Well I should be able to give the straight road comparison. We should be ordering our new LR3 soon....Wife is back and forth on it. We are struggling coming to terms with the BIG depreciation loss on the Denali. Not that we cannot do it, but it is the principle of the matter. I really hate the car industry...Such a financial loser and yet we ALL continue to fall prey to the marketing gods and buy up...Oh Well, so it goes.
As for the towing, The tow ratings for both vehicles are about the same for both(Give and take a few pounds in favor of the Denali) I never towed my 30 ft, 12Klb trailer behind the Denali....Although it might have been funny just to see...I always used my K3500 1 Ton truck for that chore. I have towed the boat on a few occasions with the Denali. I never used the weight distribution bars as the boat/trailer combo are very stable without and the boat trailer has surge disc brakes for stopping. The Denali had no problems. I tow alot of trailers with various weights, Car trailer, Flat beds with Tractors, boats, utility, You name it. Towing is really the easy part. Backing up is where people really do the damage. As for Trailer Brakes, I would highly recommend if you are over 3000lbs the axle has a set of brakes. After 10K lbs 2 axles with brakes.
RACIN9, nope you did not hijack the thread, I always think information gathered is information learned, whether specific to question or not. I would rather have fellow towing road go'ers know about towing then to meet up with them in a accident because you did not ask. The LR3 will be a solid towing vehicle for routine utility, light boat and small camper. The air suspension is a nice plus, not being able to use distribution bars is not a significant issue. Just remember, do not exceed tongue weight or over all towing capacity. This is not because the motor and trans cannot handle it, but rather the capability of the braking system and stability when braking. 95% of the accidents happen when braking not just driving down the road, less of course the driver error turning and taking out the side of trailer...