jedimaster

The more I dig into this, and to be honest this is the last post I am going to post in here, is in reference to this thread.

Some very good points to read in that thread here are just a few...

1) Manufacturers don't account for any passengers or fuel when determining towing capacity so you MUST take that into account.

2) Plan on 80% of your rated towing capacity for the safe weight limit of your trailer, as this will give you room to fill up your tank of gas, passengers and luggage.

3) Go on the side of caution when towing.

Perhaps consider selling the boat and getting a lighter one.

This will save you money on the water as well as when towing.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463/how-much-can-i-safely-tow-with-my-99-lincoln-navigator-19039.html

As for my rec, it sounds like you have your heart set on a toyota, no biggie they make great vehicles. Grab a highlander and your off to the races.

Here is another link all pre sorted for you...

Vehicles with a starting prices of under 30grand, 4x4 or AWD, 4000 pound minimum towing capacity, sorted by fuel mileage...

http://autos.aol.com/car-finder/style-suv/price-under-30000/four+.all-wheel-drive/4000-lb-towing-capacity/5-passenger/sort-gpm/

I believe most if not all of these have been recommended.

I mean seriously, I don't think you are going to find ANYONE, including a rav owner(I asked one) that would say its safe to tow 3k pounds with a rav, v6 or 4 cyl. For a short one off, yah maybe, but for a regularly planned event, not even close to safe.

Plain and simple 3000 pounds is a good chunk to tow, add your family to mix and some luggage and you you are into a 4 runner, Pathfinder, Xterra, Liberty, wrangler, cherokee, Pilot, highlander etc... These are all capable of safely towing that much weight.

Here is a perfectly acceptable comparison. I used to have a Durango. Rated for 10,000 pounds towing capacity. I once towed a 7500 pound trailer with it. Would I have ever considered towing 9000 pounds? or 9500 pounds or 10,000 pounds.... HELLL NOOO!!! Not a friggin chance.

When you reach to limit of your towing rating you are asking for trouble. Yo may be fine on a few trips, but that one time you are going down a big hill at 80km's an hour, and you have no choice but to ginger your brake a few times becaus eyour engine revs can't keep your speed in check, then at the bottom of the hill a jerk in a honda civic cuts you off and you grab a mit full or brakes and there is nothing there, your life and passengers lives will flash before your eyes right quick.

If you're towing 3,000 pounds, look for a tow vehicle capable of pulling at least 4500 - 5000 pounds. This will give you enough headroom to have passengers and luggage. Of course if your priority is to go strictly by whats on the sticker versus whats generally accepted as safe go ahead and do it and don't look back. If your primary concern is to save gas, then your primary concern can't be towing 3000 pounds. The two objectives just don't meet up. To tow that much weight around is going to put you into the 20mpg or less grouping. Some mid size crew cab trucks may hit 20mpg on the highway or maybe even some hibrid style gas cars, maybe a diesle.

The reality is you are facing physics. Weight being pulled needs to be supported by suspension, tranny, coolers, stronger axles, steering systems, big vented brakes, strong frames etc... All of this leads to poor gas mileage.

As much as you quickly dismissed a libery. That is exactly why I went with one. It gave me the ability to seat 5 passengers, Tow a boat safely, and had the best fuel mileage of a city streetable(means no big trucks) vehicle. A Highlander is the one possible option as I believe they have a 5k pound towing capacity for some models. They unfortunatly are out of my price range. Thats why I went with a Liberty. They are dirt cheap. I bought a 2005 with 105km's on it for 5 grand. I was looking at 10 grand for a similar spec higlander, That 5 grand difference is a whole lot of gas money, and by the time I turn the liberty around in a few years I won't have saved nearly that much on gas.

JMHO of course, take it for what you will.

My last word on this thread is posted here on this link... its a list of vehicles that can two 5000 pounds. This is my rec based your your requirement of towin a boat that weighs 3,000 pounds...

http://autos.aol.com/car-finder/style-suv/5000-lb-towing-capacity/5-passenger/

EDIT

You can add in a price match, hit under 30 grand, and then sort by MPG Highest to lowest. and go from there.

Is that what the kids are calling it now Bob? Oregano? haha sorry man, useless bump for you.

Check out Teksavvy

x2 oops sory x4

There is alot more to consider than just the towing capacity..

