The Flex seems like more of a person hauler than a toy hauler. I can't imagine it would match up to the hemi towing.

As for trading in the prius, personal choice really. I like having a utility vehicle that is still capable of hauling the kids around, but we have a little toyota that we put most of the miles on.

 

The ecoboost Flex will tow an Airstream, but I know better than to talk about Fords on a Dodge board.

 

Haha. I'm not totally against fords, it's the chebbys I can't stand. Anyways, it might tow it, but how well? How do the tow ratings compare on the two? And "ecoboost" just tells me they downgraded the power to increase fuel mileage. But who knows

 

The Rango has the better tow rating for sure. Flex says 4500 on a Class III receiver. That said, check the specs on the ecoboost engine. It's not all that different than the hemi, and it's used in some of Ford's new pickups. I believe there are direct comparison tests if you Google for them, meaning one truck with EB vs an essentially similar truck with a V8 both towing an equally loaded horse trailer up a significant grade. My recollection is that one was faster from a dead stop while the other came in first at the end of the grade.

If one modifies that receiver just a bit, the #6000 pop up I want to tow wouldn't be any problem at all. When a guy who's on the SAE says the Flex will handle 900 lbs of pin weight better than a Ford F-150, I listen.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463...eam-76419.html

I haven't driven a Durango yet, but the Flex drives like a dream. Feels very planted, very stable, which makes sense since the center of gravity is lower than most things on a truck or SUV frame.

I'm not entirely discounting the difference in tow ratings. The Durango will exceed what I need by up to double, depending on my trailer. That feels a bit more comfortable, and it gives us room to upgrade the trailer in the future. For the Flex, I'd stick to the smallest / lightest of the trailers I'm considering - #3300 dry, #450 hitch weight, and I know we won't hit the max #5500 loaded because we pack light. Who puts more than a ton of gear in a pop up??

The place where the Durango worries me is payload. #900 on the tongue means 3 adult passengers and nothing else in the TV unless I'm misunderstanding the numbers.

 

Well payload and tounge weight are different aren't they? I mean with payload it's distributed over a lot more of the suspension, tounge weight is that 900lbs pushing down as far back on the rig as possible. And what about brakes?

 

And as far as rated tow capacities, I don't know if I would even feel comfortable pulling that with mine. The 5.2 is rated something like 5500lbs and the 5.9 was 7300lbs. I pulled a loaded 6x12 u haul at maybe 4000lbs, and it handled it fine, but power wise it struggled a bit. I couldn't imagine another ton on it to max it's rating, or almost double it to reach the 5.9 rating.

 

Tow away... my 04 Durango, Hemi with 3.55 and tow package tows ok for me. My trailer is a T19XLT (Wildwood Xtra-lite), 24 ft tongue to bumper. Measured weight of 4400lbs on trailer axles at the scale (so probably another 500lb at the tongue for a total of about 5000lbs). Pulls ok... little bogged down on grades, but with 3.55 gears that is to be expected. Just kick her down a gear and get the revs up for the power band of that Hemi.

I don't notice much sag at the back end with that hooked up, but I also use a weight distributing hitch. That would be a must for your trailer as well. I think you'll be fine with that Durango.

 

For the love of your son, don't have him drive a Prius. I'd almost call that cruel punishment. Okay that is just an opinion, a couple friends had to drive Prii (the proper plural for Prius) to school and well let say none we're particularly proud of it. All joking aside, my family use to own an '04 , 5.7, AWD, Limited. Bought it brand new off the line, owned it for 8 years. We could tow 7k with the vehicle no problem. I drove it through part of high school myself. I'll add that it is one fun and useful SUV to own, the Hemi has plenty of power, steering and handling is responsive and smooth, seating for 7 comfortable with the ability to fold all the rows down and fit 4x8 sheets of plywood in lying down flat. The premium sound system, that is worth the money, especially on long road trips.

Biggest things to check in my opinion are frame rust (looking at the tow hitch was good indicator), exterior seals and the 4lo. Never had a problem with transfer case, but if you don't use the other options for extend periods of time, they won't play nice when you use them for the first time again. They always worked but would have to "wake up" again to operate normally.

 

We darn near pulled the trigger on the Durango, but when push came to shove, I didn't want to give up my Prius. The solution? We're picking up a lightly used 1-ton Chevy van and doing a Sportsmobile conversion.

Many thanks for all the help, folks. You were great.

As for the Prius and the kid, we did a three-week camping tour of the great West - Tahoe, Great Salt Lake, Yellowstone, Tetons, Jewel Cave, Rushmore, Denver, Dino Nat'l Monument, Arches and Vegas with the three of us and all of our gear in that Prius. No cargo topper.

Total cost of gas? About $400.