LarlaB Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Just curious if you have a truck, SUV or mini-van (or something else) as the tow vehicle for your travel trailer/pop up camper. I was reading thru the "yukon" thread and observed that several mentioned trading in their mini-van for an SUV or similar....and I"m curious. If you had a minivan, did you immediately purchased another vehicle when you got your trailer? Or after towing a few times, did you feel your minivan was under-powered as tow vehicle? We have a 2006 Odyssey (V6/standard) that pulls a 3000lb travel trailer over the continental divide 2x now...no, it was NOT pleasant but that is likely the most challenging haul we will have. The rest of the trip was lovely. :) Anyway- just curious :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 Just listening in as we have the exact same vehicle and with the boat DH wants we don't feel it would work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom23Boys Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 We are looking into getting a pop-up or small camper and my DH doesn't want to pull anything with my 2006 Honda Odyssey. He says it was not designed for towing and it isn't the best choice for the van. He has worked for an RV dealership in service and has fairly extensive car knowledge. I have neither, so I have no real opinion. We are looking at Ford Expeditions and Toyota Sequoias. We will buy a new vehicle before getting a camper. Part of it may be my DH doesn't want to limit ourselves to a pop-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3peasinWa Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 they don't make mini-vans for towing(despite that people still try to do it). It's actually hard on the transmission. The only mini van they made with a truck engine was the Ford Aerostar. So... you'll need to use something else for towing. We actually used our off roading Bronco for a while b/c we couldn't afford to buy a truck for a few years.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 we just bought a Yukon to pull our pop up camper. It might depend on the size of camper...ours is about 3500 pounds. We had a mini-van, but decided that it would be way too hard on the engine to keep it for pulling the camper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 We don't have a pop-up, but I'd like to get one someday (we use tents). We have a 2007 Odyssey. Looks like I'd have to talk dh into a extended cab truck, probably. I still have to talk him into the pop-up. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissad2 Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 We pull a 24 ft travel trailer with our Tahoe and it gets a workout going through the mountains. We want to get a bigger travel trailer next year and amazingly enough the new larger trailers actually weigh less than the one we have now. We are walking a fine line between towing capacity and having enough room for everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarlaB Posted May 15, 2012 Author Share Posted May 15, 2012 I wasn't clear. Sorry. I'm not asking IF you think the Odyssey can tow as this is not a theoretical situation. It DOES tow and is rated to do so- and if you install a tow package, you're even better off:D. I'm simply curious if there was any actual issues using a mini-van to tow that influence people to trade up to a larger engine- not just the vague 'mini-vans can't do that'. The Odyssey is rated @ 3500lbs towing capacity and has a V6... so it absolutely CAN tow. And Honda engines are built to perform very well at higher RPM's. Those 2 factors (and the fact that we do not want a full size truck for around town) hugely influenced our decision. We added a tow-package....DH added a transmission & oil cooler, trailer braking (w/ controls inside the van) and performance rotors as per suggestions from the online towing forums (incidentally, many people there speak very highly of the Odyssey of being an excellent tow vehicle so don't write if off w/out doing full research). But yes, towing is hard on a vehicle. Hence why we won't spend $25K on a full-size truck :) I have to say I'm giggling..... if we can pull a 3000lb trailer up & over the Continental Divide here in Colorado (elevation gain of 6000ft, w/ 6-8% grades- trully the toughest driving I've ever known) it is doable. No, the trailer was not 'invisible', and no we will not do that on a monthly basis, but given that the remaining 95% of our trip was effortortless, I have no complaints. :) I love my Odyssey :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 I wasn't clear. Sorry. I'm not asking IF you think the Odyssey can tow as this is not a theoretical situation. It DOES tow and is rated to do so- and if you install a tow package, you're even better off:D. I'm simply curious if there was any actual issues using a mini-van to tow that influence people to trade up to a larger engine- not just the vague 'mini-vans can't do that'. The Odyssey is rated @ 3500lbs towing capacity and has a V6... so it absolutely CAN tow. And Honda engines are built to perform very well at higher RPM's. Those 2 factors (and the fact that we do not want a full size truck for around town) hugely influenced our decision. We added a tow-package....DH added a transmission & oil cooler, trailer braking (w/ controls inside the van) and performance rotors as per suggestions from the online towing forums (incidentally, many people there speak very highly of the Odyssey of being an excellent tow vehicle so don't write if off w/out doing full research). But yes, towing is hard on a vehicle. Hence why we won't spend $25K on a full-size truck :) I have to say I'm giggling..... if we can pull a 3000lb trailer up & over the Continental Divide here in Colorado (elevation gain of 6000ft, w/ 6-8% grades- trully the toughest driving I've ever known) it is doable. No, the trailer was not 'invisible', and no we will not do that on a monthly basis, but given that the remaining 95% of our trip was effortortless, I have no complaints. :) I love my Odyssey :blush: My manual says with transmission/oil cooler, 3500 pounds when carrying two 150-pound passengers and it goes down from there in direct proportion to the weight in the van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted May 15, 2012 Share Posted May 15, 2012 My manual says with transmission/oil cooler, 3500 pounds when carrying two 150-pound passengers and it goes down from there in direct proportion to the weight in the van. Heh. We'd have a problem, then. Dh and I are both over that. Plus kids. Plus luggage. You'd have to add the weight of all your camping gear, not just the original weight of the camper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 We tow our pop up (has a slide out) with our 05 Ody. Added a tow package to the Odyssey when we bought it. I don't recall what our weight is, but I know we are within those limits, even with the heavy slide out. The last state we lived in was much flatter. We live in a more mountainous state now but nothing crazy like the Rockies. I think our Ody would struggle if we towed over big mountains regularly. We only take the popup out a few times a year. We used it more frequently when DH was in grad school and we had a beautiful lake about 40 mins away, making it easy to go for the weekend pretty regularly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 My manual says with transmission/oil cooler, 3500 pounds when carrying two 150-pound passengers and it goes down from there in direct proportion to the weight in the van. Yep! I sugggest going through a weigh station next time you are loaded down. It is not that it can't physically tow that amount, people often trade up to keep from having to replace expensive parts sooner than expected due to extensive wear and tear. It sounds like you have done your research and have made reasonable upgrades. Just keep an eye on your true load weight. It isn't just about going up, it is about stopping coming down the other side (which it sounds like you are cognizant of). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarlaB Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 Our trailer weight is 2600lbs dry weight/empty and we estimate 300lbs of gear...(cooler, luggage, etc) then 400lb of people. :) So we're coming up to the limits, but I'm not terribly concerned. We run high octane gas & get around 16mpg, running at 2800rpms @ 65mph. Not too bad... I was just curious about hearing from folks who have actually towed w/ a minivan and had issues. I haven't found any concrete why-nots out there than a mini-van is simply less than ideal all around. We've accepted that being a tow vehicle will shorten the life of our van. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarlaB Posted May 16, 2012 Author Share Posted May 16, 2012 We tow our pop up (has a slide out) with our 05 Ody. Added a tow package to the Odyssey when we bought it. I don't recall what our weight is, but I know we are within those limits, even with the heavy slide out. The last state we lived in was much flatter. We live in a more mountainous state now but nothing crazy like the Rockies. I think our Ody would struggle if we towed over big mountains regularly. We only take the popup out a few times a year. We used it more frequently when DH was in grad school and we had a beautiful lake about 40 mins away, making it easy to go for the weekend pretty regularly. Yes, if we had to do mountain runs like that more than once a year, it would be a different story :) 95% off our travel is much flatter terrain- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 (edited) We used our Oddessy to tow our pop up a few times, but it is so hard on the transmission, and we could tell it. Dh bought a truck, and it is much better. To haul the camper less than an hour away the van is fine, but for long trips we use the truck. ETA: just saw your last post. Yes, it will shorten your van's life, but even with the brake controller it will never ride as smooth as a true tow vehicle. My dh says he feels as though he has more control over the trailer with the truck than with the van. Edited May 16, 2012 by dwkilburn1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FourOaks Posted May 16, 2012 Share Posted May 16, 2012 Yep, we pull with a mini-van. We had a Mercury Villager that we pulled our small pop-up with and now have a Kia Sedona that we pull our bit bigger pop up with. We make sure that we are within limits weight-wise and so far we have had no problems. We don't travel through mountains or extreme hilly areas though -- we stick to the midwest where we are located for our camping with our pop-up. Hoping we continue to not have any problems because we love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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