Towing with VW Touareg or Porsche Cayenne

[DCinSJ]

My current tow vehicle is a Suburban. I now have to replace my car with a small SUV. Getting one with a higher towing capacity (relative to other small SUVs) would enable me to get rid of my Suburban. However, I'm concerned about towing at near the stated capacity. How do the Touareg and/or Cayenne (stated capacity 7716 lbs) do towing 7000 pounds? How about up and down hills (i.e. - Sacramento to Tahoe)?

[Kurtsara]

Originally Posted by DCinSJ

My current tow vehicle is a Suburban. I now have to replace my car with a small SUV. Getting one with a higher towing capacity (relative to other small SUVs) would enable me to get rid of my Suburban. However, I'm concerned about towing at near the stated capacity. How do the Touareg and/or Cayenne (stated capacity 7716 lbs) do towing 7000 pounds? How about up and down hills (i.e. - Sacramento to Tahoe)?

Maybe trailer toad makes on for the Porsche.

I would worry about stopping 7000 lbs though.

[biron]

Is that a TDI? I don't now how much it will tow but it looks like a nice ride, the TDI's get the fuel economy of a fuel efficient small sedan. Personally I have a vehicle for towing and a vehicle for the drive around town trying to get a vehicle to do both can give you sleepless nights especially when at the line of the specs.

[Cobra1]

I would not want to pay for a tranny rebuild on a porche so make sure you discuss towing with your dealer and learn what the maintenance schedule is if you start towing. I bet the brakes are adequate as the tow should have brakes also.

[RGene7001]

German midsize SUVs are among very few vehicles able to tow serious loads while still fitting in the garage.
Stopping and cooling are up to the task, there is no risk of damaging powertrain.
Factory hitch receiver should be reinforced in order to enable weight distribution and loads higher than rated, a trip to Canada may be necessary.
I would recommend diesel for 7000lb while gasser it's totally adequate for 5500-6000 lb
Good luck

[LandKinaMoho]

Towing is about what one is to tow also. The wheel base is important. Pulling a short heavy trailer is different than a long lighter trailer. Capacity to tow is indicative of horsepower or torque. The mercedes R series has wheelbase power and tongue weight ability. Just some food for thought.I mentioned the Mercedes simply as you had gone the european route so far. So many factors to use as priority for decisions.

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by DCinSJ

How do the Touareg and/or Cayenne (stated capacity 7716 lbs) do towing 7000 pounds? How about up and down hills (i.e. - Sacramento to Tahoe)?

The European diesel-powered SUVs have the same problem as your Suburban 1500. You can either tow a 7,000 pound trailer, or you can load up the SUV with people and stuff, but not both at the same time without being overloaded.

There are two weight ratings, GCWR and GVWR. The 7,000-pound tow rating is based on the GCWR, ignoring the GVWR.

The GCWR indicates pulling power, or the max trailer weight you can safely pull. If you don't exceed the GCWR of your tow vehicle, then you should be okay - you won't burn up the components of your drivetrain, and you won't be the slowpoke blocking traffic up the steep mountain passes going up to Tahoe.

The GVWR is probably your limiter. That's the amount of weight, including passengers and hitch weight, that can be on the four SUV tires without overloading anything in the suspension, tires, wheels, shocks, brakes, etc. In other words, that's the amount of weight- including hitch weight, you can haul on the four truck tires.

I considered a Touareg TDI, but it cost about $10,000 more than a nice F-150 SuperCrew EcoBoost equipped to tow a 7,000-pound trailer. Plus there was no VW dealer near Midland when I ordered my F-150. There is now a VW dealer in Odessa, so when it's time to replace the F-150 I'll consider a Touareg again.

Originally Posted by VW of America

2014 VW Touareg TDI

WEIGHTS

Curb Weight 4,974 lbs
GVWR 6,305 lbs
Payload 1,155 lbs


TOWING CAPACITY

Braked trailer 7,716 lbs

2014 VW Touareg Trims & Specs - Volkswagen of America

Load the trailer to 7,000 pounds and your hitch weigh will probably be 900 to 1,000 pounds. If your hitch weight is 1,000 pounds, that leaves only 155 pounds of payload available for the total weight of driver, passenger(s) and stuff. IOW, you're going to be overloaded. You can pull the trailer up the mountain pass, but your suspension is going to be overloaded.

