CX-7 Towing Capabilities

[RudyPCA]

Hello everyone,

I've been bit by the camping bug and have my eye on a Bantam Flier by Trail-Lite "Ultra-Lite" travel trailer. Completely empty, including empty water tanks, it's in the 2300-2400lb range. Loaded, I imagine you're looking around 3000lb+.

We have a 2005 MPV GS (leased) and a 2007 CX-7 AWD (purchased with 7/160,000km MAP)

According to the brochures, the MPV GS (3L v6, 200HP, 200lb-ft torque @ 3000RPM) comes standard with a towing package and is rated to tow 3000lbs. The CX-7 (2.4L 4-cyl turbo, 244HP, 258 lb-ft torque @ 2500RPM) is rated to tow 2000lbs.

I've talked to a couple people at my dealership and the consensus is that Manufacturer's ratings are set by the manufacturers to cover their butt in case of a lawsuit and in practice, most vehicles capably handle in excess of their rated towing capacity.

Head to head, the service manager felt the CX-7 would be the better towing vehicle because it has the edge in horsepower, has higher torque, hits peak torque at lower RPM, and is AWD. The CX-7 does have a transmission cooler on it as standard equipment. Even if you throw a Tribute into the comparison (I traded my Tribute for the CX-7), the Tribute's engine is just below the MPV on torque and the same in other respects, and it's rated for hauling 3,500lbs.

My wife feels that the "engineers who write the brochures" know their stuff and that we should put the hitch on the MPV. It helps that our family of 5 has more elbow room too.

I would rather use the CX-7 because, honestly, I enjoy driving it more, it's "ours" (not leased), it's got MAP so we don't need to worry about mechanical repairs for much longer, and it's got the endorsement of my local service manager.

Does anyone have any experience towing trailers of significant size with a CX-7 (or MPV)? Can anyone shed some light which might help us through this dispute?

Thanks

 

[koala]

For me the winning reason to use the MPV for towing is exactly what you mentioned, it's leased. I'd rather put the extra strain on the vehicle I wasn't keeping.

I imagine the CX-7 isn't rated to tow as much simply because its a 4 cylinder and all of the negative attitude that comes along with being a 4 cylinder (ie: no torque, no hauling capability).

Mazda probably wants to avoid making their V6's look bad by showing that their 4 cylinder "sporty" CUV can tow more with "less."

I'm willing to bet it can easily out tow the MPV and the Tribute (my step mom has a Tribute with the 200 HP V6, and there is no way that thing has the kind of power the CX-7 does).

 

[1Sleepy93]

The only thing I can think of is that with a trailer heavier then 2000lbs you're going to be in boost almost constantly. Probably not a huge deal if you only do it every now and then for short trips but most likely will shorten the life of the turbocharger if you make a habit of it.