.