Towing a 400

Mjhave · December 2025

Looking at upgrading to a 400 this year as well as buying a vehicle. Don’t want to climb into a truck. Would rather drive a SUV full time. Looking at a Honda Pilot. Anyone have thoughts?

qhumberd · December 2025

When we got our 400, which is a 2019, we considered a lot of different tow vehicles, but ended up with a truck and V8 engine and despite the gas mileage hit, we have not been disappointed in the towing performance. The Honda pilot with all-wheel-drive and towing package seems like a capable tow vehicle, but when I dug into the recommendations, it mentions things like premium fuel when towing, etc.

Another consideration is the wheelbase of the tow vehicle when looking at how stable it will be in emergency maneuvers. Shorter wheelbase vehicles will not perform as well.

One caution for you would be to not allow the sales person at the RV dealership to tell you what will or will not work as a tow vehicle. There are a lot of stories about mistakes people have made by following their recommendations, which are based upon them making a sale. Unless you are already familiar with the mechanics and engineering of towing, it’s better to ask an experienced person who can outline the reasons to choose or pass on a particular tow vehicle

It really depends on how often you will tow versus how often you will use the vehicle for other driving. We were fortunate to use the tow vehicle primarily for towing and just for occasional use around town. That allowed us to use a full-size truck and we have not regretted it.

I am sure some other members on the forum will also have opinions and many may have the Honda pilot.

Good luck in your search and happy new year in your new camper.

elbolillo · December 2025

We towed our 23' Tab 400 with a Honda Pilot (w/ towing package). We used a Fastway e2 wdh. We towed probably close to 20,000 miles with it and while I would say that it was adequate I personally would never want to go back to towing our 400 with a Honda Pilot. We now have a 2023 Toyota Sequoia and it pulls like a dream. When we towed with the Pilot at the end of a long day of driving we defintiely felt very fatigued. We no longer have that with the Sequoia. Especially for any kind of long distance travel, I would never go back to towing with the Pilot.

marleecamps · December 2025

I can't speak to a Honda Pilot, but I have towed my 2021 400 with my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee (factory tow package) for 20,000 miles, including mountains in New Hampshire and Vermont. Traded my trusty 2015 JGC for a 2025 this fall and ready for the next 20,000 miles, including a June trip to Colorado. Very happy and comfortable while towing.

dlb · January 1

It really depends on the terrain you are going to be in. Flat Midwest or the hills and mountains to the east or the west. We have towed with an Audi SQ5, V6 twin turbos upgraded suspension and brakes, and really liked the comfort and pulling power. We still have it. Now we tow with a F150 Powerboost, V6 twin turbo hybrid, both do just fine. We use the truck because of the bed storage not the road performance. You will want the torque and power when climbing long grades or just steep ones. Turbos are nice at elevation.

Horigan · January 1

We tow our 400 with a Highlander (with tow package) and a Fastway e2 WDH. It's been fine for us for several years. It's slow going on high altitude steep mountain passes, but otherwise it's okay. The mileage drops to 12 MPG, depending on wind. We'd rather have the maneuverability and smaller size of the Highlander verses going with a larger vehicle where you wouldn't notice the trailer as much.

RayJim · January 2

We have towed with a Subaru Ascent and a Toyota Tacoma; the Ascent had no problems towing but did not provide room for our bikes fire pit and other items we would take camping so bought the truck. The Tacoma no issues with towing uphill can handle it without any issues.

manyman297 · January 4

We tow with a 3rd gen Tacoma. It’s fine. Not great. But we don’t RV enough to justify upgrading. I know a few people who tow with SUVs.

I think it mainly comes down to powertrain. V8 with a lot of gears would be ideal. My personal opinion is anything with an undersized engine with a turbo on it isn’t built for longevity. So it may tow just fine but there could be reliability issues down the road.

If you don’t RV a lot then a Pilot is probably fine.

dlb · January 5

manyman297 said:

We tow with a 3rd gen Tacoma. It’s fine. Not great. But we don’t RV enough to justify upgrading. I know a few people who tow with SUVs.

I think it mainly comes down to powertrain. V8 with a lot of gears would be ideal. My personal opinion is anything with an undersized engine with a turbo on it isn’t built for longevity. So it may tow just fine but there could be reliability issues down the road.

If you don’t RV a lot then a Pilot is probably fine.

Not that I dis agree with you but….. My 3.5L Powerboost has more horsepower and torque than my 6.2L GM V8 did, gets better mileage and doesn’t downshift aggressively on hills…. Both tow my 7000 lb boat and my Tab 400 with ease.

