18 replies to this topic

[vwDavid]

Ok, I'm not a truck or SUV guy. Actually, I'm kind of narrow minded when it comes to cars. You see, by my screen name I am a vw-o-holic.

Ok, with that confession done, I am looking at a sportster 4-tec, or similar sized previous model. It is about 1450 lbs and I estimate the trailer to be 350 lbs for a 1800 lbs total package with no goodies.

I don't have a truck and don't want to get one unless someone is going to give me a VW Touareg V10 TDI. Actually, I want to tow this boat with a VW Passat Wagonm, TDI. Its only got 134 hp, but 250 ft-lbs TQ. Its not even rated for towing, although the 2001 models had a generous rating, and the european version allow up to 85% of the GVW with brakes!

My research I found that I'd have to get the beefy european tow bar, I'd probably should get a tranny cooler and possibly stiffen the rear spring rate and struts. I may also want tranny oil temp and engine oil temp guages. Perhaps I'd need trailer brakes or to upgrade teh vehicle brakes too.

AM I CRAZY? Does anyone else out there tow with a car?

[nookie201]

I would not tow this without trailer brakes.
Get hydraulic brakes if possible so you can tow it behind other vehicles easy.

The 4-tec would throw your VW around like no tommorrow without brakes, don't do it.

It will be slow going, and you'll problably get stuck at the beach, but that's half the fun without a 4x4

-G

[vwDavid]

Thanks guys... I seem to be getting the negatory response from many different groups. I guess there is no doo without a truck.

[tiggerman]

Thanks guys... I seem to be getting the negatory response from many different groups. I guess there is no doo without a truck.

I have towed my 97 Speedster (1380lbs dry + trailer) with a 1989 Pontiac Bonneville, so it can be done. I'm sure my Bonneville has a bit more capacity than the VW. Trailer brakes are a must in this situation so you don't end up toasting your vehicles brakes. I tow with a 2000 Nissan Xterra now, so I don't use the Bonne much. Safety is always first in this situation, and if the vehicle has no towing rating, don't do it. Your insurance company may frown on it as well as it being hazardous to everyone.

[firepit1]

I tow my 01 Sportster with a '97 Sebring Convertible (V6 2.5L) and it does a great job in my opinion. I could use trailer brakes for stopping in an emergency situation, but I don't have them. The Sebring has a 2000lbs towing limit and I'm below that number. Infact, I remember the old doo comercials where they are showing a Eagle Talon (eclipse clone) towing a 4 seater around like mine.

Call me crazy........

[nookie201]

I tow my 01 Sportster with a '97 Sebring Convertible (V6 2.5L) and it does a great job in my opinion.  I could use trailer brakes for stopping in an emergency situation, but I don't have them.  The Sebring has a 2000lbs towing limit and I'm below that number.  Infact, I remember the old doo comercials where they are showing a Eagle Talon (eclipse clone) towing a 4 seater around like mine.

Call me crazy........

The max towing on 1997 convertable Sebring is 1500LBS.
The curb weight is approx 3396LBS.
What could be done and should be done are 2 different things.
If you add 4 people and full gas you're hauling 2800LBS. in a 3400LBS car.
for a total of 6200 LBS!.

Towing with this bad boy is a no-no.

-G

[vwDavid]

This is a great discussion guys. Thanks for the comments, keep them coming. Of course as it was said saftey needs to be put first and what can be done, and what should be done are two different things.

I am looking into an Audi allroad, unfortunately they are not offered with diesel engines in north america.

The allroad has a rated towing capacity of 3300 lbs and has a factory hitch option. This would make nice tow vehicle for me apart from the price and lack of diesel engine option.

[Doom Enow]

I tow my 4tech sporster with a cheroke and it feels alot heavier than it looks. They are right having no breaks sucks.
I will say it is posoable as long as you dont forget what you have behing. I cought miself doing 90 plus miles per hour on my cherokee while towing the boat, like I said, once you get going it is no problem, is the stoping that makes you realice how heavy that thing really is.
So if you do, Do as I say not as I do. DOOOOOOOOOO!
OH man do I have a good one coming!

