XT or H6 for Towing

[bg]

Plan to tow a boat, around 2000lbs. Driving distance could be from 30 to
150 miles roundtrip and up some grades. Which platform should do better the
turbo or H6?

TIA...bgin

 

[Mark H]

Plan to tow a boat, around 2000lbs. Driving distance could be from 30 to

150 miles roundtrip and up some grades. Which platform should do better the
turbo or H6?

Personal preferance really, on whether you would prefer the turbo or 6-cyl
on drives where you're not pulling the boat. Not much difference between the
two.

Going on a recent review by a local car mag, the 6-cyl would be slightly
better, as it has more low-down torque.
Turbo's better if you intend to drive it at the upper limits of the rev
range or for very steep hills, as you can knock it down a gear or two and
have full turbo thrust to the engine.

I suggest a test-drive of both, try to get it up the hills you want to go in
a gear higher than usual and see how she goes. Shouldn't be a problem in
either though, really.

-mark

 

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Plan to tow a boat, around 2000lbs. Driving distance could be from 30 to
150 miles roundtrip and up some grades. Which platform should do better the
turbo or H6?

Personal preferance really, on whether you would prefer the turbo or 6-cyl
on drives where you're not pulling the boat. Not much difference between the
two.

Going on a recent review by a local car mag, the 6-cyl would be slightly
better, as it has more low-down torque.
Turbo's better if you intend to drive it at the upper limits of the rev
range or for very steep hills, as you can knock it down a gear or two and
have full turbo thrust to the engine.
[/QUOTE]

Lets note here, he asked about -towing-

As far as towing is concerned, low end torque is king, top end is
almost meaningless. You don't (or shouldn't) tow a boat up near red-line.

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[Mark H]

Lets note here, he asked about -towing-

As far as towing is concerned, low end torque is king, top end is
almost meaningless. You don't (or shouldn't) tow a boat up near red-line.

Not that the turbo is that low on torque, more depends on how he wants to
drive it when not towing, balance of time spent towing, etc.

If it's just going to be a tow beast, buy a five year old V8 wagon instead.

-mark

 

[gringo]

XT should be adequate. I think this engine is amazing and unless primarly
used for towing, then maybe go V8.

 

[H]

Specs say the XT can tow 2400lbs with trailer brakes. So can the X or XS
with Manual Transmission. The Automatic limits tow capacity on the X/XS to
2000lbs. Note that trailer brakes are required for >1000lbs.

I would think the real limiting factor would be the transmission. I believe
that the Forester was rated as one of the best tow vehicles by some
Caravaning association in Europe and they get the 2.0l version of the
Forester.

 

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Specs say the XT can tow 2400lbs with trailer brakes. So can the X or XS
with Manual Transmission. The Automatic limits tow capacity on the X/XS to
2000lbs. Note that trailer brakes are required for >1000lbs.

I would think the real limiting factor would be the transmission. I believe
that the Forester was rated as one of the best tow vehicles by some
Caravaning association in Europe and they get the 2.0l version of the
Forester.

Actually there can be a lot of "limiting factors", with out an indepth
engineering look, we will never know.

Example, Ford once upped the tow rating of their F350/F250 trucks, but
they didn't change anything in the engine or trany. Rather the changes
came in the brakes, frame and tires

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