jkaetz

Finally got to the lake towing the boat with the GLS. Having 500 foot pounds of torque and ABC made it by far the bets towing vehicle I've driven going back to the 2000's era. Yes the boat is that old and I'd estimate boat + trailer + fuel + gear to be in the 4000-5000 pound range. The previous tow vehicles were a 1999 GMC Yukon and our 2011 W164 BlueTec ML. Both did the job without too much fuss and the BlueTec's diesel would happily charge up hills but no where near as easily as the GLS. I think the GLS would quite literally be able to pull the trailer out from under the boat if we let it. Acceleration from a stop took more pedal of course but it could still accelerate better than many rental cars I've experienced. At highway speeds there is also plenty of reserve to pass even going up a significant grade. I would easily hold my interstate speed going up grades while passing cars with no trailer. Where it really stood out was the way ABC stopped all the extra bounce usually created by the trailer and curve mode made 40 MPH curves feel slow.

Setup:

• 2" Trailer ball with a ~4" raise. Trailer ball height from ground ~18"
• 21" Rear tires to 41lbs, front at 38
• GLS Loaded up with 5 People, two adults 3 kids (3,6,6 years old), Two coolers (Lots of extra water as it was going to be above 90F and high humidity), food, and floor jack
• Boat with full fuel, tandem axel + surge brakes

Observations:

• Never feeling short on power
• ABC creating a smooth ride
• Blindspot monitoring is disabled with a trailer
• Dystonic+ Still did its job with cars in front but active steer was disabled
• LED trailer lights are acceptable. (The 2011 would throw errors about LED trailer lights because they didn't draw enough power.)
• Plenty of braking power though stopping distances are of course increased when towing
• 100% stable even at 70MPH+ interstate speeds

EWL5

Thanks for sharing! Your GLS is doing its job!

AKSwift

Sounds like you had a great time.

I don't own a trailer, but rent Uhaul 12ft ones regularly. At the beginning, I stuck to the declared 55mph trailer speed limit and it still bounced a fair bit. But, it drives like there is nothing to it once you hit 70, even with a fair amount of weight on it (not "boat" kind of weight).

I used to tow a boat with a Nissan SUV in Germany many years ago and remember always worrying that I wouldn't make it up the next hill!