[firepit1]

The max towing on 1997 convertable Sebring is 1500LBS.
The curb weight is approx 3396LBS.
What could be done and should be done are 2 different things.
If you add 4 people and full gas you're hauling 2800LBS. in a 3400LBS car.
for a total of 6200 LBS!.

Towing with this bad boy is a no-no.

-G

The 1500lbs limit is only on the 4 cylinder and not the V6. I did a lot of looking into this before laying down the cash on this boat. The V6 JXi is rated at 2000lbs and is noted as such in the owners manual. I've even made some very slight mods to bump up the horsepower due to the hills in MO. I agree it's not as safe as 1 ton pickup, but it tows fine, it doesn't sag the vehicle and with a 1200lbs boat, plus trailer, plus toys and my normal 3 passengers, I'm on the limit, not over it.

[nookie201]

The max towing on 1997 convertable Sebring is 1500LBS.
The curb weight is approx 3396LBS.
What could be done and should be done are 2 different things.
If you add 4 people and full gas you're hauling 2800LBS. in a 3400LBS car.
for a total of 6200 LBS!.

Towing with this bad boy is a no-no.

-G

The 1500lbs limit is only on the 4 cylinder and not the V6. I did a lot of looking into this before laying down the cash on this boat. The V6 JXi is rated at 2000lbs and is noted as such in the owners manual. I've even made some very slight mods to bump up the horsepower due to the hills in MO. I agree it's not as safe as 1 ton pickup, but it tows fine, it doesn't sag the vehicle and with a 1200lbs boat, plus trailer, plus toys and my normal 3 passengers, I'm on the limit, not over it.

The problem is not how much you can pull, either the V4 or V6 will pull the whole lot, but both JD powers and Edmunds list the tow spec as being 1500LBS for both models.

It's how much you can stop safely that's the limiting factor, like you said you don't have the braking power for emergency stopping, most US states require trailer brakes on gross trailer weights over 1500LBS (according to Karavan Trailer), the 4-tec is 1454+350LBS for the trailer. It's amazing the 4-tec is sold without brakes

-G

[firepit1]

The towing issue with my Sebring is what kept me grounded to buying the Sportster LE, I would love a 6 seater and more power but I wasn't willing to buy another car just for that. On the capacity side, I'm sticking to my owners manual for the right info, even my Hayes manual states the 2000lbs limit.

I've probably only towed my boat maybe 200 miles this year and only once have I had to stop quickly and I was surprised that the boat didn't push the car that badly. I've never been in a situation where the stop was hard enough for the anti-lock to kick in, but it's bound to happen sooner or later.

How about this question: Who towes and then runs on cruise control?
I don't do it. In my mind it like driving in the rain with cruise control on, which is a huge "Don't".

[tiggerman]

How about this question: Who towes and then runs on cruise control?
I don't do it. In my mind it like driving in the rain with cruise control on, which is a huge "Don't".

I don't do it either, nor do I use O/D unless cruising on the big road (which I rarely do since I am so close to the lake anyway).

[suppoz]

I just bought a 2004 4.0 Ford Ranger 4x4 to tow. I don't have trailer brakes, and in fact have not towed the boat with it yet. First time will be sometime next week when I bring it to be winterized (and 10hr check-up). Limit is 5600 lbs, so I know it won't be a problem.

That leads me to a question though. How hard is it to install brakes on a trailer?

[tiggerman]

Not too terribly difficult, with the trailer portion of the install being probably the most labor intensive. The vehicle portion is like installing a stereo , not too much involved.

[johnv]

Ok, I'm not a truck or SUV guy. Actually, I'm kind of narrow minded when it comes to cars. You see, by my screen name I am a vw-o-holic.