Horigan · January 5

I suspect he means a smaller turbo engine on SUVs, like my 2.4L turbo... We'll see. I wouldn't call a 3.5L turbo undersized, that's for sure.

andytabrv · January 6

Tow with a 2024 T@b 400 with a 2022 Nissan Pathfinder. Got an SUV to make carrying family and commuting more comfortable. Max towing capacity is 6000 lb. Added airbags myself (from etrailer.com) in rear to reduce rear sag as it's a softer suspension for comfort. Also use Andersen WDH and love the hitch's ease of use. Vehicle is very stable when towing. I camp about once every two months (I'm not retired yet but if I was that number would triple). Longest travel trip so far was about 3 hours to the mountains. Pathfinder has done great.

Not towing, I get about 21 mpg average (it's my commuter to work), but as high as 28 mpg with long highway trips. Towing mpg is 9-14 depending on grade and headwinds. Pathfinder handles it all really well. I keep in under 65 mph when towing.

A friend has a slightly heavier 20' trailer and he tows with a Porsche Cayenne. He got it used, but they still aren't cheap nor is Porsche maintenance cheap. However, that vehicle is amazing for towing with up to 7700 lbs. His Cayenne auto-levels and he doesn't use a WDH (watching it automatically adjust the suspension after he hooks up his camper is a sight-to-behold.) Lots of variants of the Cayenne including hybrids. The Cayenne is smaller than the Pathfinder, however heavier.

Consider your budget, what you'll be doing most with the tow vehicle, and how often you'll be towing. Modern trucks come with a lot of nice towing assist features. On a light trailer like the 400 a truck will likely not to need a WDH and that's one less thing you have to mess with when going to/from a campsite. But, if you mostly commute and carry people and stuff that needs protected from the weather, an SUV might serve you better. My Pathfinder has a fold down 3rd row seat. Mpg is probably better day-to-day with the SUV. There are plenty of SUVs and small Trucks that will be great for towing the T@b 400. That's the beauty of its size and weight. To be honest, we're a few years away from empty-nesting and I'm very heavily considering a truck when it comes time to replace the Pathfinder.

Here's the kind of mind-numbing consideration that is the challenge of picking a tow vehicle. Let's say I pick a truck, now my day-to-day mpg is less and I'm spending more on gas for everyday driving. Towing mpg is probably the same-ish as the SUV (folks may disagree, but my own experience meshes with reports on this forum that towing mpg tend to be about the same, which is lousy.) The driving experience of towing with the truck is much likely more comfortable (a subjective word) as trucks are designed for it. The truck makes carrying the dirty camping stuff easy (if you like to keep the inside of your vehicle clean). But, what if I want to keep stuff dry? Do I get a tonneau cover or truck topper or will the back seat of the crew cab suffice? Maybe I get one of those ramp-shaped toppers to add lots of space and improves airflow over camper for better mpg. But, now I've spent thousands on covers and have to deal with taking it on/off and storing it if I ever want to take advantage of the truck bed for throwing in dirt and messy stuff.

Let's say I pick an SUV. Can I find one that has plenty of tow capacity? I will likely need a weight distribution hitch and maybe airbags to combat sag. Again, towing mpg is not that big of a variance with a truck, but vehicle likely won't be as good on steep grades. But, maybe I just choose to drive slower and that's good-enough. I'll need to buy and install a brake controller or you can choose to trust a wireless one (I bought a special cable and separate brake controller as I didn't feel comfortable with a wireless one.) SUV likely won't have towing profiles and towing niceties of a truck. I can easily carry my camping stuff and keep it dry, but likely won't desire carrying a generator or fuel in the back of the SUV because of the gas smell. So, do I carry it on the T@b 400 hitch platform? Well, that adds tongue weight, which adds to possible sag. Also, some SUV's come with continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) and some folks on this forum recommend against them so that narrows vehicle field. But, I've also read folks on this forum who've seemingly done fine with them.

Anyway, as you can see there are trade-offs. Sorry for digressing as your question was specifically about a Pilot. I've read more than a few people on this forum who tow with Pilots. Be sure to get them to specify the year of their Pilot as there are model changes (including transmission.) When I was shopping in 2022 I chose not to go with the Pilot as I felt the Pathfinder would be a better towing vehicle long-term. But, we owned an Odyssey for 15 years and that vehicle was fantastic. If I could have towed a 400 with it, I'd have kept it

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