Lately, the wife and I have gone back and forth about what our next vehicle is going to be, and which one of us will get it. Right now, with just the two of us, our respective midsize sedan and compact hatch work for us nicely. But with us contemplating starting a family, and the in-laws' fondness for power toys and desert weekends, the subject of buying an SUV has come up more than a few times.
Being the compact enthusiast at heart that I am, I have resisted stubbornly for years. Up until this point, I've had nothing to tow, little to haul, and when I did have the need for a pack mule, I usually borrowed the in-laws' VW Vanagon or rented a Budget 14-ft moving truck.
But now there's a small toy-hauler in the family, intended for use among the whole family. At first, my attitude was, "That's great, but not really my bag, and I don't want to haul it." Well, as is usually the case, it seems, the fairer member of the marriage gets her way, by no other means than sheer persistence.
Here's the rub...said trailer requires a towing capacity of at least 6000 lb. The number of SUVs that can accomplish this feat, and still fit into a modest-size (small "s") suburban garage are few and shrinking. Crossovers are now all the rage, and the tradeoff usually seems to be passenger comfort and convenience for towing capacity. The new breed of crossovers is lucky to barely eke out 4500 lb of tag-along-ability, even among the larger examples such as the Ford Flex and Chevy Traverse.
Among the SUVs that can easily accomplish this feat are the VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, Chevy Tahoe, and the newcomer Kia Borrego. The VW and Porsche are too pricey, equipped as I'd like them. The Tahoe is too big for our needs. The Kia is close to the "just right" category, but still chugs the dino-juice a little more voraciously than I care for. The V-8 model, at 15/20, certainly isn't the worst offender in the SUV category, but thirstier than I care to feed on a regular basis. Ironically, the V-6 isn't appreciably better at 16/21, not to mention you take a 2500-lb haircut in towing capacity with the six-pot, from 7500 to 5000.
I've heard rumors of a turbodiesel V-6 under development for the U.S. market for the Borrego. With close to 400 lb-ft of torque at its disposal, the oil-burner six should easily meet the V-8 model's towing capacity, as well as besting the gasser V-6s fuel economy. If I had to throw out a wild guess on the EPA figures, I'd say 19/26 or 20/27, right in the same ballpark as most gas-powered cute 'utes, and better than most of the bigger crossovers. Throw in Kia's 10-year/100K powertrain warranty and usually favorable bang-for-the-buck quotient, and you've got a package that pleases both the economy geek in me and the pack and haul everything and then some proclivities of my wife. So, Kia...when's it coming?