In reply to mtn:
A small SUV/CUV fits your first two needs. I don't see any car that can tow anything to fill your third need. Some small SUV/CUVs will fit the last need.
Other than that, I don't have any other suggestions.
In reply to mtn:
A small SUV/CUV fits your first two needs. I don't see any car that can tow anything to fill your third need. Some small SUV/CUVs will fit the last need.
Other than that, I don't have any other suggestions.
I know logic doesn't sound like the basis for decisions here... but how many miles does she actually drive a year?
I hear 20 miles/day, and I'm like... that's basically nothing (I do 100+ per day). 20 miles x 5 days/week is only 5200 miles/year. double that for grocery shopping and errands, and you're talking 10,000 miles? That's still on the low side of average.
The reason I mention this, is the real world difference between a 20mpg vehicle, and a 25mpg vehicle, at 10,000 miles... if we assume gas is $2.50/gal, the annual cost difference is only like $250.
10,000 miles @ 25MPG = 400gallons. @ $2.50/gal = $1,000.
10,000 miles @ 20MPG = 500gallons. @ $2.50/gal = $1,250.
$250 is far cheaper than the annual registration/insurance of a 3rd vehicle sitting around. So the real question is... why is 25MPG an imaginary line in the sand that's a deal breaker?
I don't disagree that it sounds like 2 vehicles may do the job, but if that's her requirement, then there has to be a compromise, and one of those variables has to give.
Do you actually need a full 5,000lb. rating? Some of the smaller CUV's have a surprisingly high rating... even the 2.0T Audi Q5 has a 4,400lb. rating and claims 20mpg city / 27 hwy. AWD Honda Pilots are rated at 4,500lbs-5,000lbs. (depending on year) towing as well (similarly rated 19city / 26mpg hwy). I have a feeling if you put her in a stylish CUV that she likes you might be approaching the real compromise that keeps only 2 vehicles on site.
Hey I figured out what gets 25MPG+ and can tow 5000lb:
Any midsize car driven by anyone from Europe 
Get rid of the boat. 
I was going to go where xflowgolf went. At 20 miles a day, the fuel economy impact between something that gets 20 city vs. 25 won't make much of a financial impact, especially if you factor in the cost of premium gas.
We have an '06 RAV4 V6, rated to tow 3500lbs with the tow package. I think something like it would be a good compromise for her. I average 21-22 mpg in mixed driving, (ours is AWD).
Won't compromise between 20 mpg and 25 mpg @ 5200 miles/year
Owns a boat.
One of these things is not like the otherrrrrrr
yupididit wrote: Get rid of the boat.
Yes, and get an amphibious vehicle for her to drive!
One less vehicle, even LESS asinine
Buy TWO more vehicles, then when she says you need to reduce the fleet you "reduce" things to three. Overtons window.
You don't think the price of gasoline got to where it is in a linear fashion, right? But we all feel pretty good about $2.75 gas after the $4.00 we were paying a couple of years ago. Same principle applies.
GameboyRMH wrote: Hey I figured out what gets 25MPG+ and can tow 5000lb: Any midsize car driven by anyone from Europe
The reason for that is in Europe they run half the north American recommended tongue weight (~5% vs 10-15%), run trailer brakes on practically everything, and have a hard 60mph speed limit for trailers. Running a tongue that light will result in a very unstable situation above 65mph or so, but does allow you to set a much heavier trailer on a small car bumper without smoking the wheel bearings or picking the front tires off the ground.
Could you combine the truck and sports car role?
Used pickup with a turbocharged, E85 burning, 1000-horsepower V8 to tow and go four miles per day, and an economical hatchback (Fiesta 1.0, $11000 new) for the 20 mile commute.
OSULemon wrote: Won't compromise between 20 mpg and 25 mpg @ 5200 miles/year Owns a boat. One of these things is not like the otherrrrrrr
My dad owns two boats, her dad owns two boats. My wife and I use her dads boats more than he does.
You'd easily make up the difference in gas with the money you save on registration and insurance. Even if you got a GMT800 Yukon XL Denali which would cost you $922.50 extra in gas over 10,000 miles compared to something that gets 25 MPG, you only have to pay insurance, registration, inspection (if necessary), emissions testing (if applicable), and maintenance for two cars instead of three.
Having a non special car sitting around doing nothing is, to me, a valid concern. We hated having a truck just sitting around in the back yard- regardless of it's age. Would much rather have more collector cars/stuff than a plain old truck. And for us, the small SUV/CUV filled the DD niche quite well. (For us, it was a FE improvement, since a 164LS isn't exactly a fuel sipper)
It's not just going to sit around, he's planning on using it to haul.
mtn wrote: The only reason not to have 3 cars is that "having 3 cars is asinine". When pressed for why, "it just is". Yeah, well, guess what... the cars thing comes with me. You should know that by now.
Indeed. I usually own 5-7 vehicles. It sounds like you have a good handle on this - like you said, having an extra vehicle is awful nice when something goes wrong (always does, I drove my Silverado today).
I'm annoyed for you. Since when it is OK to call somebody's passion asinine? How many pairs of shoes does she own? If it makes you happy and you can afford it - hell, in this case you need it, then buy a 3rd vehicle.
