If you had about a 30 mile commute mostly highway
And you wanted whatever vehicle to be able to haul a family so likely 4 dr
And you wanted to tow a 10k lb travel trailer or toy hauler realistically what would you daily?
The easy solution if not dailying is the 3/4ton burban with the 8.1 but 8-10mpg doesn't work out very well when daily driving
I wouldn't want to daily anything that is capable of towing 10k lbs.
It's at the limit but a new F150 crew cab is rated at 10,000 lbs.
10k is close to the max towing for most of the modern half ton trucks. A 3/4 ton, or a tweener like the new Titan XD would handle the weight more easily, but the trade off is worse fuel economy and a harsher ride. So you'll have to weigh ride/fuel economy/price vs towing ability for the number of times that it would be needed to work.
This is (a small) part of why you see so many crew cab trucks being used as daily drivers now. Whether that makes more sense than having an inexpensive and fuel efficient daily as well as a tow rig for the times when it's needed, is a different conversation.
What's the budget here? I think the only reasonably efficient solution is some sort of diesel crewcab thing, which generally isn't cheap.
Yeah and I agree its much better to have a cheap fuel efficient used car to commute and your tow vehicle
However in my experience despite the logic and math to back it up SWMBO often seem to think that one vehicle is better than two
I think the 5.7l Tundra's were rated up to 10k also but again gas mileage sucks and its close to the limit
If it was replacing a current vehicle and not going to have 2 vehicles the budget is probably 20-25ish maybe 25-30
Under that situation, it seems like it would make sense to keep the Suburban as a dedicated tow vehicle and get a cheap commuter car. There are some diesel crew cab trucks or SUVs that could get half-decent highway mpg, but it's likely that a two car solution would be cheaper than getting one of those in good shape.
How often would you be towing? Since you mentioned travel trailer, I assume you would be towing that with the family on board?
Most half ton trucks can be rated to tow 10,000 lbs, but the problem is the payload. Most half ton trucks have a payload under 1,500 lbs. A 10,000 lb trailer, with 10-15% tongue weight, will be taking up most if not all of the available payload. That means there is none left for wife, kids, dog, camping gear, firewood, bikes, etc. in the truck.
Personally, I would get an older extended or crew cab 3/4 ton truck truck for towing and get a smaller, economical, fun car for the daily commute. There really isn't anything that is good at both. If you can only have one vehicle for whatever reason, I would get a modern 3/4 ton and suck up the extra fuel commuting as a camping expense.
Driving a bigger vehicle daily is annoying but safe. Towing with too small of a vehicle is dangerous and can be deadly.
If I had something that was 10k that I regularly towed, it would mean that I could easily afford a dedicated tow car. Which is to say I would never want to DD an vehicle that is capable of towing 10k.
If I were forced to DD a vehicle that could tow my stuff, whatever it was, I would do everything in my power to minimize the package I need to tow for a more reasonable vehicle.
Thankfully, I fall in the latter, so I have a tow package that is about 3100lb (2400lb car, and a 700lb trailer) and I get an Escape or Edge that can tow 3500lb. Done. When we were the former, it was a waste of money and space for that Ranger or F150, since neither of us wanted to drive that beast all the time.
On a side note, since SWMBO is the one with the unrealistic requirement to have one do-it-all vehicle, can she be the one who has to drive the tow beast?
Towing 10k lbs occasionally would mean a new F-150 with max tow, etc. It's got enough payload to go with it too. Doing it regularly means driving an F-250 or 350 sized truck. To me, that makes a crappy daily. I'd rather have a real daily and an older, cheaper truck that can sit when I'm not using it.
Suburban 2500 would probably be the most comfortable. My 2006 is rated for 12k (8.1 and 4.10 gears).
Is your commute 30 miles round trip or each way? My wife daily drives the Sub, but her commute is only about 20 miles round trip, though that itsn't highway, so she is using about 2 gallons a day.
Excursion diesel?
I don't know, friend of mine has a newer F250, loaded, it's a pretty comfortable place to put down miles.
It rides better than my BRZ on 375/425 Ground Controls.
I love my Sierra Denalli
camaroz1985 said:Suburban 2500 would probably be the most comfortable. My 2006 is rated for 12k (8.1 and 4.10 gears).
Is your commute 30 miles round trip or each way? My wife daily drives the Sub, but her commute is only about 20 miles round trip, though that itsn't highway, so she is using about 2 gallons a day.
My '02 2500 8.1 'Burban is also pretty comfortable for non-towing use, and the cheaper buy-in over a diesel rig means you can drive it quite a ways on the difference in cost. But I agree with the above posters that say get a cheap car for commuting and then have something like the Suburban for towing and the family hauling duties (both of which the Suburbans excel at). They are cheap enough that the fuel cost issue isn't actually all that bad when you do have to use it.
And my wife loves driving the Suburban (though she used to drive ambulances so driving a bigger rig isn't a difficulty for her).
F-250 King Ranch short bed with a tune.
At $2.50 a gallon your 60 mile/day is going to cost @$50 a week in gas at a generous 15mpg.
That's $200/month, which puts you right on the edge for a second car. Fuel economy less than 15mpg or gas prices going up would make a second car a no-brainer.
Its about 35miles a day round trip. You guys are encouraging me to go ahead with what I already think I should do :P will see when SWMBO can be convinced we "need" the tow vehicle. Right now we have been using our travel trailer about one weekend a month. It's not 10,000 lbs its only like 3200-3300ish and we tow it with our minivan
I daily a 16 ram 3500 crew cab cummins 4x4. Unloaded I get over 23mpg highway and about 21 combined. I'm hooked up to a trailer 95% of the time though. That is why I bought the truck i did. Tons of room for the kids too.
Surplus Deuce and a half?
Patrick said:I daily a 16 ram 3500 crew cab cummins 4x4. Unloaded I get over 23mpg highway and about 21 combined. I'm hooked up to a trailer 95% of the time though. That is why I bought the truck i did. Tons of room for the kids too.
That's pretty impressive. Im a huge diesel fan but I have been burned with some of the expensive repairs on these modern emission controlled units so it makes me a little wary. My old F150 Supercrew 5.4 got 16mpg all day
did you say a budget? That makes all the difference in the world.
newer 3/4 ton stuff is worlds more comfortable and roomier than 80's-90's stuff
a 6.0 GM or V10 Ford SUV or truck would fit the bill. 2wd trucks are considerably cheaper than the 4wd version as well
Seems a bit harder to find 2wd trucks unless you see the complete work truck versions
oldopelguy said:At $2.50 a gallon your 60 mile/day is going to cost @$50 a week in gas at a generous 15mpg.
That's $200/month, which puts you right on the edge for a second car. Fuel economy less than 15mpg or gas prices going up would make a second car a no-brainer.
As much as I'm in the 'drive a fuel efficient daily' camp, this calculation completely neglects the fuel for the second car, an additional insurance policy, registration, and any other ancillary costs. So that probably drops it to maybe $75/month savings.
Now if you're willing to downgrade the niceness/newness of your tow rig slightly, and make your purchase price inclusive of both vehicles...Then yeah, you're still talking upwards of an extra $1k or so in your pocket every year.
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