Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

[TRValeri]

As the title says, my wife has a Cadillac SRX AWD with a V-6 rated to tow 3500 pounds. I just bought a Four Winns H190 spec'd to weigh 2970 pounds with the trailer weight at 990 pounds (3960 total weight). I live in Central California and need to pull the boat to and from the lake on flat ground for about 10 miles each direction. Is my wife's SUV capable of getting the job done?

 

[90stingray]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

It would be overloaded! It will physically pull it.... BUT will it stop the boat? Do you want to take that risk... what if you hurt someone else? I only use the wife's GMC Terrain (bacically same vehicle) to move boat from garage to driveway and back... and i'm within the load rating. But that small task feels like too much for that car. You are not going to find someone that tells you it's ok to do.

 

[TRValeri]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

It would be overloaded! It will physically pull it.... BUT will it stop the boat? Do you want to take that risk... what if you hurt someone else? I only use the wife's GMC Terrain (bacically same vehicle) to move boat from garage to driveway and back... and i'm within the load rating. But that small task feels like too much for that car. You are not going to find someone that tells you it's ok to do.

Thanks for the reply. I had thought braking would be ok given its a tandem-axle trailer with disk brakes on the trailer. Maybe I was wrong. I really don't have any other towing options at this point and was truly hoping this rig would work at least for this season. Next year the lease is up on my company car and I will just get something with more towing capacity.

Will a few hundred extra pounds really be unsafe given that it is 100% flat land towing?

 

[90stingray]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Will a few hundred extra pounds really be unsafe given that it is 100% flat land towing?

You are just hunting for someone to tell you it's ok to do. You already know it's over the rated capacity. Continue at your own risk.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Ok here it goes. First off the speced rate of your boat is dry weight. Once you add gear fuel and water on your way back it will be quite a bit heavier than that. Having said that will it tow your boat without a problem, yes it will. The real issue you run into is by exceeding your weight rating you are breaking the law. If you get in an accident even if you are 100% not at fault if they realize you were towing in excess of your rated capacity not only will you be held liable for the accident you can also be held criminally liable as well. Your insurance will probably also use it as an excuse to not cover you for the accident If god forbid someone is killed you can and most likely will be charged with manslaughter. So knowing that you have to decide you willingness to take the risk. If you are only going a short way and drive cautiously you will probably get away with it but it's a risk I would never take. Believe me I do know what I am talking about I am a professional truck driver and this is an issue we have to deal with and I have seen it happen. Sorry if I come off preachy but I just want to make sure you are fully aware of the risk you are taking if you proceed.

 

[JB]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

It would be overloaded and unsafe. No yabuts.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

People with boats really need pickup trucks and rear wheel drive SUV's to tow. There's no replacement for such a vehicle.

You can sometimes get by with all wheel drive for 10 miles or so, but they really don't have the guts to go very far.

The most important factors are does the tow vehicle have sufficient weight and sufficient braking capabilities. Lighter the vehicle, lighter the brakes.

The other big thing is that automatic transmissions are easily killed by heat, and towing develops great heat. I have a 3/4 ton diesel pickup capable of towing 12K+ weights, and I wouldn't even try to tow heavy items without a hang on second tranny cooler or a larger transmission cooler. Tranny coolers are inexpensive investments that pay off greatly for towing people.

And on top of that, everybody need a good truck--old or new--to haul all their "stuff." They're a must to have around.

 

[TRValeri]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

People with boats really need pickup trucks and rear wheel drive SUV's to tow. There's no replacement for such a vehicle.

You can sometimes get by with all wheel drive for 10 miles or so, but they really don't have the guts to go very far.

The most important factors are does the tow vehicle have sufficient weight and sufficient braking capabilities. Lighter the vehicle, lighter the brakes.

The other big thing is that automatic transmissions are easily killed by heat, and towing develops great heat. I have a 3/4 ton diesel pickup capable of towing 12K+ weights, and I wouldn't even try to tow heavy items without a hang on second tranny cooler or a larger transmission cooler. Tranny coolers are inexpensive investments that pay off greatly for towing people.

And on top of that, everybody need a good truck--old or new--to haul all their "stuff." They're a must to have around.

Thank you very much for all the thoughtful responses. I have seen the light and certainly will not be using the SRX to tow the boat. I'm either going to use a truck from work or rent a slip for the Summer. Regardless, I'm going to handle this the right way.

 

[Mike Zee]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Weigh it. Put all your stuff in it and have it weighed. Why guess? Sometimes things are lighter, sometimes heavier. If you come in at 3499 your good. 3501, well according to everyone you'll be going away for a very long time. Tandom axle w brakes, bonus points to you for having too much trailer. Where I come from you would be on a single axle, with no brakes!

 

[coreybv]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Aside from likely transmission problems, most crossovers are unibody vehicles and don't have a frame like you get with an actual pickup or SUV. Unibodies do not stand up well to towing over time, even within their rated limits.