Curb weight 3677 lbs

GVWR 4720 lbs

This leaves a payload of 1043 lbs

Your trailer is 3000 pounds, so yout tongue is 300 pounds. that leaves 700 pounds for your occupants and luggage. This puts right at the tip toe end of the rated GVWR...

Now another thing interesting to note is the GCWR. If a number is not explicitly specified it is assumed that the GCWR is The Curb weight plus the towing capacity. The payload is subtracted from the towing capacity. In other words you are not supposed to load the vehicle to the max GVWR and then tow the max Towing rating.

So if you load a 1000 pounds in the car, your 3500 pounds is now 2500 pounds.

Interestingly I saw references to the GCWR for a V6 Rav being only 4950. Now you may ask yourself well it weighs 3600 pounds and the GCWR is 5000 pounds so that leaves only 1400 pounds for payload and trailer. How is this possible that it could have a towing capacity and curb weight higher than the GCWR... Well the answer is that the RAV is not designed to tow that much weight.

Anyway, be safe no matter what you drive or buy.

Yes its a v6 rav. ad as the others have stated its not the pulling its the braking, the shocks, the suspension componets, the unibody frame. Over time that much weight puts alot of stress on things. Will it pull it. My corolla will pull a 10,000 pound skid steer. That doesn't mean its safe and good for the vehicle long term. V6 or V8 Isn't as much of a concern to me when pulling anything. I am concerned about the brakes, suspension, weight and frame.

You are like a teter toter when you're towing and your hitch is the bigfat guy jumping on the other end, your rear wheels are the center and you are sitting on the bumper...

We all know that the most braking is done with the front wheels, as well the steering. so when you are bouncing down the road and your trailer pushes down on the back, you effectively have less weight on the front wheels, and less traction and braking ability. On dry pavent not such a big deal, but in the rain, snow etc... this can make a huge different. Also almost all AWD vehicles do NOT have a locked center differential meaning you only actually have traction on one wheel at a time unless you have an LSD. with a 4x4 you lock the front and back giving you traction on one front and one rear wheel(again unless you have an LSD, posi, sure grip etc..) Some have a snow mode or something like that to temporarily lock or clutch te front and rear axles together...

This makes a huge difference when you are trying to tug your boat out of the water on a slippery, steep or gravel launch.

Can you do it? yah no doubt. you can pull your boat with a rav or any other small compact SUV. Is it entirely safe? Well thats really up to you to decide. For me, I always like to have more towing capacity than what I need.

A RAV4 will be outmatched by that boat of yours easily. I'd never consider a rav4 to be a serious tow vehicle unless we're talking a utility trailer to your neighbourhood yard sales.

 

Tacomas are nice and a great choice but be prepared to pay, unbelievable resale.

 

cityfisher, there's something wrong with your jeep or your right foot. I get between 10-11 l/100 on the hwy (not towing) if i keep it under 115 in my 02 Limited v8. Towing my 1000lb rig, I'm around 12-13 keeping it ~100-105km/hr.

+1 be very careful. 3000 pounds is a serious amount of weight to be hauling around on a regular basis. A friend of mine has a newer rav4 and I have driven it a fair bit, I would not consider it a tow vehicle.

Well to tow around 2900 pounds on a vehicle rated for 3500 pounds is stretching it. The suv's in the 3500pound towing range are generally car based suvs, with small trannies, no tranny oil cooler, small brakes and no real 4x4.If you tow your boat regularly ou will want the extra headroom provided by going above the 3500 pound (class 2) towing capacity. A Pathfinder is a fairly stout vehicle, so don't be mislead that because your pathfinder is rated for 3500 pounds any other vehicle rated for 3500 pounds will also work fine.

Be pracicle you are going to have to eat up he gas to pul that kind of weight safely. Don't forget you not onley need to get your boat to and from the lake safely you will also need to actually be ablt to pull it out of the water. and on a gravel ramp, an awd is not likely going to cut it.

I would say your top bet is a liberty diesle, or a truck of some sort, maybe a dakota quad cab, or a 1500 of brand X.I have always liked th tacomas but they had some major frame issues in the late 90's and got a bad name. These issues were resolved though.

yah a shortbox quad cab ram is just as good on gas as any suv.

If your trailer weight is right(seems highi to me)....

You need something with a towing rating higher that 3600 pounds. That in itself blocks out a number of good suv's

Here is a quick list of those greater than 3600 pounds towing capacity...

