I'm in the market for a tow vehicle. Just curious as to what others are using. Please include what you are towing in terms of open or closed trailer. Also, might help to discuss what problems, etc you've had with it.

Pictures are a plus.

I'm currently leaning towards a Titan/Armada...

 

Go Tundra if you are thinking Titan. I love Nissan, but their truck is no match compared to the Tundra. Throw a set of air bags in the Tundra, get a good weight distributing hitch and brake controller, and you are set. Its tow rating is much higher than the Titan IIRC. The 5.7L will do a 14.7 @ 94 1/4 mile too

Total mass here is about 8000lbs, mileage is about 10-11 when loaded. If its mileage you want, you have to go diesel.

If you are towing an open trailer, the titan/armada would be fine, and a weight distribution hitch wouldnt be necessary either.

 

wow...thats a seriously badass setup!!! tundras are great btw, owned one in 2009 and loved it

 

07+ Tundras are a bit more than I wanted to spend, and I'd be tempted to go diesel once I got to that price range...

 

Titans are fantastic trucks and can be had very cheaply. If youre wanting entry level, my buddy has one, and its a great truck.. just cheaper than the tundra. Tundras be cool tho, not gonna lie.

 

I have a 2006 4Runner. I have never pulled my z with it, but I use to trailer my old wrangler behind it every other weekend. It is a V8 and is rated to pull 7,000 lbs. It has 85,000 miles on it and I have never had any issues with it.

 

You don't want to know what this poor boy tows with... a 2002 Nissan Frontier. Not for the faint of heart. Especially towing to and from ZDayz in the NC/TN mountains. Hopefully I'll be trading up to something stronger and heavier in the next year or so.

I drove LightningGuy's Titan towing a wrecked Z down from the top of the Skyway (not mine), and it handled it as if we didn't even have anything hitched. He had an open, lightweight, all-aluminum race trailer & that was a huge step up from my steel trailer behind the Fronty.

 

I have pretty thorough experience driving both semi and pickup trucks and have worked for the better part of ten years driving trucks with equipment behind them. These have included just about every engine size and variation from the domestic truck lineups.

I'm not familiar with the titan or the other "import" full sizes, but I can tell you if diesel is an option it is definitely the way to go. Even the beefy 6.0 chevys are vags when it comes to hills and on-ramps, not to mention you'll see much better fuel economy from a diesel. And like someone else said depending on your trailer size, a control package and brake controller are a must.

 

The Z
(courtesy of Terri back in the day, but still on google)

 

My tow vehicle is a '96 Chevy C3500 crewcab dually. It's pulling an older 24' enclosed tandem axle trailer with a T2-spec 350Z inside. The 454 V-8 with a 4.11 rear end gets awful mileage: 5.5 to 7.0 MPG on regular unleaded. But I've kept it in good shape and it tows quite easily, so until the next-gen Titan is released, its a decent rig.

 

tow with my daily driver civic. lol

 

We have been using a 2005 Dodge Dakota 4WD with 4.7 V8 to pull the Z on an open Aluminum trailer with OK results. But it was slightly under-powered and didn't have much room in the bed to carry stuff.

I recently purchased a used 2010 Silverado 1500 Work Truck extended cab regular bed model with full tow package/cooling systems and 5.3 V8, 6 speed auto, 3.08 diff and I love it. This has cylinder deactivation (goes to 4 cyl when cruising)

Note: I paid $17500 for this truck (before taxes) from a dealer with 9800 miles in like new condition (<$20K drive out)

I considered a Titan...but research indicated very poor quality problems with them, such as "exploding Diffs"...so i looked at Fords/Chevy/GM/Toyota's...I would have purchased any one of these models but the Silverado was the best "bang-for-the-buck". I did get a quote on a new Titan for $25k drive out....as they are giving the suckers away...GM/Chevy are also discounting the hell outta the 1/2 ton PUs.

I got 12-13 MPG on the road towing the car And all the crappage you need at the track for an Endurance race in a recent trip to Road Atlanta. And It stops fine with a trailer w/4 wheel electric brakes. Note: but I didn't encounter many big hills/mountains, but think it would handle them fine but with lower MPG.

With the 6 speed auto it will down shift as needed for big hills, but never has to strain or run at redline to go up them. It also has tow/haul mode and it has engine braking...but I don't even need to use that on the Highway in most cases. However I do use it on secondary roads...very nice feature!

My commute to work is 60 miles each way, with 45 miles of highway and I am getting a for real 20MPG doing 70 MPH...and getting about 15-17 in normal around town stuff. (If you can keep your foot out of the gas this might slightly improve...the 5.3 has some real nice torque)

I think this would pull an enclosed trailer, but don't recommend it. It has the power to pull an enclosed trailer, but Wind is the big issue with enclosed trailers and a Dually is really the way to go for that rig.

 

Sorry, I don't have a picture on my phone, but I towed with a Armada for 5 years with an open trailer with no issues. With it's close to 10K lbs. capacity it handled it just fine. I believe in the rule of 60-70% of towing capacity for anything over 30 minutes of towing. I towed up to 14 hours with that setup. Once I moved to 24' to 32' enclosed trailers it wasn't nearly as happy. It could still do it, but you felt the trailer back there at all times, even with a distribution hitch. I also saw the trans temps go up if I had to travel through the mountains even with a larger cooler. The biggest impact to my decision to retire the Armada from tow duty...gas mileage. It absolutely sucked and I was very lucky to get 250+ miles towing.

The solution, a low mileage F250 with the 7.3 international diesel. It tows the 28' with no problems at all for 400+ miles on a tank of gas. Has plenty of room for 5 people, the bed for extra room if needed, and because it was built to be a work/tow vehicle there are a lot of features I wouldn't have even thought about until I saw them. Think like a Aux power connection on both the front a rear for winches and trailer power. An extra battery just for accessories. Hook ups built in if I want to add an auxiliary fuel tank. Rear Diff cooling on top of the standard trans cooling, and the list goes on and on.

On the flip side it is a work truck, so it is lacking as a nice daily driver. But we have other vehicles for that.

 

2005 Yukon Denali here and totally agree with Marty's comments.
I have a 20' enclosed trailer and, while it feels like the engine has plenty of power, it just feels like there is too much weight on the hitch.
Also, my tranny crapped out - probably not a coincidence!!!!!

 

2000 F350 SD with the V10. Did the math and the diesel option wouldn't have paid for itself until 168,000 miles. Towed a 26' enclosed race trailer and had a Lance camper on the back. 19,880 lbs. GCVWR. Towed great at 65mph and went to races all over California, Arizona, and Nevada twice a month for 5 years. Never had a problem and got 8 to 10 mpg.



Still have the truck, still no problems. These trucks used with a V10 are dirt cheap.

 

Nice pit bike!

I don't tow my car yet but bought a 2008 Titan CC with Big Tow knowing that I will one day.

I have a buddy with a Tundra who tows his enclosed trailer and the gas mileage is brutal he says. Something like 10MPG if I recall correctly.

 

10mpg isn't too bad for a gas truck hauling an enclosed...

 

Im sure the Titan will be in that range lol

 

That's the Mini Bike of Death! Doug Hayashi mentions it here:

http://pulpracing.com/otc_2004_day1.htm

Its thrown a number of professional racers to the ground and has turned laps at WSIR, Streets, Buttonwillow, Thunderhill, PIR, Las Vegas, Sears Point, and Firebird. It also ran through the SCAT timing lights at Bonneville at 45.6 mph. I sold it a couple years ago and its rumored to have continued its murderous ways.

 

I see an average of 14, but have seen as high as 16 on a long haul