Tow Car

Miata.

Curt hitch rated for 2000 lbs. Tows like a dream. Works better than my Toyota Tundra which is rated for 7000. Camper has no brakes, and with my QuickJack and supplies inside the camper I'd say it's around 1500 pounds. I crank up the Koni shocks in the rear. Keeping the tongue weight reasonable is the most important, if it's too heavy I get a lot of feedback from the trailer. Still gets between 18 and 22 mpg while towing the camper.

Added bonus, being able to throw all my crap in the camper instead of the trunk leaves plenty of room to store the top

In reply to Petrolburner:

Awesome!

There's a local I see during my morning commute from time to time with a C5Z who tows a utility trailer with it. Sometimes with a dirt bike, other times just stuff.

But there are any number of cars that "can" tow a trailer. The issue is finding one with sufficient factory rating for towing on a regular basis. Capable or not, I'm sure Chevy's official line on towing with a Vette is "Don't".

I suddenly want to see drag racing with a trailer become a thing thanks to petrolburner (and no brodozers, only rwd cars without a bed, sorry El Camino)

Protege!

(but not really)

Great pictures. It sucks that you can't do something that is clearly safe because of the threat of litigation. The folks at Can-Am RV in London, ON have been saying for years that most cars tow better and are safer than trucks for emergency avoidence.

Jeff wrote: Great pictures. It sucks that you can't do something that is clearly safe because of the threat of litigation. The folks at Can-Am RV in London, ON have been saying for years that most cars tow better and are safer than trucks for emergency avoidence.

If you're towing a 400 pound motorcycle on a 200 pound trailer, sure. Not so much if you're towing a 3000 pound race car on a 2500 pound trailer.

OTOH, if your goal is to transport a 400 pound motorcycle, you could just put it in the bed of the truck and skip the trailer altogether. :)

The folks at Can-AM talk about how a lower center of gravity and overall superior handling of modern mid-size and above cars is safer for towing. The cars do much better in emergency avoidance maneuvers. They of course recommend trailer brakes for everything but the lightest trailers.

I know this is one of those issues though.

iirc the roadmaster is rated to be able to tow more than the s10 or ranger of the same year.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: you need to ask lucy and ricky.

Dam, this is so cool. I love this forum. /s/Old Guy.

I have done a lot of towing with K-cars and while it has worked out fine i would still rather do it with a mkiv supra OP referenced.. just on principle.

I would never recommend a k-car to a person who wanted an interesting car to tow with, though. They don't fit most people's definitions of interesting.

MrChaos wrote: iirc the roadmaster is rated to be able to tow more than the s10 or ranger of the same year.

5,000. Tow pack wagons and fleetwoods are 7k with weight distributing hitch

My dad has a tow package wagon and i'm putting a hitch on my non tow package sedan. My 95 SS had hitch but that's the one going on my roady. I pulled my 2000# car hauler with the impala and it barely felt like there was anything behind me.

In reply to patgizz:

tow package was V8 plus auto with trans cooler right?

all are v8 except the very rare 4.3 v6 91-92 caprice sedans, of which i've only ever seen two. tow package is gears and not sure what else. probably some coolers. i'd add a big trans cooler to anything that tows if it does not already have one.

Since I needed a tow vehicle for this years challenge, I picked up a 93 Dodge Dakota with 118k on the clock and a 3.9 v6 under the hood. New rear shocks from a 3/4 ton van, new synthetic fluid in the diff, new brakes and a complete trans flush with mobil one synthetic trans fluid, I was ready to go. The down side of all of this is that I have to make sure that the overdrive is off and the engine will run a little on the hot side when the air is on or in stop and go traffic. I am probably running it at its limit. 2800 rpm at 62 mph is about as far as I want to push it.

I did a lot of towing with a 2g dakota. The main issue i had was that the back brakes didnt do ANYTHING and were also the only wheels with abs, which means serious danger of locking up the front wheels and having no brakes or steering during any kind of stopping maneuver other than extremely casual ones. On one occasion on a minorly damp road i had to pulse/modulate the brakes for probably 600 feet coming off the highway going in and out of front wheel lockup trying to slow the truck down. That truck was dangerous in the wet to begin with, towing in the wet was a nightmare. I think an adjustable proportioning valve might have helped a lot. I never did put one on and ended up modifying one of my k-cars to tow instead, which actually worked out MUCH better, ESPECIALLY during hard braking. I DID modify the brake proportioning on the k-car substantially though, so it's not a stock to stock comparison.

The dakota was completely fine as long as you werent trying to, you know, slow down.

Vigo wrote: That truck was dangerous in the wet to begin with, towing in the wet was a nightmare.

Trailer brakes?

A first gen CTS is rated at 1000 lbs. I couldn't find any others, but I'm just checking on Edmunds' site.

The Porsche Panamera is rated with a towing capacity of 4850 lbs in the US.

The Audi Allroad (4.2L) is rated to tow 3300 lbs in the US and 5000 lbs in Europe (different regulations).

I keep clicking this, thinking it says "Town Car".

Trailer brakes?

I dont own a trailer. That was all with a tow dolley, which means it had major issues with even less weight than you were imagining.

patgizz wrote: all are v8 except the very rare 4.3 v6 91-92 caprice sedans, of which i've only ever seen two. tow package is gears and not sure what else. probably some coolers. i'd add a big trans cooler to anything that tows if it does not already have one.

The tow package was gears, posi, springs, shocks, transmission tune, and trans cooler for the bubble caprices. For box caprices, it was all that minus the trans tune.

This is my tow car:

1989 Caprice Classic wagon, swapped to a 350 TBI SBC and an nv3500 5-speed out of a silverado. Factory tow rating was 7,800 lbs according to the manual. 5,000 if you didn't have load levelers. Between very stiff suspension, Fox/Hotchkiss shocks, and the long wheelbase, it's actually a great tow vehicle. I generally get 18 mpg with 3 bikes on the back cruising at 75 mph. And yes, it is fun to drive, given the mods under the unassuming body.

In reply to gearheadE30:

If you ever sell that, this is me calling DIBS

This smart car is towing over 10,000#

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