Hi everyone, newbie with lots of questions

[lbaker]

First, I currently do not own an Oliver, or any rv for that matter. I am 5 yrs and 8 mos. away from retirement but who's counting I know that when I buy my Oliver I will have to sell my beloved Toyota Matrix and I'm wondering what vehicles to consider. I love my Matrix because 1, it gets great gas mileage, I travel a lot and live in the middle of nowhere, and work is a 40 mile rt, plus I drive a lot for work. 2 it's low profile,(I canoe and kayak, which makes them easy to top) I have heard rumors that Subaru has released a Forester in the UK only, that gets 40mpg and can tow 4000 lbs. Now that's what I'd like to have, but alas no signs of release US any time soon. What other options are there? I'm looking for highest mileage, low profile.

Appreciate any insight.

Leigh

[mountainborn]

Welcome to the Oliver Forums !

This thread might well be named "what do you tow with, it's tow rating and mileage, please". We discuss these things all of the time. Betty and I tow with a Jeep Wrangler 4 door, the mileage runs from 14 to 16 towing. Normally, that is. Give a head wind or a tail wind and it can go up or down about two MPG.

We accept lower mileage and weaker acceleration when towing just to be able to drop our Ollie, and drive Jeep trails. It isn't for everyone though. I bet there are others that will respond to this thread also and give more input.

Send me a PM if you would like to chat by phone.

harm

[SeaDawg]

Hi, Leigh, and welcome to Oliver Forums!

We have towed our Oliver with all three of our vehicles: Volvo XC90, Chevy Silverado half ton pickup (sport side, short bed), and Dodge half ton, 4x4. The 4x4 is really overkill for the little Oliver, but it allows us to go where we like... which is often steep country roads in the mountains. The Silverado was two-wheel drive.

The covered pickup bed gives us lots of gear storage area, or, uncovered, allows us to carry our ATV with us when we want to, and most of our gear as well. Towing the Oliver behind us changes our mileage very little with the Dodge... a mile or two per gallon. With the Volvo, towing used a bit more gas, but it gets much better mileage in town, not towing than the pickups.

 

Loaded for camping, (with some water in all the tanks, not full), and carrying just about every option Oliver offers plus full gear, food, etc., our Oliver weighed in at about 3950 pounds. This is only about half our towing capacity, and we don't even feel the trailer behind us. The tradeoff: the 08 trucks are all a lot bigger than the earlier models, like our 05 Silverado. Our daughter now enjoys driving this smaller, more nimble, easier to park truck.

 

We just spent a couple months camping with a friend of mine who tows a similar trailer with a Jeep Cherokee (also 4x4). She's found the Jeep to be a very comfortable vehicle, as well as a good tow vehicle and a decent around town vehicle, a good compromise for her. She reported more variance in gas consumption in the steeper hills than we did, as she tows closer to her vehicle capacity than we do, but no problems keeping up with us on our 5,000 mile trip together.

 

Sherry

[DCKiefer]

I tow with a Toyota FJ Cruiser and Toyota Tacomo, 5000 and 6500 pound tow rating respectively. Both tow great and milage runs about 14 mpg with trailer coming in at 4000lbs. In my opinion the Oliver is best towed with a vehicle with a minimum of a 5000lb tow rating. Horse power shouldd be somewhere in the 200 to 250 range and torque

[allenpamela]

We tow with a Chevy Avalanche and get around 17 miles a gallon. We have to remind ourselves that we are pulling the trailer because it is easy to forget that it's there. We could have gone with something a little smaller but the comfort is great in the Avalanche. Good luck finding a tow vehicle and you will not go wrong with an Oliver.