I’m thinking of buying either a Ford Escape SE FWD 2.0L 4 cylinder ecoboost with factory installed tow hitch rated to tow 3500 # or a Subaru Outback AWD 2.4L 4 cylinder CVT rated at 2700# to tow a 13 foot Scamp trailer weighing in at 1350 pounds (unloaded). I’ll be doing a tour of our National Par…

On the road for a year or more, towing a camper, in the mountains, you would be crazy to go with anything less than a V8. Get yourself a used V8 F150 truck or similar. They’re plentiful, inexpensive, and easy to repair. Rear wheel drive is fine with decent tires. Put a cap on the bed for extra stora…

Of course, you could just get the AWD Escape and the FWD dilemma disappears.

I also don’t recommend the Escape - not only because it’s FWD, but because it’s an Escape. Those things are terrible. They’re unreliable, and the ones we have at work have been in for serious recalls (as in: “it might catch fire”) on 4 separate occasions since we got them 1 year ago.They’re just atr…

On the road for a year or more, towing a camper, in the mountains, you would be crazy to go with anything less than a V8. I do a lot of camping and towing my 3000lb pop-up with my V6 4runner. The 4runner V6 has MORE then enough power…and I wouldn’t hesitate to do that trip with my trailer with the 4…

I just read on an Outback forum that Subaru rates the Outback with CVT at 1350# max if the climb is greater than 5 miles or the temperature is over 104F. But the poster really like towing with his 2014 Outback with CVT. Page down to Subiesailor’s post. [image] How Good is the CVT Transmi…

Count me in with the crowd. For a drive that long involving mountains, I’d want a vehicle with more towing capacity and more power.

“Not all V6’s are created equal.” That’s very true. My 2002 Dakota with the 3.9 V6 was a weakling compared to my 2005 Dakota 3.7 V6. The 3.7 knows it’s limits as well…it had a tough time pulling my brother-in-law’s pontoon boat out of the water but my wife’s 4.3 V6 Blazer did the job with power to…

Slightly off topic…But once as a young lad I took a spring break trip to see family just northwest of Denver, CO. At the time, I was driving a 1997 Nissan 2WD pickup with the 4 cylinder engine. The only cargo was me and my bag, basically. I’ll never forget desparately trying to get up the interstate…

The Dilemma is that although this is a really tiny trailer as far as they go and pretty light, you add all the stuff you’re bringing along. The Escape with AWD might be the slightly better choice. The Ecoboost probably has roughly the same power/torque as the V6 in our old Grand Voyager but you have…

Ford Escape vs. Subaru Outback for towing 13' camper

General Discussion

texases June 20, 2014, 6:29pm 9

For mountain towing you need a V6, minimum, even with that light weight camper. A tow package is also a requirement (including the transmission cooler). Like Mike said, a V6 4Runner should do fine.

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Ford Escape vs. Subaru Outback for towing 13' camper

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