My understanding is that the Burb's firewall does not allow the Duramax but the next generation will. I have a PSD Excursion and love the combo of extra seating/interior storage and the Diesel.

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I hadn't heard that before about the firewall. I would have thought since they put a 454 in there, they could fit a diesel.
The new 6.4L Powerstroke is due out next year.....everyone is waiting for the new 'low sulfur diesel' to become standard.
No idea if they plan on offering it in a Expedition XL (the 'successor' to the Excursion) or not.
I haven't heard anything about the new 'low sulfur/low emissions' Duramax and it's size yet.

This country is WAY behind on deploying diesels :soapbox:

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:grr:
Ya know Glen, I have $125K itching a hole in my pocket and I saw a NEW 05 Cup car for sale around here somewhere..... https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/295877-new-05-cup-for-sale.html
:p

And that is the main reason I bought my truck. If they make a Yukon XL with a Duramax and Allison then that would be kick-ass..

I pull my 2200 lbs car and 1100 lbs steel trailer with my Toyota Sequoia. Was slow going through the Sierras once. Not much of a problem on smaller foothills of NorCal. Feels stable on the downhill. I'd think you would need the Nissan Armada at the very least. Longer wheel base, 9,000 lbs towing capacity.

I think you nailed what I was thinking. The weekend that started out for all of us as a simple DE only to become an obsession that transformed our daily driver into a track whore, then to realize our new daily driver is no longer up to the task of transporting our once daily driver. Oh.. the money pit..

Okay guys, some very good points, and I do appreciate them.. I think I know what I need to do……. marry into money.

If she has sisters........you know where we are.

While I would never want to be seen as defending GM :rolleyes: , I will say that there is a reason why the diesels of GM, Ford, etc. are not found in their SUVs and 1/2 ton trucks....that is the differing emissions requirements for vehicles under a certain GVW, which long a go was 6000lbs, then was raised to 6200lbs and now is likely even higher. Today's US Diesels won't meet the lower emission requirements of the vehicles under that Federal Government set weight limit. Why don't they make that fact more well known to those that have been asking for the diesels in SUVs, etc, for a long time? The Corporate PR types don't want any communication that could sound like "our big rigs are polluters"!

It will be interesting to see where the new '07 Ford Expedition XL, sort of a replacement for the Excursion, falls in this situation. Unfortunately, likely not on the diesel side of the line.

Didn't read all the responses;

It's a really tough deal, this towing thing. It's hard to justify a real tow vehicle sometimes. It's easy to get sucked in by posted capacities and think you'll get by too. And you can. Lots of people do.

You can tow a lot with a marginal setup and never have a problem. Problem is, if you do have a problem towing, it is usually never a small one. Take the craziness of a spin at the track and quadruple it. It's utter mayhem when a rig goes South.

That will be an EXCEPTIONALLY marginal tow vehicle. The reality is that your anticipated load is right at the limit, regardless of what the rating is. If you plan to tow a little, do it at a very moderate speed and you might be OK. If you plan to tow a lot, you will kill that toy truck in short order. Hopefully not anything else.

A half ton pickup is marginal in MY book.

Agreed! We love our Powerstroke Excursion (7.3).

Just a thought, but I have no problem towing my boat with my 04 X5 4.4i with the dealer-installed tow package. The boat is about 4500lbs with trailer and though the truck is no speed-demon with the trailer, it is able to pull up hills at 70 with nary an issue.

I agree with all the comments regarding safety. It's not just your safety, but everyone around you if/when it goes south. I have seen some horrendous towing vehicles on the hwy. I think the Hwy Patrol should be more aggresive about pulling over guys w/ obvious violations.

I tow only occasionally, but I am now using an F350 Superduty Powerstroke 4x4. It is an exceptional towing vehicle, and I feel very safe when towing my (generally) 4k-6k loads. Especially in tricky situations like weather, or hills, or traffic, or the entrance to Laguna Seca. ;-).

Also, I have electric brakes, this is a key feature I have not seen mentioned yet.

I don't use a load distributing hitch, this rig is OK w/o it.

Hope this helps! Whatever you decide, be safe out there.

FWIW...I tow a 3,000 lb "89" 951 with a new Trail-X (full Deck) with a 2001 Pathfinder. I have been from VIR to WGI numerous times. The Pathfinder while down on power 250 HP and close to that in torque is pretty stable on the road. It ( motor) seems pretty happy at 70-75 mph and is very stable in turns. We oten take PA Rt 6 to WGI and it all quick hills and twisties. The Xtera seems to sit higher than the pathfinders (xtera's had previous poor roll over stats) and I would question the stability of towing a car. The other major concern is cargo space. You won't have enough if you plan on taking anyone with you by the time you get tools, jack, stands, coolers, clothes and second set of tires. If you add a tire rack to the trailer you will significantly change it's tongue weight and handling for the worse with an Xtera.

Since you are just now looking for a tow vehicle go with a V-8. Try Sequoia or and Armada (9,000-10,000 tow cap) or the Titan pick up if you want to stay away from US products. You will gain road stability, cargo space, towing capacity, power and torque. I will upgrade mine next year to an Armada or Sequioa. GL.

couple of points from my 4.0L Cherokee towing experience.

1) I never had load equalizing hitch so I learned where to place the car on my trailer to keep the tongue load in workable range. The jeep also had a 4.5" lift on it so it was a challenge to ensure the rear did not squat. It was possible however

2) brakes... The trailer always had electric brakes. Driving without them would have sent me off the road at my first stop. Even so I had to plan all my braking zone well in advance. I do remember one night making a left onto the freeway. Light turned just before I got there. I applied brakes and I just slide about 1 car lenght in to the intersection. Lucky for me it was late at night and there was no one around. Not fun at all.

By contrast I have run my 3/4 Ton Dodge without trailer brakes a few times and it felt more stable than with brakes on my jeep.

3) power & tranny. I always had to watch my RPM's and engine temps. It was easy to fall below my torque curve with 4.0L and thus need 3rd gear. 2nd gear gave me 3000 to 3500 rpm, but driving like that for 10 min ran up the engine temps. So I needed to pop the gearing to 3rd and hope to bring the rpm to 2500. This is the point where I could make enough power to pull the trailer, but also not burn up the motor.
in the dodge.... just drive it and never even worry.

John
Back to the Xterra, my daughter has one she likes it a lot.
It does however have drum brakes on the rear, I am not so sure I would be comfortable with that set up when towing.
When the sh!t hits and you are towing it is often all about the brakes.