It’s no secret that Americans adore towing things. We hitch up mammoth campers to nearly as gargantuan pickup trucks and then hurtle them down highways at 70 mph. Other times, you’ll see trucks hauling other trucks, motorcycles, cars, construction equipment, building materials, bales of hay … anything that can be hitched to the back of a vehicle, really. Some vehicles tow better than others, of course, and there are lots of machines out there with tow ratings, so tell us: What does your dream setup look like?
I have towing on my mind this week. I just completed a real-world towing test of a 2025 Chevrolet Silverado EV Trail Boss pulling a 37-foot-long, 7,700-pound camper. I was able to make it from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, back to Illinois on a single charge with the trailer hooked up. I have a story about this later today, and it also has me thinking about what my dream tow rig would be.
My answer to this question is somewhat complicated. I already own one of my dream tow vehicles, a 2006 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI. Everything about the Touareg V10 TDI is truly bonkers. This is a vehicle that makes the horsepower and torque of a diesel pickup truck, but does so in a more compact midsize SUV package that’s draped in luxury. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the Touareg sounds like a Lamborghini eating bolts for lunch.
The Touareg even has a great tow rating for its size, as it’s able to handle a 7,716-pound trailer. However, for as much as I love my “Treg,” it’s not the ultimate tow vehicle. Its hitch cannot carry a trailer tongue that weighs more than 770 pounds, and its payload is a paltry 1,250 pounds. A Touareg is great for towing cars, medium campers, and the occasional Boeing 747, but you’ll need something even more beastly if you want to go bigger.
The question of my absolute dream tow vehicle is a hard one to answer. On one hand, I adored the 2025 Ford F-350 Super Duty Platinum Plus and its plush interior, 500 horsepower, and 1,200 lb-ft of torque. This was a truck that was a work vehicle and a luxury car in one, and did both surprisingly well.
But for as much as I loved that truck, it still loses out to what I feel is the king: the Ford F-150 FP700 (you can read my review here). If you’ve forgotten, because let’s be honest, 2023 feels like it was 10 years ago, I’ll give you a quick reminder. Ford allows you to plop a 3.0-liter supercharger onto your 5.0 Coyote-equipped Ford F-150, turning it into a tire-shredding 700 HP and 590 lb-ft of torque street truck. I’m not exaggerating about the tire-shredding part, either. Just breathe on the gas pedal, and it’ll willingly convert tires into smoke.
My FP700 test truck an XLT 4×2 with a regular cab and a short bed – a basic work truck, really. But add the FP700 supercharger, wheels, and decals, and it became a stunner on Woodward Ave in Detroit.
This was a work truck that was so fast that it could leave legitimate sports cars in its rearview mirror. Yet, it’s still a truck, so it can tow trailers, haul lumber, and do general truck stuff. Yes, I’m the person with six Smart Fortwos, and I’d just love to do burnouts in a regular cab, short-bed 700 HP truck. And then tow with it.
So, what about you? If money were no object, what would be your dream tow vehicle? Do you have a dream towing setup? Would you love your flashy truck to tow a trailer with all of your favorite cars? Or maybe a color-matched fifth wheel is your thing? Perhaps fantowsy is a BMW wagon with a trailer hitch that hauls a teardrop? Anything goes, it’s your dream!
Top graphic image: Ford
AWD Telo, Airstream Basecamp Xe. The Telo is small enough to be an in town runabout but powerful enough to tow that trailer which is plenty big enough for me.
Family friend had an orange 73-75 stepside C10 with a healthy 427 and an ugly white camper shell that he used to pull an orange 18′ jetboat that also had a healthy 427 in it. I don’t want a boat, but I would love to have that combo. Actually, that’s only sorta true… Sometimes I *really* want a boat. Sanity always comes back before I go too far down the rabbit hole, but I occasionally find myself searching for an old Sanger/Bahner/Rodgers/Tahiti/etc.
I’ll take a Porsche Cayenne. And if money’s no object, there will be a fleet of kei cars coming home from the port, and probably an RX-8 parts car to swap the 6-speed with paddle shifters into an RX-7.
