Re: Wheel base - Mini Van versus Trailblazer
Something I think a lot of people confuse about the ability to tow a trailer is that the larger heavier SUV or truck has the suspension to deal with the weight transfer when stopping or making a sudden maneuver.
I have three vehicles, all can tow a trailer, a one ton Dodge van, a Grand Marquis, and a Ranger pickup, all will tow a trailer just fine within their limits. The handling characteristics however are all quite different. On the open road, with a lighter trailer, the Grand Marquis is surprisingly comfortable, and by far the best on fuel, but it's never my first choice as a tow vehicle, it just happens to have a hitch. It dips and dives too much on rough roads and when braking even with a small boat. The Ranger handles the load the best overall even with it's lack of power. The shorter truck chassis best controls tongue weight and it rarely bottoms out in and out of driveways. The Dodge van is my last choice for several reasons, for one, the huge overhang makes it very sensitive to tongue weight, the general lack of weight over the rear wheels means it gets stuck on wet grass, and then there's the lack of visibility and it's shear size makes maneuvering in tight places a hassle.
None are 4 wheel drive and I've never felt the need to have 4 wheel drive.
I did get the chance to drive a 2003 Trailblazer a few months ago and was surprised at how well it handled a trailer but was shocked at the fuel mileage. I towed a 17' trihull on a 1100 mile trip, total trailer weight was probably about 2200 lbs, it was on a single axle trailer which normally is pulled by a Ford Ranger. The TB handled great, stopped fine, and had good power. My two biggest complaints were interior room and fuel mileage.
At 6'4 I was severely cramped up in the drivers seat.
Mileage was terrible, the TB had 23,000 miles on the odometer, and is well maintained, it averaged 12.2 mpg on the whole trip, which was mostly all highway driving. Around town driving once we got there was even worse.
The trip home was without the trailer, and it averaged a whopping 13.7 MPG with nearly all of that being at highway speeds. What surprised me most is that I'm the sort of driver who normally gets better than average mileage.
I had considered buying a clean used TB to replace my Ranger with, but with mileage like that, even for around town driving the fuel cost would be more than noticeable.
When is comes to towing anything, a lot of how safe the rig is also depends on who's at the wheel. Even a perfectly set up tow vehicle and trailer can be a nightmare in the hands of a novice.
I've towed enclosed trailers and RVs all over the country, mostly with 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickups, from experience, what it comes down to is knowing how to handle the rig your driving, every set up handles different, and no vehicle will handle the same with a trailer as it would without. You also need to know how to load your trailer so it can be pulled safely.
I've seen far too may boats loaded so as to be easy to move around the yard by hand and not so as to tow properly. A balanced trailer which you can lift and roll around the driveway by hand with a 24' cabin boat will not be safe or handle properly at highway speeds regardless of what your pulling it with.
A good thing to remember is to never out drive your brakes. A lot of problems can also be avoided by simply slowing down. I can't count how many times I've seen small SUV's on the highway flying along at 80 mph plus with the boat in tow swaying line to line.
