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I towed with a 2016 Ford Escape SE with the 2L Ecoboost engine and the factory tow package. It was rated at 3500 lbs. It towed okay. The short distance between the center of the rear axle and the hitch ball meant that it was pretty stable with an Equal-i-zer hitch. What did us in was hitting ice with a strong cross-wind. When you are towing a big sail, sometimes all you can do is go along for the ride. The biggest down side was that the Escape was front-wheel drive only. That meant that it would not have been possible to tow without the WD hitch as the front of the Escape would have too little weight on the tires for effective steering. As it was, traction was less than ideal, meaning I could spin the front tires if I were too aggressive taking off. I avoided dirt roads knowing traction would have been a problem, especially if I needed to go from stopped to moving on a hill. AWD or 4WD would have been much better.

Now we tow with a 2010 Nissan Frontier LE Crew Cab which is 4WD. The increased distance between the axle center line and the hitch ball meant the trailer could exert more force on the truck. I felt the RPod more when wind gusts hit. That is, until I bought the Hensley Swift Cub hitch I am now using That and the Hayes Sway-Master electronic sway control are my assurance that I am very, very much less likely to encounter a situation like we had with the ice and wind. The Frontier is rated for 6,100 lbs but when it comes down to it, the 2L Ecoboost engine in the Escape coupled with the better gearing in the transmission meant that at any significant altitude, the Escape had more power than the naturally aspirated Frontier. The mileage I get with the Frontier isn't as good as what I got with the Escape, but the much larger gas tank means that my range is much farther.

I would not mind upgrading to an F150 with the Diesel engine, but the price is way beyond our budget. I'm comfortable with the Frontier. I could live with the F150, but the bigger trucks are too big for us and too expensive to purchase.

Originally posted by GlueGuy The newer generation F-150 does not need that diesel. You would have more than enough power with any of the gas engines currently available for it (2.7L EcoBoost, 5.0L V8, or the 3.5L EcoBoost). Of the four engines (3 gassers and 1 diesel), the 3.5L EcoBoost has the most power, and it has power to spare. The 3.5L EcoBoost comes in two configurations; regular and high output. The "regular" is more powerful than all the others except the high output version, and the high output version is nothing short of ridiculous.

Well, a guy can dream. You are correct though that I would probably opt for one of the two Ecoboost engines. I was really impressed with the 2L one in the Escape. The 3.5L one, even in the "regular" version is probably awesome.