Liberty

Trailblazer

Durango

Envoy

Pilot

Ascender

Commander

grand cheroke

mountainer

montera

pathfinder

xterra

4runner

fj cruiser

wrangler

You can use that a base list and then narrow down fuel mileage, then get a black one.

I have a liberty and I am very happy with it. For 4 people its plenty roomy, small enough to park in the city, real 4x4 not awd will get your boat out of the water, likely as good on fuel as any other, and they are dirt cheap. A plus is that is has independant front suspension so that makes the ride a hell of alot better than a wrangler.

Sure can, I shot off the question, when I hear back I'll let you all know.

I also asked him if I can be on the beta team for the blood for gas program where they drain your blood in exchange for gas right at the pumps.

Ahh ok so I got some info about shell gas... so What Shell has done since the latest thing is scammed out the regulations. The 5% renewable mandate is based on the total amount refined. so what they have done is increase the amount of ethanol in the bronze gas, and this leaves them with enough headroom to manufacture 91 octane without any ethanol... Petro Can fuels at 94 octane all have ethanol...

Here is the quote fromt he Email.... so if you want ethanol free go for the V-Power... or cheack around with the smaller places...

All Shell V-Power gasoline in Canada is free of ethanol. The 5% yearly renewable fuels applies to the whole volume of gasoline refined in a year and not to each single grade. Shell meets the 5% yearly renewable regulation by blending up to 10% ethanol with Shell Bronze fuel and up to 5% with Shell Silver gasoline.

Some do and some don't. The last I heard was that in 2011, paart of the env regulations came into affect stating that all top tier fuels sold retail south of the 60th parralel must contain at least 5% renewable. This renewable is ethanol. From my understanding Shell patented some ethanol blend with nitrogen, and they call it some fancy thing, but in the ends its just ethanol. I emailed the guy I know at shell, I'll try and get the details. I could be wrong bbut thats how I understand it anyway.

If it is nitrgoen enriched it has ethanol. There is much confusion over this, Petro Canada 91, may or may not have ethanol. If it used to be a sunoco and it sells 94 octane, then it for sure has ethanol. If its an old school petro canada, and doesn't sell 94, than the 91 may not have ethanol. If its a shell that sells 91 octane with notrogen it also has ethanol. At least this is what I was told from a friend that work for Shell Canada. Some of the no name places still buy and sell ethanol free gas, but they are hard to come by. I'll email the guys at shell and see for sure though.

This is a very debatable topic as many have done what they do for many years.. Personally, since buying a new 30hp mercury 2-stroke last year the dealer was very specific about running ethanol free gas ( super).. Since it affects my warranty, all it will get is super.. And from now on, all my toys get super as its just plain better, and hopefully will save me a headache down the road.

Seriously guys, Super has had ethanol in it for a long time here in ontario. There are only about 4 or 5 gas stations in the GTA that sell ethanol free. And some of that is NOT super.

Use this map, also ask the gas guy ifit has any. If it doesn't they will know. If it does he will likley say, "whats ethanol?"

http://pure-gas.org/extensions/map.html

Stay with the high test!!!! No ethanol in high test. Old fuel lines don't do well with ethanol over time. I could show you piles of rotten fuel lines and carb gaskets from using reg fuel. That's why most marinas are going to high test at the pump. Pay now or pay later. Stay with the good stuff

Not true, even Shell Vpower has ethanol ever since they started adding Nitgrogen. Some shell stations do sell thanol free Vpower, but certainly NOT all premiums.

Its the brakes that are going to be the big problem. Its just dangerous if you meet a big hill, or some tool cuts you off and you need to jam the stoppers... by safe.

I know a guy in the wood industry, and the I always thought marine ply used different glue but it doesn't. They actually just just a high quiality outside facing layers. Use exterior grade spruce ply and paint it, then glue the carpet down. If it was going to be visible and exposed then the marine grade is the way to go, the higher quality woods have fewer imperfections and will resist warping and soaking up moisture better.

ha ha ha

Leafs are rebuilding from there last cup win... the sens are rebuilding from? oh wait nothing. Same as what they will do this year.

considering that it was only last winter that we started the rebuild, and half our squad was in the AHL last year, i'm pretty content with squeaking into the playoffs. the future is bright.

What are the Sens rebuilding from 1992? Thats what? 20 years of no result.

I was thinking deep caught perch as well. Were these from Lake E? I haven't seen such a big haul like that anywhere.