utkinpol

i live in a city and do not like trucks at all. i would look at v10 diesel tuareg.
http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchr...kw=v10&kwm=ANY

ninjabones

Dan:

I'll throw some comments at you from left field:

- you live in NYC
- Sell the street GT3
- Buy a CPO Cayenne S with tow package
- Buy the red trailex currently listed in Arlington, VA ($10,000)

If you're savvy, you could walk away with some cash for tires, and you'll have one less vehicle to maintain. You'll also have a really fun daily driver that's much more managable in the city, and a trailer that will be relatively easy to handle (and which will retain it's value).

I commute into center city philadelphia every day in my cayenne (and I absolutely love this car). I park in an underground lot, even in "compat car only" slots. Been towing with the cayenne for three seasons from WGI to VIR (without a single hiccup). Absolutely love my cayenne s (and I was one of those guys who thought porsche was way off making a car for soccer moms). And on top of that, I still have 35,000 miles and 18 months left on my CPO warranty.

It is true that you'll be a bit more limited on what you can bring (no pit bike or golf cart); however, I've got it down to a science (three sets of wheels, ez-up, tools, four fuel jugs, spares, bicycle, etc). I get 11 mpg towing, and 13-14 city driving.... and working on the cayenne is pretty easy and intuitive if you tinker on porsches (rotors, pads, oil changes, etc).

Just a few random thoughts.

G

rlm328

Here is my $.02.

Ford has the best chasis bar none
Dodge has the best drive train
Chevy / Ford best ride comfort
Tundra is a 5/8 ton; they did a compromise on power but their chasis flexes too much

Do not believe anyones tow numbers as they are NOT standardized. The original 3 PU manufacturers have been trying for the last 2 decades to arrive at a standard for towing.

Larger diameter wheels will also cut down on tow capacity. the 20" wheels look good but you give up capacity over the 18" wheels.

TexasRider

The other posters here may know you and your situation better, but I did not get the impression that this truck was an everyday driver for you. I thought it was for mostly towing and general work. Not to dispute any of them, but when you need a truck you need a real truck. My Avalanche is not a real truck for hauling. But it gets around town good. And it can handle lighter work. But not too long ago we went fishing with me and 2 guys. It was cramped for a 5 hour drive and the back was full of gear for just 3 of us. In the F 250 it would have been a sleeper. Except for one thing. You had to yell over the diessel clatter and noise. Or maybe I should have gotten headsets !

I used the dual purpose tires on my F250 and it might have helped the overall cabin noise to use a street tire. One thing is I never ever got a flat on those big heavy truck tires. And I hoped I didnt either. Jacking that big truck on the side of the road was not something I wanted to do.

I cant say exactly on the Toyota and Nissans. I know they had issues under loads. All I know is all my buddies who had them at one time another really liked them for just on the road driving and light stuff. On the other hand not a one of them have them now. They all have diesel Fords and Chevys again.

I cant say on a big truck in NYC downtown. You might have to still take a taxi from where you have to park it !

dan212

Thanks everyone.. This is helpful.

To clarify.. The SOLE reason for getting this is to tow an enclosed trailer. I will probably park it with the trailer outside of the city..

I've been excluding all Fords with the 6.0 Diesel based on comments from others. Race911 made mention of the headaches he had with the HIS 6.0.. But maybe after 80K++ miles whatever is going to go wrong will have happened?

I'm pretty much settled on a diesel at this point.

ohenryinatlanta

you'll see some 6.0 with all the fixes. EGR delete, new studs, etc.

HD passenger vans can be bought with low miles for a song also

rlm328

Most diesels don't get broken in until 100k miles. They do require maintenance. With diesel in the north you will require a block heater and a place to plug it in, as they do not like to start when it is cool. If you are going to leave it parked for extended periods of time I would get a gas engine.

M758

You are planning to tow a 24 ft enclosed right? Truck will be dedicated tow only right?

Get a gas motor truck 3/4 ton minimum (250/2500). Diesels can be nice, but will cost you alot more and some have issues. The Ford 6.0 diesel towed just fine, but stunk for reliablity. So don't bother. The 6.4 was a little better, but I still don't know if I would risk one.

The GM 6.6 duramax was solid and so was the 5.9L Dodge and 6.7 dodge. However with 6.7L dodge and 2006 and newer (or was it 2007?) the diesels started getting alot more emissions crap and became harder to maintain. Still hugely powerful, but you had to worry about driving them enough to burn out the particulate filters etc.


The option that people never seem to talk about, but will work at the gas motor trucks. The GM 8.1L v8 was beast, So was the dodge 8.0L V10 and Ford 6.8L V10. The last year for the dodge V10 was 2003 and it came in the newer body style only that year. I have 99 V10 and truck pulls my 24ft box just fine. (310hp and 450ft-lbs at 2400 rpm) The only downside is poor gas mileage. 13 mpg hwy and 8 mpg towing the 24 foot box fully loaded. Still 8000ft mountain pass? No big deal.

Mine has 67k on it and I bought it in 2002 with 40k on it for 16k. 5k less than a similar year Cummins. No issues even when it sits for 2 months between tows. It is quiet and very smooth. Since the motor is so lage it pulls at 1800 rpm on level ground at 65 mph in overdrive. over 400 lbs of torque at under 2000 rpm does that.

I have never driven a GM 8.1L, but I hear good things about that. Same for the 6.8L V10 ford. I believe that 8.1L has been out of production a few year and the ford was made up till last year. Now a 6.2L V8 replaces it.

The other option is 5.7L Hemi in the 2500 dodge and 6.0L in GM trucks. Each of these is not quite the 400+ ft-lbs the V10/big V8 motors, but they do have good hp. It just takes more RPM for them to work.

In the end I am not sure you need the noise and hassle of a diesel for occasional towing. Sure you will be getting crappy gas mileage, but even a diesel will be getting maybe 12 mpg. Figure the cost difference of diesel fuel vs 87 octane gas and cost difference in the truck and calcuate how many tows you need to break even.

For my despite it being "cooler" to have a diesel, my big gasser just makes more sense.

Eifeler

I'm not arguing the logic of a gasser when occationally pulling smaller trailers but have you ridden in a diesel lately? My 2009 F250 with 6.4L is dead quiet on the highway. Any noise is coming from wind and tires. Even the old 2004 Dodge with 5.9L was at least as quiet as a big block V8 until I hopped it up a bit (sub 2 second 60 and low 13's in the quarter).

Veloce Raptor

Get one of these...be the only one on your block:



Or just simplify & get a 3/4 ton Suburban. My buds here can park it ANYWHERE in NYC

Nine9Sixer

Dan,

The obvious solution is for you to sell the place in the city and just buy a place in Millville, since you're there all the time anyway. Then you can buy the truck, keep the gt3, and store the trailer and race car! or better yet, just move into one of the on-site villas and forget about towing! c'mon, you're already halfway there.....