Quote:
Originally Posted by rennis
Then yes, don't hesitate. The auto-leveling suspension in the rear is the key ingredient. It keeps the rig and the trailer level while towing. The biggest concerns I typically have when towing are tongue weight and the transmission. I don't let the tranny shift into the O/D gears, and I won't tow anything that pushes the 600 pound tongue weight limitation. it's still a unibody vehicle and tongue weight is not something I'd want to chance.
I would feel confident towing anything up to about about 5k pounds in weight. I've seen more towed with an X5, but that is my personal comfort zone. (There is a personal account on the Airstream forums by an X5 owner who tows a 34' trailer with his, and swears it is better than any half-ton pickup on the market.)
My boat is 21' in length and weighs somewhere in the 4800-5000 pound neighborhood including the trailer depending on what's in it. I think the X could actually handle a larger boat, but I've not tested the theory. A full-on 23' wake boat would be a bit much, if I had to guess though.
My previous tow vehicle was a 2008 Tundra w/ the 5.7L V8. That was a fantastic tow rig, and was very stable, great power. I would say the X5 is almost as stable on the highway due to the advanced suspension design and electronic wizardry. All that stability you feel driving one normally directly translates when it's pulling too. It's just planted. The low center of gravity and massive width at the rear of the vehicle also aids in towing stability, in my opinion.
Where I was most pleased was in the power though. I'm very gentle on the X5 when towing the boat, but it easily out-performs the Tundra in acceleration. Over a mountain pass there is no comparison. The torque curve provided by the 4.4TT is fantastic. The thing is unstoppable. It flat out destroys my brother-in-laws Silverado when we tow/convoy over the mountains for camping/boating trips. When he is WOT chugging up a pass in 3rd and 2nd gears towing his wakeboat, I'm at 50% throttle in 4th or 5th towing ours. His weighs a bit more, but the comparison is still valid.  |
Awesome. Lots of hills around here, so thanks for the info.
