4500 Lbs of Airstream with a Nissan Quest. 415,000 Km., with orig., unrepaired tranny.
I'm curious and have a few questions:
How big is the engine in your Quest,...3 liter V6? Automatic transmission? I haven't seen too many Nissan Quests out here, (we just had one small Nissan dealer for many years), but if I recall, and I could be wrong, aren't they one of the smaller mini vans? First van with a passenger sliding door on either side. I think one of my wife's relatives has one, just trying to picture it.
What kind of service, beyond maintenance have you had to have done, over the years?
Has your towing mainly been flat land, or have you been in any mountainous areas?
What gear do you pull in, on the hwy? What speed do you maintain and what is your approx. MPG?
Thanks, Les
Sorry guys, been offline for a few days and getting caught up.
Thnxs for your inquiry Les and yes I can answer your questions.
We bought the Quest GXE when it was 3 years old, fully loaded with Trailer pkg. It was a good price because it was a lease return in rough shape. I noticed sludge buildup in the engine from lack of oil changes and the mileage was 58,000klm's. It ran and felt good so took a chance and bought it. Immediately changed the oil (dino). We bought and towed a 2,000lb Coleman PU for the next 7 years. Many outings and trips through the Rockies in the West, Cabot trail in the East and south twice to Myrtle Beach. When the Van was 9 years old had 280,000klm's on it we traded up to the 23' Airstream. I then added an external tranny cooler, a set of Gabriel XL shocks for the rear, and a reinforced class III hitch (now flex free). Towed the Airstream for 3 years in Ontario Only. We have hills and bridges here but no mountains.
I drained the tranny and topped up the tranny fluid ( dino) every 2nd season ( never did a full flush and replacement). The engine oil was changes every 5,000klm's. I used Quaker State 4x4 semi synthetic while towing the Airstream.
The 1993 to 1998 Quests and Villagers were a joint Ford, Nissan venture, assembled I believe in Ohio. The entire drive train is Nissan. The only engine available was the 150HP 3.0. The 3.0 VQ engine is from the Maxima but Nissan reworked the heads to be compatible for the heavier M-van and it runs on Regular fuel. The engine has 150HP and 180FT/LBS of torque. The tranny is similar to the one found in the Infinity Q45 V8 that is very heavy duty. Like Caddy said the low HP 3.0 will never hurt the V8 built rated tranny.
The 1993 to 1994 Quests and Villages had one defect. They had defective exhaust manifold studs that would break. Four years ago we had 2 replaced and no problems since then.
We tow out of overdrive and in 3rd gear (direct drive) it runs at about 3,100 RPM and 105 Klm per hour. Gas mileage towing the Airstream (average for 3 year term was 16MPG (cdn gals).
Average towing the PU was 19 to 20 MPG. and solo the van gets 26 to 28 MPG average on the highway.
In all our years of using the van the temp gauge has never gone off normal. I have felt the tranny fluid on the dipstick after long hard drives and it was never too hot that I couldn't touch the fluid with my fingers.
The nice thing I liked about the Quest/Airstream combo was its very secure feel, and handling on the highway.
I tried the straight line stability test numerous times. Get the combo in a straight line and take my hands of the steering wheel. On many occasions we went over 15 seconds before drifting out of our lane. Once we went 59 seconds!!! In contrast my pal in New England reported that his Dodge Ram went 7 seconds doing the same test and he was happy with that. Note he has the identical Airstream and Reese Dual Cam that we are using.
The P rated Michelin tires work great. If they didn't we would install LT tires. The Reese dual cam is perfect. If it wasn't we would have a Hensley.
Note the Quest has a 1,450 Payload capacity and has 3:89 gears. When you consider the 25" dia tires it is a great combination for towing. The 150hp engine is fine for towing and aerodynamic TT but it would struggle towing a conventional box type trailer of this weight. The other nice thing it has is a very wild reverse gear. It can back the Airstream up any hill in a campsite without a wimper.
The Quest is a smallish M-van. It is interesting that it weighs the same as the larger Astro Van. Considering the fact the Astro has a much heavier RWD drive train this reveals an interesting fact. The sub frame and and lower unibody of the Quest is much beefier then the Astros. We parked beside an Astro and spent a lot of time underneath the two vans and as a comparison the Astro's are a bit of a "cream puff" when you compare the two.
Sorry, getting a bit wordy here but I do have loads of info for those who are interested. To sum up I have to say the Quest, with the factory trailer pkg is an exceptional tow vehicle. It's limitation is the 150HP output.
No prob guys... here are some more tid bits that are worthwhile noting.
We still own the vehicle and it has 393,000klm's on it and it is driven nearly 100klm's per day. The engine burns a pinch over a litre of oil every 5,000klm's which is not that much more than it did when we bought it. The tranny has never had a problem and works fine today.
The vehicle still has many original, problem free parts including..
4 cor rad
catalytic converter
muffler and resonator
rear brake shoes and drums
CV joints, boots, and all wheel bearings
starter and alternator
front struts
rear leaf springs
So, hearing all this, and knowing that I had similiar experience with a 1988 Plymouth Voyager which is also still on the road with almost 300k miles pulling often in excess of 3500 pounds, I have to ask. Is it really so hard to conceive that there may actually be some modern minivans on the market possibily even MORE capable? I will concede there are a few LESS capable minivans, but few besides Fuzz1 and myself have been able to admit that some minivans are MORE capable than the rubber-stamp ratings apply.