Ok, with that confession done, I am looking at a sportster 4-tec, or similar sized previous model. It is about 1450 lbs and I estimate the trailer to be 350 lbs for a 1800 lbs total package with no goodies.

I don't have a truck and don't want to get one unless someone is going to give me a VW Touareg V10 TDI. Actually, I want to tow this boat with a VW Passat Wagonm, TDI. Its only got 134 hp, but 250 ft-lbs TQ. Its not even rated for towing, although the 2001 models had a generous rating, and the european version allow up to 85% of the GVW with brakes!

My research I found that I'd have to get the beefy european tow bar, I'd probably should get a tranny cooler and possibly stiffen the rear spring rate and struts. I may also want tranny oil temp and engine oil temp guages. Perhaps I'd need trailer brakes or to upgrade teh vehicle brakes too.

AM I CRAZY? Does anyone else out there tow with a car?

I looked hard at the Passat Wagon before I bought my Saab 9-5 wagon last year. One of the things I liked about the Saab was it was rated for 3500 lb. towing. This year I bought a Sugar Sand Mirage 18' jet boat. I estimate with trailer fuel and gear at 2600 pounds. It has surge brakes on the trailer, and it would stink to navigate without them.

My Saab has a turbo four and I use most of its power to tow, but it will tow fine. Biggest problem is going up the ramp. I wish I had VW 4-motion. Mine runs 185 hp and 221'lb torque at a super low 1800 rpm.

If your Passat is not rated to tow, you take a big risk by using it. I think the 4-motion version is rated at 2000lb towing. I would suggest you upgrade to that if you want to stay with a car. (Test drive a Saab-hint-hint) That is until someone drops that Touraeg in your drive!

Love my wagon!

[vwDavid]

Is the Saab rear wheel or front wheel drive? I've always liked them..

[johnv]

Is the Saab rear wheel or front wheel drive? I've always liked them..

Front Drive

[Keith]

Hi All,

I tow my 02 Speedster with my 5 speed 03 Mustang convertible. The two limit of my car is 1200Lbs but it has the drive train of an F150. I thought the limit was just for “safety� until I hooked up the trailer and watched the ass end of my car hit the ground.
So, after finding out (the hard way) that the tow limit of a car is largely based on the amount of tongue weight, and given the fact that I was not about to get rid of my rag top or my boat I bought an Air-Lift 1000 kit. The kit was $100.00, easy to install and with just 20Lbs of air in the bellows the ride height came back to normal with a fully loaded trunk and Speedster. I have towed my boat behind my wife’s Trailblazer I actually prefer to use my car, as it is not affected by gusts of wind like the Trailblazer. I don’t have to concentrate on steering as much at highway speeds. I even found myself in a bit of a race with some guy in a big Dodge truck and a bass boat that I’m sure afterwards was shaking his fist at us Sea-Doo drivers.

So vwDavid as long as you give yourself lots of room, remember about brake-fade and give your rear suspension a little help there should be no reason why you be stuck buying a truck.


http://www.airliftcompany.com/

Air Lift 1000 is made from a very durable polyurethane material and is inserted into the vehicle's stock coil springs. When filled with air, it increases the spring rate, or ability to support a load. Because of its design, Air Lift 1000 products are best stated as load support products, rather than lifting products.

[4man]

I tow my 16' Speedster 240EFI about 1500' to the boat launch at the lake with my trusty Honda 450 Foreman ES 4wheeler. It does a great job of launching and retrieving my boat whenever I want to go for a spin

But for on road experiences, I have only ever used my GMC 4x4 (Fullsize with 350 etc) so no problems there. And even though the weight of this boat is well over 1500lbs, there are no brakes on my trailer, and that's the way it came.

Before I could afford a truck and a car though, I used to tow a couple of snowmobiles (which weigh about 600lbs each, + the trailer and gear) with a 1990 Beretta GTZ 5speed 4 cylinder. You had to take it easy, but I always made it home, and I was out every weekend.

It's amazing what one will do out of necessity!