Prospective daily drivers: vehicle capable of 3500+lb towing and 30+MPG highway(when unloaded)

So as we get nearer to paying off my Mazda2, turrible thoughts are going through my head to just make it a FTD local fun autocross car... E-Prepared... Or X-Prepared with a 2.0-2.5 MZR swap(but MUCH stiffer competition nationally, mostly all RWD).

Are there any vehicles available under 20k used without stupid miles that can hit 30+MPG AND are capable of towing 3500lbs? In prepared trim I'd expect a 1600-1800lb weight + 800-1000lb trailer, plus crap taking along of course.

Closest I've come to so far is a Volvo S80 circa 2010, towing 3300lb and rated 27mpg. Pretty close.

Reality is I'll probably buy another Mazda2 to DD and an older Trailblazer or something strictly for towing further down the road, but I'm mighty curious if something is out there that meets the 30mpg/3500lb criteria.

30mpg on the highway- a 2.0l turbo escape. that's all I got, though.

alfadriver wrote: 30mpg on the highway- a 2.0l turbo escape. that's all I got, though.

Yeah, but only 2k lb towing capacity

Edit: double checked, with factory tow package it is 3500lbs. You win!

Maybe a diesel VW going by European tow ratings.

Are used V6 diesel tourags getting near 20k yet?

An LS swapped Volvo 240 wagon might be the answer here.

keep the $5k to put towards gas

captdownshift wrote: keep the $5k to put towards gas

Forgot to mention I put 24k miles on it per year commuting. Forget relying on a 100k mile Cayenne to get me there and back.

And alfadriver wins, I double checked and the Escape 2.0 Ecoboost with factory tow package will haul 3500lbs and rated at 30mpg highway. Slightly out of $$ right now but certainly not impossible to find. Nice!

A corvette?

In reply to yamaha:

2000 lbs max (class 1 hitch), a C5 fits the bill other than that.

With rebates, you could get a NEW Grand Caravan for that dough. Only 25mpg highway, but it's new and tows 3500lb.

flatlander937 wrote:

captdownshift wrote: keep the $5k to put towards gas

Forgot to mention I put 24k miles on it per year commuting. Forget relying on a 100k mile Cayenne to get me there and back. And alfadriver wins, I double checked and the Escape 2.0 Ecoboost with factory tow package will haul 3500lbs and rated at 30mpg highway. Slightly out of $$ right now but certainly not impossible to find. Nice!

And we just turned in your future car last Friday- it had a buy back price of $23k- fully loaded Escape Titanium with tow package. And just 8000 miles on a two year old car.

You may be able to find some SE's near your price range- I know our former car will sell for much closer to $27k when gone through the dealer system. I have seen SE's with the factory tow package.

That being said, I'm shocked that GM or Toyota don't have a similar car.

EvanR wrote: With rebates, you could get a NEW Grand Caravan for that dough. Only 25mpg highway, but it's new and tows 3500lb.

1y.o. T&C ex-rentals are loaded with ~30k in the upper teens$. I've been eyeballing those with the intent to tow something like a Trail Manor or a Scamp.

4cyl S-truck? Mine got high 20s. I think it would be a touch squirrely with 3500, but it could do it.

In reply to alfadriver:

Out of curiosity what kind of real world mileage did you get? City/highway?

Thanks for the input!

flatlander937 wrote: In reply to alfadriver: Out of curiosity what kind of real world mileage did you get? City/highway? Thanks for the input!

Highway, pretty easy to get 30mpg. We were doing that all the way to Indianapolis and back a few weeks ago. City- depends on the cycle- my wife's 5 mile drive to work and back was less than 20. When I commuted 35 miles- I was getting more like 28.

This is one of our products that is (correctly) under some close scrutiny of Consumer Reports and not delivering great mileage.

My 92 RN Truck got 30 MPG unloaded if you kept the speed to 70. You can tow >4K lbs with one. I've done it. You can't get in any hurries doing it, but it will pull it.

I was gonna say V-6 Mustang, but it looks like they are really skimpy with their towing capacity- 1000 lbs.

THAT sounds de-rated.

SVreX wrote: I was gonna say V-6 Mustang, but it looks like they are really skimpy with their towing capacity- 1000 lbs. THAT sounds de-rated.

All new cars are de-rated. Very disappointing.

Did you guys get the 2007-2009 diesel Grand Cherokee's like we did?

7700lb towing capacity, close to 30usmpg highway, and best of all DIRT-berkeleyING-CHEAP (used ones fully loaded with 140k miles are going for around $10-$12k in CANADA).

a new diesel ram will do it. Maybe a diesel GC as noted by Hitemp or a Diesel liberty. Good luck with the upkeep costs with all them fancy Italian diesel engines.

V6 RAV4 comes close to your requirements. I've managed a best of 29.7 MPG on the highway with our AWD model.

SX4s, Volvo V50s and Legacy wagons should be considered as well.

In reply to dj06482:

2k lbs towing only. I thought of that, but nope.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:

RAV4 V6 w/ Tow Prep Package = 3.5k towing. As a bonus, while the Toyota hitch for the TPP is not cheap, it's structurally integrated into the unibody with something like 10 point mounting vs the conventional 2-arm/4-bolt aftermarket hitches.

Driven5 wrote: In reply to Fueled by Caffeine: RAV4 V6 w/ Tow Prep Package = 3.5k towing. As a bonus, while the Toyota hitch for the TPP is not cheap, it's structurally integrated into the unibody with something like 10 point mounting vs the conventional 2-arm/4-bolt aftermarket hitches.

That's something I didn't know.