I’d just skip over pickups and go straight to the toterhome/stacker combo.
“What Is Your Dream Tow Vehicle,”
1990-1993 Chevrolet 454SS
“And What Are You Hauling?”
Ass.
I guess a regular-cab version of the Dodge Ram with the Viper V10 might also be kind of cool for similar hauling.
Was going to post more or less the same. Cyclone/typhoon/Trailblazer SS/Track Hawk/SRT10/454ss/Lightning/etc… No interest in towing but I kinda like fast trucks for some reason.
I like my ’15 GMC 2500HD long bed crew cab, single rear wheel 4×4 – if money were no object I’d have the Dmax instead of the 6.0 gasser. Also if money were no object I’d be towing a 5er loaded with a side-by-side, quads, and a dirt bike to Glamis instead of a dump trailer to the local landfill or my latest job site…
Either a 2014 conversion E-350 extended high-roof conversion van with the 5.4l Triton, or a recent Express/Savana (also extended and high roof) conversion with the 6.6l L8T.
As far as what I’d be towing…eh, probably just some box trailer to help people move, or to carry extra cargo to take people on vacation if the cabin is loaded with people.
How is this even a question? There is only one possible answer.
A Luigi Colani Mercedes-Benz Spitzer tractor, pulling a matching streamliner enclosed trailer, carrying a Voisin V12 L.
The tow pig: any Ram 3500 dually with the 5.9 Cummins, which I would begin by sending here…
https://lilbigrig.com/home
…for a full conversion into the Snowman’s 1973 Kenworth from the movie suggested by my profile pic.
What am I towing? A solid-sided gooseneck race trailer converted to the world’s swankiest fifth wheel trailer inside, with a graphic wrap to match the trailer in said movie, to make me look like someone who would “go to a minister’s funeral dressed in feathers.”
If this outfit would make you want to kick my ass just once, I don’t blame you.
I’ll stick with the e-bike and a trailer for the 4 year old, does the job quite well around the neighborhood, and with the tires aired down, can even go on some snow mobile trails in the winter if they are well packed.
GMC SERRIA HD 3500. Give me the Duramax, SRW, and Denali package in Downpour Metallic. I would pull everything with. Boat, RV, Construction Equipment, I would use Gooseneck, 5th Wheel, and good old hitch.
Already have it… 2007 Silverado 2500hd (Classic) with the LBZ Duramax and 6-Speed Allison. Crew Cab, Longbed, 4×4, and Bone Stock.
Just got back from ~7days with our slide in four wheel camper and mountain bikes all over the central and eastern sierras. Cruised comfortably at 75-80mph on the open stretches, pulled up all the long grades without breaking a sweat, and still averaged ~16mpg over the ~1,000mi trip.
It’s old enough to not be saddled with the problematic emmissions systems, but still makes modern power (360hp and 650lb-ft), gets decent mileage, and is dead reliable as long (as long as you maintain it and don’t start putting on “questionable” mods).
I didn’t get the same luck. I have a 2007.5 3500HD. Never had emissions issues, but almost everything else has failed. Just finished a drive down to Anchorage with an oil pressure gauge duct-taped to the windshield due to a “Low Oil Pressure” light that illuminated on my last trip. This time, it completely shut down on the highway. Cleared codes and got it to a grocery store parking lot where it would not even recognize my code reader. Disconnected batteries and it made it home after reconnecting.
Every time it is something different. Transfer case blew up. Hydroboost leaking. Parasitic battery draw. Blend doors that need reprogramming with every trip. Leaking rear axle seals.
Wife doesn’t trust it. I don’t trust it. It has left us stranded more than our 6 other vehicles combined. I was so frustrated with this thing that when I finally made it home after my last trip, I did a build-and-price of an F-350. But then I remembered tariffs and decided I am not going to lend my dollars to this economy at this time.
An F-350 would be my dream tow vehicle. SRW with an 8′ bed. My tow loads include trees for firewood, gravel for the driveway, tractors, cars. I keep myself at 14,000lbs in tow to avoid CDL, but I’m planning to go CDL in the next year or two so I can haul our bigger equipment legally.