So consider a lighter weight trailer - say 5,000 pounds GVWR. Hitch weight will probably be 650 to 750 pounds. So you can haul a skinny driver and passenger without being overloaded if nothing else is in the SUV. Put the other stuff in the trailer.

Kids? They cannot go in the trailer, so forget about a normal TT and look at fold-up camping trailers with GVWR around 4,000 pounds, which should have wet and loaded hitch weight of 500 to 600 pounds.

[RGene7001]

SmokeyWren,
According to your quote from VW of America the real payload is 1331 lb, not 1155lb. Moreover, as per Wikipedia, curb weight includes not only fuel, all liquids and standard equipment, but (IN EUROPE) 75kg driver as well. I already posted my weight receipt, vehicle stickers and explanations in Hybrids, expendables, lightweights/Fuel economy..., can't do it now from smartphone. My estimated payload is 1473 lb, much better than 1201lb from the sticker, if we agree that ML's curb weight is 4700 lb, as per specifications.
The truth is that I selected my trailer very carefully, you can have trailer of the same size and there will be twofold difference on hitch weight. My floorplan is very easy to balance, most of the food and kitchen stuff goes over the axles and bulky items in the front storage are balanced by small and heavy items in the rear storage.
We are family of 3, 2 big adults and a 6 years old, 440lb total.
In reality we can add 1 or 2 people in the TV, put slightly more stuff in the trailer and still be ok!

[BigBaron]

The Touareg forums have oodles of examples of folks pulling 7,000+ lb. trailers for years.
I was surprised that the wheelbase is only 2" shorter than a truck! The only caveat is that VW says no to a WDH, but there are many who have used a WDH for years.
The entertaining part is most on the Touareg forum I looked at think that just because they have air suspension they don't need a WDH! LOL Headlights pointing skyward in a lot of pics.

[DCinSJ]

Thank you all for your input here. Seems to be a lot of knowledge to be had here. I'm pulling a boat, not an RV ... perhaps should have included that in original post. The boat is 23 feet, so the trailer + hitch = almost 30 feet long. Double axle. Boat weighs 4500 lbs, trailer weighs 1600-1800. With gas and gear, total weight can approach 7000.

I tow the boat from Bay Area to Tahoe ONCE in May, then back ONCE in October. In the winter, I occasionally tow it in the flat to launch in the SF Bay. So, as you can see, the low frequency of use of my tow rig motivates me to potentially be able to retire it. However, if the Touareg (or Cayenne) cannot not safely or effectively make the trip up to Tahoe, then I would just keep my Suburban for those needs. In that case, I will probably buy a different small-SUV for a "family car" and not worry about towing with it.

Any further thoughts or opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

[BigBaron]

Keep the Burb and get a comfortable car.

[RGene7001]

While I don't have direct experience towing boats it is generally believed that it is much less difficult job. First of all, boats are not as hitch heavy as TT, so your standard receiver rated I believe at 616 lb will work, it will not be twisted by weight distribution forces either. Second, boats are more favorable aerodynamically, there will be much less drag and much less side sway forces from winds and passing big rigs. What is more problematic is to make sure that boat trailer brakes work properly.
In any case, any turbodiesel German should leave old suburban on the dust

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by RGene7001

First of all, boats are not as hitch heavy as TT, so your standard receiver rated I believe at 616 lb will work, ...

Disagree. Other than "wagon style" trailers with no hitch weight, any trailer that connects to the receiver hitch should have at least 10% tongue weight. Ideal tongue weight is about 12.5%, whether boat, TT, cargo or utility trailer.

Granted, many boats are improperly loaded and result in less than 10 % hitch weight. Especially boats with bigger outboard engines hanging off the back of the boat. But that's unsafe. Just like many TVs are overloaded over the GVWR of the TV. That's also unsafe. Don't be a lemming towing an improperly loaded boat trailer. Load your boat on the trailer, and position weight of fuel, water and other stuff in the boat, so you have 10% to 15% tongue weight. Decent boat trailers allow you to move the boat forward or rearward to achieve the proper hitch weight so you can compensate for a heavy outboard motor.

[BigBaron]

Question - is cash an issue? If not, why not get a V-10 Touareg?
I would. They're nice!