Ford Escape or Suburu Outback?

[Paul Kaplan]

I'm considering buying a new tow vehicle for my 13' scamp. Debating on the Suburu Outback or the 6 cly Ford escape? (mostly considering the escape because of the 0% financing for 6 years) Any suggestions/recommendations?

[brendadave]

You could check this post about the Outback.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=277316

I am partial to the 2008 Escape V6 4WD with tow package as we have been towing with it for 1 year now, has been wonderful.

[Paul Kaplan]

You could check this post about the Outback.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/index.ph...st&p=277316

I am partial to the 2008 Escape V6 4WD with tow package as we have been towing with it for 1 year now, has been wonderful.

Was just wondering about driving cross country in the Suburu and having difficulty getting it repaired due to lack of dealers.

[Cam A]

Was just wondering about driving cross country in the Suburu and having difficulty getting it repaired due to lack of dealers.

I'm biased because I tow with a Subaru Forester. I broke down an hour out of Mandan, ND on a Friday afternoon. The dealer in Mandan had me on the road before 10:30 Saturday morning. My Forester had approx. 300,000 km on it at the time, and was the first break-down I had. I'd check out the resale values and calculate total cost of ownership before I bought anything. My 98 Forester pulled my 14 ft. Surfside down the west coast and up to Crater Lake with no difficulties.

[Flygal]

I tow with the Ford Escape....love love love my Escape, I have not driven the other car but my heated seats and sunroof keep me in this one. Very happy with the way it tows my scamp, with no cover over my Scamp while I am hooked up I can see all the way straight thru and seeing around traffic is not as difficult as I imagined. I have been out the last three weeks on quick one night trips an its a breeze. Mine is the limited 2005

[Parker Buckley]

We really like out Outback for towing the 13' Scamp. We checked out the Escape, Subaru, and a couple of others before buying. My wife didn't like the way Escape felt, so that pretty much ruled it out. The Outback feels larger, but you'd have to check the numbers to be sure, especially internal volume with the rear seats down. I know it certainly makes a good tow car, and while it's not high enough to see through the trailer (I leave the window cover on, anyway) the counter to that is sits lower and feels more stabile. It all comes down to personal preference, like everything else. I'm sure you'll getting supporting comments from both sides.

Parker

[Ian-Vicki]

Was just wondering about driving cross country in the Suburu and having difficulty getting it repaired due to lack of dealers.

We have a 1992 Subaru Legacy wagon with 330,000 km and we tow with a Ford V6 (which has been fine). As as for the Subaru and repairs, I wouldn't worry about it. You likely won't need any repairs until long after you tire of the look of the vehicle. And when the car is worn out, the engine will still be in hot demand by Ulralight plane enthusiasts who love the engines because they run forever. To me the choice is a no-brainer.
cheers
Ian

[peterh]

We currently have both an 2000 Ford Ranger (120K miles, bought used for our 5th wheel and in questionable condition) and a 2000 Hyundai Santa Fe (90K miles, bought new long before we bought our Surfside and in great shape). We're hoping to squeeze another few years out of both of them in the hope that better, more fuel-efficient TVs become available in two or three years.

As far as the Santa Fe is concerned, any of the V6 Santa Fe model years should easily handle a 13' trailer, but you'd have to be more careful choosing your TV if you buy a larger trailer.

[Paul Kaplan]

We really like out Outback for towing the 13' Scamp. We checked out the Escape, Subaru, and a couple of others before buying. My wife didn't like the way Escape felt, so that pretty much ruled it out. The Outback feels larger, but you'd have to check the numbers to be sure, especially internal volume with the rear seats down. I know it certainly makes a good tow car, and while it's not high enough to see through the trailer (I leave the window cover on, anyway) the counter to that is sits lower and feels more stabile. It all comes down to personal preference, like everything else. I'm sure you'll getting supporting comments from both sides.

Parker

Did you get the factory installed hitch? Also, do you have electronic brakes on the TT and a transmission cooler? Im leaning more towards the Subaru for the higher gas mileage.
Thanks!
Paul

[Parker Buckley]

Did you get the factory installed hitch? Also, do you have electronic brakes on the TT and a transmission cooler? Im leaning more towards the Subaru for the higher gas mileage.
Thanks!
Paul

We did get the factory installed hitch, which came with the factory four-wire lighting hook-up. Over the winter, I added brakes to the Scamp, so I added additional power wires to operate the brakes and to power the trailer systems while towing. I made up a four-wire plug to connect to the Subaru harness in the spare tire well where I also brought together the additional power wires. All this got wrapped together with the traditional friction tape and exited the bottom of the spare tire well to connect to a standard seven-pin outlet. I posted a lot of the details of the wiring on here a few months ago. It was a bit tedious, especially getting to the brake signal wire under the dash, but otherwise straightforward. Subaru was kind enough to put an access hole in the firewall with a rubber plug in it, so I routed the two power wires to the battery through it, connected through separate circuit breakers at the battery. All the wiring is internal to the passenger compartment until exiting the spare tire well as described. I looked at running the wires under the car, but it's just to clean to attach things to without worry of something snagging them. It wasn't too hard to run the wires through the plastic trim along the side of the interior. Good luck with your choice!

Parker