Hoping to find out this weekend.
We pull a 19′ camper weighing in at <4500 fully loaded; have been running a 2015 Ram 1500 w/5.7 Hemi for the last couple of years. It generally does well, but struggles a bit once the elevation exceeds 6000′ or so (according to an online calculator I found, HP and Torque both drop to just over 300 at 7000′). A buddy of mine with a 24 footer swears by his GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 with a 3.0 Duramax (due to the turbo, the same calculator puts HP at a little below 295 and torque in the mid 400s at that elevation), so I decided to pull the trigger on one of my own.
Current tow rig is a 2015 F-150 5.0 Platinum with Heavy Duty Tow Package which adds a 36gallon tank, tow mirrors, transmission cooler and a 3.93 electric diff. Supposedly rated for 11,500lbs but I have never come close to that.
Dream Rig is a 2025 Ram 2500 4X4 Laramie because they look the best, have the best interior and ride but I want it with the FoMoCo 7.3 Godzilla with a whipple mated to GM’s Allison Transmission
My dream tow rig, is a Crewcab, Squarebody, Chevy body swapped onto a modern Duramax 3500HD.
Give me the Steinwinter Supercargo 20.40 Cab.
Featuring independent air suspension, ABS brakes, a limited slip differential and climate control. It was based on a Mercedes-Benz bus chassis and was powered by an OM442 400hp engine.
Steinwinter envisioned his concept as a modular one, because the prime mover could accommodate different engines and pull various trailer units. It could slide under a container skel, a car-carrier trailer, a volume van, or even a coach or bus trailer.
I’d throw a 5th wheel on it or a car carrier depending on the weekend.
The moment I saw that someone in Cali (I think) was selling a 2023 red single cab Ram 3500 with the 392 & 8 speed, I kinda fell in love with it. Since I’ve driven the 2019+ HD Ram’s with the 392 & 8 speed, I know how they feel to drive and would bet that set-up could be a VERY nice way to tow.
Great prompt, I’ve been waiting for this.
My “win the lotto” dream rig is any REV pickup (Ramcharger is the only option right now and its schedule keeps slipping) and a nice 3-horse gooseneck with smallish living quarters (I think they call that a “show trailer”.)
The bed is too small and high on those trucks but a gooseneck dump-bed would take care of gravel runs. Or just rent trailers as needed since I’ve got free time now that I won the lottery.
We currently have a truck camper in the F250 and a bumper-pull trailer, but it sure would be nice to be able to just drop the living quarters at the site and run into town as needed. We could even camp-host! And we’d have silent unlimited electricity anywhere we go!
My towing needs aren’t obscene, but they aren’t insignificant.
We just bought a 20-some foot flatbed trailer with dual 7,000 lb axles (mostly for relatively sort trips of under 100 miles round trip – it’s overkill for most of what I’ll ever use it for, but for the prices of the available options, it was a classic case of you-might-as-well), and we’ve got a camper (actually two – a 28 footer that’s too big, and a 22 footer that’s too small, so we’ll hopefully be selling those off and get something in the middle) that typically goes on trips of maybe 200 miles out and back max. Occasionally, there are also trips half way across the country with a u-haul trailer (kids).
Current rig is a 5.0 liter F-150 with a tow package, supposedly rated for 11,300 lbs. It splits duty with a Miata for DD duties, but since I work from home neither get a lot of miles each year.
As for my dream rig? I probably need to upgrade to at least a 250/2500 in case I ever need to max out the trailer’s 14,000 pound capacity. The wife insists on a pickup (no Suburban/Excursion) because we also do a lot of trips to the home improvement stores.
I’d probably want four wheel drive (winters can get ugly around here) and definitely not a dually. I’m also a bit gun shy regarding turbos, so a big naturally aspirated V8 or V10, unless some EREV fits the bill by the time I’m ready to spend the money on the upgrade. And I can’t imagine spending $100k on it, so it will probably be used.
I guess that’s really not much of a dream, though, is it?