Hello, anyone towing with a Nissan Exterra? What do you think of it? We just purchased a 2001 Coleman Utah and the Exterra is our tv. We did not have the tow package so we had a hitch and brake controller installed. This weekend will be our first trip besides bringing it home. Wonder what you though and if you made any improvements, etc.
Thanks,
Tara
Don't know what year xterra you own, but if its a 2005 or 2006 with the new 4L V-6 with 265 HP, you definately will not have a problem. Earlier models have less power and lower towing limits, but will probably be OK. Also, shorter tow vehicles may be more prone to sway, so be careful as you learn to pull your PU.
Good luck and have fun!
Jim
Hello, we have a 2001 SE with the V6. We have a sway bar and our trip home was fine, but not very far. It is rated to tow 5,000.
I have a 2001 Xterra with the V6 2wd and tow a 2006 Rockwood model 1980 10' popup and to be honest when I first picked up the camper I couldn't even tell I was pulling a trailer. It was very smooth ride and I feel the Xterra has enough power for it and with a 5000 tow rating shouldn't be a problem.
Forgot to mention we have 4wd.
There aren't too many of us Exterra drivers towing!
There are a lot of excellent Xterra forums where you can ask this question also. The following three are very good examples, but there are many others also. When I bought our new Nissan Frontier earlier this summer, I asked about towing on some Frontier sites, and got a lot of good answers.
http://www.rmxc.net
http://www.clubxterra.org
http://www.xterraownersclub.com
Jim
Jim - thank you for all the great links!
Tara, you're welcome! And if you do trade in your Xterra and want to stay with Nissan, I will definately recommend the 4 door Nissan Frontier crew cab (4WD of course). It has lots of room for car seats and lots of people. On our trips, we carry 4 adults, 5 giant breed dogs inside the topper (3 Saint Bernards and 2 Irish Wolfhounds), lots of gear, and pull a Fleetwood Evolution all over the high mountains and passes of Colorado. Our Frontier performs better at this than the 02 full size Dodge Ram we traded in. And it gets far better mileage! The Frontier is all new in 05, and its 4L V-6 has class leading HP (265) and very good torque (283). We compared it against Toyota's mid-size and Dodge's Dakota. I didn't think either was close, although if the Toyota wasn't so much higher priced I might have liked it a little better. The Dakota was OK, but even with the 4.7L V-8 seemed so much less powerful and much less fuel effecient that we rejected it. Can you tell I really like our frontier?!?
Jim
I'm surpised that you had trouble with you're xterra. I have a 93 pathy (v6) and granted it is a bit sluggish @ 6000ft and above when towing up hill, I've not had any problems nor diffucalties. Towed my pu here in florida and can run 80 with the rest of traffic but a year ago while hauling a u-haul filled with mostly books and tools, it did tend to slow going up hill in CO.
I have a "04 3.3L V6, pull my Fleetwood Tucson with no problems.