Almost without exception, when I read a negative post from someone stating that he/she has tried pulling with a minivan and didn't have satisfactory results, I find out the same things every time. Setup was poorly thought out, improperly hitched, not adjusted or optimized, they picked the wrong equipment or didn't know how to use it. There is also a large contingent of people who just don't want a minivan, and if they already have one they are looking for excuses to get rid of it. Somehow larger trucks and SUVs are perceived as "Cure alls", and often the minivan is traded without getting a proper chance.
But when you talk to someone like Fuzz1, and hear what a properly speced out, properly setup, properly thought out, and properly hitched combo can do SAFELY then all the common minivan misconceptions kinda fade away.
I have to agree with Andy Thompson on the issue of tow ratings. If I was in a position to recommend tow ratings to the White Shirts for a specific model, I would set every model at 0 as an engineer. There are so many ways to badly hitch a poor combo together and still be within the official tow rating yet completely unsafe for the road. I would want to inspect every proposed combo in great detail before giving a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". Since this is clearly impossible for the MFGs to do, they have to compromise and set a rating that accounts for various factors BESIDES engineered limitations. One of the most important "other factors" is profit margin. If a MFG makes a little more on a specific vehicle, they can shoulder a little more warranty and liability cost later.
On many occassions I have seen terribly unsafe, yet within ratings, combos blow past me on the freeway at excessive speed. Most often it's large trucks and SUVs pulling trailers without the proper hitch equipment, not level, not adjusted, mismatched combos and often no brakes. But they are assumed safe because they are only pulling 80% of their ridiculously over-inflated marketing-driven tow ratings. I've also seen completely safe combos, setup optimally and driving responsibly, yet overweight by most assumptions. Just the other day I passed a Ford Crown Vic (post 2000 vintage) pulling a 30' travel trailer down the Interstate. Until I passed him, I would never have known he was pulling with a sedan that carries a 1500 pound towing capacity. Why? Because his trailer was ROCK SOLID STABLE behind the car. Not even the slightest hint of sway or wander, on a day when semis were all over the road. As I passed I saw he was using a simple Reese Dual Cam hitch, and that the whole combo was perfectly adjusted. The trailer and car were dead-level, no sag. He was using good tow mirrors and could see around his trailer (commonly ignored these days), and he was driving the speed limit (65) in the right lane. In the car with him was (I presume) a family including a wife and 2 kids. The plates were from Ontario. I would have thought this was an Andy Thompson rig if it had been utilizing a Hensley hitch. This second rig, obviously overweight, would be my first choice over the combos described at the top of the paragraph.
-Jimmy
'04 Ford Freestar (Primary tow vehicle) '05 Subaru Forester (Backup tow vehicle) '65 Bethany popup (best popups ever made!) Looking for a tow vehicle Minivan towing
Well Caddy, Fuzz1, Fast MOPAR, et al, I know there is a case for doing more with less, but what I am suggesting is than the mfgs bring out , something a bit more than we have now, a midi van, with heavier duty components than a typical mini van. Something a bit bigger, heavier duty, in the van motif, but not so big and heavy, that it approaches a full size van.
Maybe, a smaller Sprinter style, van, with a larger engine, in order to keep the MPG reasonable, ensure that the van isn't too much for every day grocery getting, like a one ton P/U would be for many and something that can pull 6500 to 8000 lbs, safely, comfortably and easily.
A diesel would be right, with at least a 5 speed auto transmission.
I'm not anti FWD. If it can be done why not? I recall the original '60s Oldsmobile Toronado, all 4900 lbs or so of it, with a 425 cubic inch, firebreathing Olds Rocket V8.
Very competent vehicle. I drove one (boss owned one) and I was very impressed.
So in my view, heavy duty FWD can be done and was done over 40 years ago.
Jimmy, you need to get up to speed with my thinking, start looking outside of the box, as it were,look at not merely, what we have, but start promoting what we, at least me, anyways, need.
lesmore49 wrote: Jimmy, you need to get up to speed with my thinking, start looking outside of the box, as it were,look at not merely, what we have, but start promoting what we, at least me, anyways, need.
Les
Fair enough. I will lobby with you for the perfect "midivan" as I agree nothing on the market matches your suggested specs. But in the meantime I'll use what's available.
Thanks for the very detailed, comprehensive response. Very impressive service you have received from your Nissan.
Sounds like a very competent vehicle.
Les
Thnxs Les... Yes we were very happy with the combination. It is a good example of not trying to judge a book by its cover. On numerous occasions we would have well meaning folks come marching into our campsite telling us our Airstream was to big for our tow vehicle. Once you sit them down and have a nice friendly informative conversation the air gets cleared. One time we had a guy come back the next day and apologize for being outspoken about something he new nothing about.
If you ask me everyone's thinking about this from the wrong end. Or at least maybe it should be considered from both. Why can't we push manufacturers to manufacture a 28 - 30 foot trailer with slides that has a dry weight somewhere between 3 and 4k lbs. The space age technology is all about fabricating strong yet light materials. Let's put some of these into a trailer. Then let's just slightly up a M-Van to handle 5 to 6k.
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start looking outside of the box, as it were,look at not merely, what we have, but start promoting what we, at least me, anyways, need.