SRT8 DURANGO
Blaise wrote: I'm annoyed for you. Since when it is OK to call somebody's passion asinine? How many pairs of shoes does she own? If it makes you happy and you can afford it - hell, in this case you *need* it, then buy a 3rd vehicle.
Gotta say I agree. Do you live in an apartment or some other limiting factor? And she drives 20 miles per day? Thats nothing. No need for some high efficiency vehicle.
Lof8 wrote:Blaise wrote: I'm annoyed for you. Since when it is OK to call somebody's passion asinine? How many pairs of shoes does she own? If it makes you happy and you can afford it - hell, in this case you *need* it, then buy a 3rd vehicle.Gotta say I agree. Do you live in an apartment or some other limiting factor? And she drives 20 miles per day? Thats nothing. No need for some high efficiency vehicle.
The limiting factor, in her mind, is money. In real life it isn't, but she isn't good with finances and freaks out when she thinks of three cars. Keep in mind, she grew up in a family of Toyota's. She's not all bad and does not consider my passion asinine--she is trying to convince me to buy a new Miata as my only car, but I just can't stomach the depreciation. I think about things differently. A well bought 4Runner, Bronco, or Blazer can be had for $3-4k and not have much if any depreciation. Same goes for a Miata. Total cost to own then is just maintenance, insurance, and registration (yes, that is a simplification). But she just sees another thing to potentially break. I see "insurance" for when that thing breaks.
But we're not going into the shoe's. I'll lose that one too, as I have more shoes than places to put them; hers at least all fit on her shoe rack. At last count I am at around 14 pairs of dress shoes.
yupididit wrote: SRT8 DURANGO
Yes this is the best option.
My wife and I recently went through this same thing recently, Like xflowgolf pointed out, after I did the math on the relatively small amount that my wife drives it made sense to cut out the MPG requirement. 10k miles with gas at $2.50 is $250. 10k miles with gas at $5.00 is still only $500 a year. Much less than the headache of dealing with insurance/maintenance and all the other niggling bits of owning any car.
And as an added bonus to me, now when I hook up my trailer to the wife's daily driver I'm towing with something from this decade, low miles, fully functioning amenities and knowing I have a pretty reasonable chance of arriving at my destination without having to fix a rusted out brake line, misfiring engine or any random other issue that a sub $3k beater tow pig would require.
My wife was pretty stoutly in the "my car needs to get good mpg" camp too, ultimately after pointing out that nothing we'd be able to tow a racecar with would get the mpg she was after and that the dollar value simply didn't compute I learned that the root cause of wanting better MPG was she envisioned a tow pig requiring more frequent fill up's and she dislikes going to the gas station. Bonus for her, the Grand Cherokee has a larger tank and she stops less often than she did with her previous legacy.
Screw the mileage! Use the logic above and buy a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. That's what I did and it's a hoot! Tows 7700lbs, great daily driver and shockingly reliable. I don't get anywhere near 20mpg in it tho, LOL!
yupididit wrote: Get rid of the boat.
Not to put to fine a point on it but this really seems more like a wife problem than a vehicle problem to me.
Do. The. Math. 
And show her.
What's the cost delta between 3 cars and 2 cars? With the miles she drives, I'm betting its more expensive to own a tow vehicle and a commuter than it is to simply drive the tow vehicle to work. No additional registration, taxes, insurance, and most importantly... time-value of additional cash required for the initial purcahse of 2 cars vs. 1.
alfadriver wrote: Here's a good question- where are you going to tow that 4100lb package? Bear in mind, the rating is mostly about keeping the powertrain cool going up a desert mountain in the middle of summer fully loaded with full drag. If all you are doing is simple flat stuff, just pulling the boat out of a lake, then a 3500lb tow rating will be just fine.
As an engineer, I'm 100% on board with this. But... I have concerns that insurance would just deny a claim if anything happened while towing a load that they perceive to be > than the factory tow rating.
I routinely towed ~2000 or 2500lbs with our Vue. The V6 was rated at 3500lbs, but we had a 4cyl manual rated at 1000lbs. Radiator part numbers are the same, brakes are the same, only difference in suspension is the size of the front swaybar. It always concerned me that if anything happened I might not be covered.
Sadly, the new tow ratings are pretty much based on performance with a load behind you.
The tow rating is mostly my own imposition. I've towed way over the limit of a Crown Vic, probably about 750lb with a Miata, and I've towed with a 3/4 ton truck where I didn't even notice it.
The 2 boats that I'm towing regularly are big boats, and I don't feel comfortable in much less than a 4Runner. Which is really probably my answer, for her.
My sister has a late model 4Runner (2014?) and last year I towed a modest sized horse trailer with it down to Tennessee to collect a horse. It's not bad with around 3,500 lbs behind it (V-6) but it wasn't great either. The chassis is just a bit short and narrow to feel truly confident with the load on the interstate.
Perhaps the answer is a V8 answer... I'm sure that 400hp LS3 could hack the tow rating, and in such a light vehicle, I'll bet mpg is achievable too...
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