[image] Since many people seem to believe you can't tow with cars, here's roughly what dutch people end up doing on vacation.
[image] Since many people seem to believe you can't tow with cars, here's roughly what dutch people end up doing on vacation.
I still find it frustrating to see the exact same vehicles get significantly different tow ratings here vs Europe.
The other day the dealer tried to warn not to tow my utility trailer with my car as it would hurt the transmission (trailer was empty by the way). I pulled up an article from the UK where it was in the top three of best towing cars for this year.
Dealer looked at me like his brain needed to reboot, after which he told me the cars in Europe must be built differently or get different transmissions and left it at that.
It's truly baffling that manufacturers here hold that towing capacity hostage for arbitrary reasons.
Once at work I said "My Audi sedan has a towing capacity of over 5,000 lbs, isn't that crazy?" A coworker said "That's almost as much as my Tacoma!" (Early 2000s model). Turns out 5,000 is closer to his combined vehicle weight + towing capacity.
I remember my grandfather using the Grand Prix to tow and pull out stumps and stuff instead of the work truck.
if you saw the sheer scope of trailers, campers, Tour Bus RV's, custom toy haulers etc that invade the coastal areas of where I live, you would realize the problem isn't the semantics of tow vehicle size. the whole "adventure camping" myth when two people bring a 800 square foot Motorcoach with a car in tow makes me want to vomit. its like a car brain with sepsis. leave your fucking house at home.
Just yesterday I was towing about a half to 2/3 of a cord of a wood with my wagon. Folks assume you need a giant truck to tow anything. Full disclosure though I was pushing the limits of my car, it pulls this weight without issue but stopping it risky and I have to drive very carefully and keep huge buffers between myself and the next car.
Been there as a kid in the 90s. Sitting in the back my my parents Toyota Carina with my 2 siblings, while we were towing a caravan.
That car had a 2l, 4 cylinder petrol and got through the Alps and Pyrenees. Iwas more comfortable touring that way than going by tent only. Now I'm in Australia where I'm gobsmacked by how much shit people "need" to go camping. All while I'm exploring the same locations and actually spending more time camping in the bush as I tour on a tiny, economical 125cc motorcycle.
Almost to prove a point, I took that little thing to Cape York and will take it RTW next year, partly to show that you don't need much.
True, but the reason in the US is different is because of laws.
My camping setup fits in some boxes I have on my 650cc motorcycle. Don't even need to tow anything.
Something interesting about a camper like in the picture in Europe, to me, is where the axle is. It looks much more centered than the campers I see in the US and I have no idea why. The way the axle is in the picture certainly reduces tongue weight on the car. I wonder if the trade off is less stability at high speed? Genuinely curious!
The question isn't "can you", but "should you".
An engine that's always working at near it's maximum capacity will fail long before an engine that's working at a quarter of it's capacity. Most people wouldn't dream of constantly running their engine bouncing off the red line of rev limiter. The same applies to towing; if you frequently tow large, heavy loads (for instance, earth moving equipment), you want to get a vehicle that's rated for much higher tonnage than the weight you'll regularly be towing. Given that campers are usually very light weight (but only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick), you can get away with towing on in a car infrequently. You should probably not do it daily.
You may also find that it's less fuel efficient to tow a heavy load in a small-ish car than the same load in a light truck.
(BTW - I'm generally opposed to taking vacations in this way. I prefer my vacations on a motorcycle, or on foot with a backpack. I'm not currently in the kind of shape I would need to be in in order to do bicycle camping.)
Edit: I don't have a truck. It's cheaper for me to rent one on the rare occasions that I need one than it is to buy one and deal with the associated costs of owenership. That said, the Home Depot rental trucks suck, because they're solely RWD, and they have no grip on my road unless there's a literal ton of weight in the back.
The excuse for buying these compensators is they need them to tow. And yet I've rarely seen one ever used to tow. I saw this juxtaposition in my local area:
You can tow with anything. The question becomes, how long can you tow with it. If I'm buying a car and it has a hitch on it, I'm not buying that one unless it just had a transmission put in it or I got it cheap enough that I can put a new transmission in it.
I have no issues towing my caravan - although I tend to keep to 80kph and pull over if I see someone behind me. The caravan does have electric brakes though, weights 800kg unladen.
This actually the reason why I really don't like it how so many folks take tow hitches off of antique cars as I'm told they used to be on damn near every car during the 50s and 60s today while yes today they are quite impractical but like you don't have to have a trailer on a hitched car 247 but still your making a already impractical car and making it slightly more impractical
Me and my family used to go camping. We always towed with my father's car.
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That said, I am not aware of a single person who thinks you can't tow with a car (so long as it has the little hitch plug thing... or you are a dumbass kid with some rope).
What I assume you mean in this pro cars post is: People think you need a giant pickup truck or an SUV. And that is closer to accurate. Except those people buy their giant vehicles with the dream of towing or hauling but never would for fear of ruining their paint job or getting dirt on the bed.
Aw man, no way 50 horses could pull this, gotta have at least 500.
I had a 2005 Camry which broke down last year, so I replaced it with a 2015 Mazda 5. The towing section of the manual for the Camry said something along the lines of "Well, this car is not really intended for towing, but if you must use it for that, here's what you have to do…". For the Mazda, the manual just says that it is not recommended to use the car for towing at all.
I used to tow in the UK with a Chrysler Voyager ( American Made, 7 x Seater SUV ) it did pretty well.
Fully ladden, all seats occupied + a dog, 2 x Roof Boxes and towing my massive Trailer Tent.
Even came back from one holiday on Three cylinders cus of a HT Lead fault and yes we went up some pretty steep hills, just needed to get a bit of a run at them that's all, lol.
Great Fun 😊
Cars and trucks can fuck off, and most pick-up truck owners are fooling themselves by buying into a lifestyle they don’t actually live, but I still would not recommend towing any significant distance with a Golf. You can tow with a hatchback, but it’s not really that safe and your speed is very limited, making you a huge annoying moving obstacle for the rest of us cursed to live in this world designed for cars.
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