Favorite 3rd row vehicles to tow.
Anyone towing a vehicle with 3rd row? Traveling with 6 so I need a small 3rd row. What 3rd row have you been happy with towing? What's too big for comfort?
Forum Discussion
What are the size of the people who will be riding in the car? The 3rd row on the smaller 3-row SUVs generally aren't comfortable for adults. Kids, fine. Teens & adults, not so much.
We tow our 2001 Honda Odyssey. It weighs in at 4,460 lbs., so it works within the weight limits of our motorhome. Honda "allowed" many of their vehicles for flat-towing before 2005. Then they changed their policy. There are those who still continued to tow them, but if you choose to do so, you're taking a bit of a risk.
Before you look, though, you really have to know the weight specs and actual travel weight of the motorhome you're going to use.
Like rk911 mentioned, you have to know the details for your own specific case. For our rig, we have a GVWR of 22,000 lbs. and a GCWR of 26,000 lbs.. The tow hitch is rated for 5,000 lbs. and the tow bar is rated for 6,500 lbs.
If you look at those numbers, you might think: "Easy...I can tow 5,000 lbs. as the hitch is the lowest number." But that's only true IF the motorhome and it's contents weighed less than 21,000 lbs. IF the motorhome weighs in at the GVWR of 22,000 lbs., the maximum amount we can tow would be 4,000 lbs. or else we'd exceed the GCWR spec. For the record, our rig empty weighs about 18,800 lbs. and loaded to travel we're between 21,000-21,500 lbs. So we do flirt with the GCWR when towing the Odyssey. (But we only exceeded it once. Funny story. My mom was travelling with us & the kids for a two week long trip, so we were pretty heavily loaded. My weight ticket showed us at 26,135 lbs. My mom says: "Hey...I weigh 135 lbs.". So....I figure I was one grandma over the limit! LOL I was thinking about having her run along side until I burned 135 gallons of fuel, but figured the long-term repercussions of that decision would be FAR WORSE than running the rig over the GCWR. LOL)
Oh, I also have a 2003 Suzuki XL-7 with a 3rd row seat and 4WD (such models up to 2006 were flat-towable). I bought it for that purpose should we need another option. I really like the car. I never got around to rigging it up to tow for several reasons. But one of them is that after a couple of years, the kids had grown to the point that stuffing them back there would not be pleasant for them. Plus, when that seat is in use, storage space drops almost to nil. The minivan, by comparison, is cavernous and works much better. When we are at a campground and then use the car to go sight-seeing, we often want to take a cooler with beverages, sandwiches, etc. The XL-7 doesn't even have the space for the cooler when the 3rd row seat is in use. So carefully assess how you intend to use the vehicle. Now, if we were planning on going "off road", the XL-7 would be the choice...and we'd just have stuff the kids in and strap a cooler to the roof! LOL But that's just not been our life stylfe.
Good Luck,
~Rick
We tow our 2001 Honda Odyssey. It weighs in at 4,460 lbs., so it works within the weight limits of our motorhome. Honda "allowed" many of their vehicles for flat-towing before 2005. Then they changed their policy. There are those who still continued to tow them, but if you choose to do so, you're taking a bit of a risk.
Before you look, though, you really have to know the weight specs and actual travel weight of the motorhome you're going to use.
Like rk911 mentioned, you have to know the details for your own specific case. For our rig, we have a GVWR of 22,000 lbs. and a GCWR of 26,000 lbs.. The tow hitch is rated for 5,000 lbs. and the tow bar is rated for 6,500 lbs.
If you look at those numbers, you might think: "Easy...I can tow 5,000 lbs. as the hitch is the lowest number." But that's only true IF the motorhome and it's contents weighed less than 21,000 lbs. IF the motorhome weighs in at the GVWR of 22,000 lbs., the maximum amount we can tow would be 4,000 lbs. or else we'd exceed the GCWR spec. For the record, our rig empty weighs about 18,800 lbs. and loaded to travel we're between 21,000-21,500 lbs. So we do flirt with the GCWR when towing the Odyssey. (But we only exceeded it once. Funny story. My mom was travelling with us & the kids for a two week long trip, so we were pretty heavily loaded. My weight ticket showed us at 26,135 lbs. My mom says: "Hey...I weigh 135 lbs.". So....I figure I was one grandma over the limit! LOL I was thinking about having her run along side until I burned 135 gallons of fuel, but figured the long-term repercussions of that decision would be FAR WORSE than running the rig over the GCWR. LOL)
Oh, I also have a 2003 Suzuki XL-7 with a 3rd row seat and 4WD (such models up to 2006 were flat-towable). I bought it for that purpose should we need another option. I really like the car. I never got around to rigging it up to tow for several reasons. But one of them is that after a couple of years, the kids had grown to the point that stuffing them back there would not be pleasant for them. Plus, when that seat is in use, storage space drops almost to nil. The minivan, by comparison, is cavernous and works much better. When we are at a campground and then use the car to go sight-seeing, we often want to take a cooler with beverages, sandwiches, etc. The XL-7 doesn't even have the space for the cooler when the 3rd row seat is in use. So carefully assess how you intend to use the vehicle. Now, if we were planning on going "off road", the XL-7 would be the choice...and we'd just have stuff the kids in and strap a cooler to the roof! LOL But that's just not been our life stylfe.
Good Luck,
~Rick