 

[jkust]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

I'll be the devils advocate here. Before I owned three, midsized, large v8, 4wd suv's that I tow with now (I own two currently), I actually did the overzelous thing that many boat buyers do before they see the light. I towed my sig boat with a far, far less capable vehicle than your Cadillac. I towed my 4000lb sig boat/trailer with an old, model year 2000, >100,000 miles, fwd, 185 hp minivan with a 3,500 lb tow capacity. During my learning curve I learned a lot about towing since I towed using that vehicle on short, intown trips and nice 600 mile trips. The kicker is that the van, again already well used, peformed flawlessly. Because minivans like your Caddy are so long, the tow suprisingly well but what they don't do well is emergency maneuvers which is where the life or death stuff happens on the road. The only spot other than the broad safety-on-the-road category where the van was outmatched was pulling away from a stop light and keeping up with traffic without really getting on the gas. Basically the moral to the extensive amount of time I towed with the minivan is that it takes very, very little amount of vehicle to tow and tow suprisingly well including pulling up a 45 degee access with out any hesitation and hardly any petal even with just fwd. I wouldn't recommend towing with a non-body-on-frame suv a nice, quality built Four Winns that weighs substantially more than many brands where you could fall under that 3500lb limit. I learned it's kind of like HD TV where you just don't know what you are missing out on until you see it. After you make the switch to a purposebuilt tow vehicle, the unibody car is like riding a horse versus the SUV's capabilities. On the very first distance towing trip with my very first suv mentioned above, I had the unthinkable happen, where a local with a trailer of hay pulled out in front of me while I was driving 60mph. It was a life or death situation as him pulling out in front of me was so egregious, and the emergency maneuver I was forced to do would have surely lead to a negative outcome for us had we been towing with the minivan.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Trv I'm glad you have seen the light. I didn't mean to be all doom and gloom but I was trying to get my point across as to the possible outcomes to your situation. As jkust said it is certainly possible to do it with the vehicle, it's just not a good idea.

 

[jkust]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Trv I'm glad you have seen the light. I didn't mean to be all doom and gloom but I was trying to get my point across as to the possible outcomes to your situation. As jkust said it is certainly possible to do it with the vehicle, it's just not a good idea.

I think the difference is that people that advocate towing with a unibody vehicle, maybe have a light Stingray, Bayliner or some other lighter duty boat. In that case a 2100lb bowrider with a trailer and gas/gear etc maybe hits the 3500lb mark and so that is a lot different than the OP's suggestion and my former experience. At the ramp when I towed with the Minivan, people that knew Chaparrals and how heavy they are would comment once in a while as the obvious mismatch of tow vehicle to boat. A bit of a passive agressive notice that what I was doing was stupid. A heavy/quality built boat like the OP's looks no different than a cheapo of the same length until you either tow it or try to push it around while floating. The extra 900 or so lbs is all hidden from view in the layup and the few extra hatches or doors that are not visible.

 

[maproy99]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Personally, I would do it. 10 miles to the ramp on flat land is nothing. Just makes sure you leave a lot more reaction time and do not do hard starts and stops. I could put a 10 pound parachute behind a vehicle and it couldn't tow that any better then being a few hundred over your tow rate. And someone was saying that they felt like it was overloaded to put the boat away? Come on...... Some people do need a semi to haul their kayaks..........
I can put my boat away and run all over my property using a little 11hp john deer. The only problems it has are the steep uphills in grass. I have to go get 140 more pounds of weight for traction. It pulls the boat up my steep drive way that during winter, 2 wheel drive vehicles can't make it back up to the street on. (I always have a tow strap ready when I have visitors in winter) 4,000 pound trailer and I gave up on pushing it a long time ago.......My little lawn mower barley knows it is there.....

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

I wasn't saying his truck wouldn't pull it I was just making him aware of the potential liability if he does tow over his rated capacity.

 

[gtochris]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

Personally, I would do it. 10 miles to the ramp on flat land is nothing. Just makes sure you leave a lot more reaction time and do not do hard starts and stops. I could put a 10 pound parachute behind a vehicle and it couldn't tow that any better then being a few hundred over your tow rate. And someone was saying that they felt like it was overloaded to put the boat away? Come on...... Some people do need a semi to haul their kayaks..........
QUOTE]

I would agree, For 10 miles and a 19ft on a tandom trailer with brakes I probably wouldnt hesitate.

 

[coreybv]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

I would agree, For 10 miles and a 19ft on a tandom trailer with brakes I probably wouldnt hesitate.

My buddy who runs a body shop thanks you. He makes pretty serious money every year straightening out unibody vehicles that have been used for towing.

Of course the Caddy will do it. And it will probably even do it relatively safely. But after a season or two, that Caddy is going to have a wicked pull to one side or the other and start chewing up tires like there's no tomorrow.

Personally, I wouldn't tow anything bigger than a jet-ski with a unibody vehicle. And I'd probably think twice about even doing that.

That's the scary thing about these crossover vehicles. They're built to "look like" an SUV, but they're built with all the strength of a Ford Fiesta. The highly paid marketing people present them as the "best of both worlds". The reality is that they're the worst of both worlds.

IMHO, anyone who buys a crossover is proof that advertising works, and that people will buy what the big corps want them to buy, whether it meets their needs or not.

If you want the gas mileage, buy the prius. If you need to tow, buy a Tahoe. Or, you can get sucked in by the commercials on TV, buy a crossover, and have crappy gas mileage and no towing capacity. Worst of both worlds.

Gotta love advertising.

Not trying to be a jerk. But there's an elephant in the room here. Someone had to step up and say "Hey, look at that elephant."

And if you really want a good mix of fuel economy and towing ability, find a late 90's GMC Jimmy. The one I had got almost 23 mpg and towed like a Sherman tank when I asked it to.

 

[Mikeyboy]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

A good friend of mine had a great theory on multi purpous things. The more something does the worse it does those things. Anytime you get away from something that is specialized and into something multi purposed your going to make compromises. For some people those compromises are worth while for others they are not, that's completely a case by case scenario. For some people a crossover makes sense. For me it does not. That's why I drive a 1 ton diesel.

 

[gtochris]

Re: Will my wife's Cadillac SRX AWD do it?

My buddy who runs a body shop thanks you. He makes pretty serious money every year straightening out unibody vehicles that have been used for towing.

I have to counter in that I have a family autobody shop and never have I recalled a vehicle coming in needing frame straightning due to towing with a unibody, I dont think it is that big of a problem considering the outlined circumstances and the boat is within the range however the OP stated he has a plan B.