Which dinghy tow vehicle is suggested?

Sooboy wrote:

donhardman wrote:
On the Honda CRV the FMCA 1013 towing guide says, there is a special procedure that you need to do every 8 hours of towing to avoid transmission damage-see owners manual.

What does this mean

Thanks Don

On our 2009 CRV, this means after every 8 hours of towing you need to start the vehicle and run through the pre-towing steps again, which consists of running through all the forward gear positions one at a time...stopping in NEUTRAL. It's critical that you NEVER shift from REVERSE to NEUTRAL and then proceed with towing. You MUST shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL.

You're also not supposed to tow the CRV any faster than 65MPH, which (for us) is fast enough.

A couple of CRV TOAD questions.

Does the CRV register miles while being towed?
Have you had any problems with the battery discharging while being towed? I never see us driving more than 3 hours without a stop of some sort.

Would I be better off to start it up, let it recharge some and then go through the tow procedure again?

Thanks

I really like Ford's hybrid vehicles for flat towing (Fusion hybrid, Energi, and Cmax Hybrid).

Nothing to disconnect (battery or fuses), no crazy procedures to go through every few hours of towing, no worries about making sure its in a specific 'mode' before towing, nothing to have to modify or add, really. Just put tranny in neutral, key in ACC position and go. Period. Flat tow up to 70 mph, no problem. Long, great track record of its transmission (eCVT) being fine for flat towing. Thats the way I like it, simple. :)

Oh, and when driving it (not towing), 47 miles per gallon (both city and highway) is really nice, too. And, yes, those numbers ARE realistic (I get that pretty regularly with our Fusion driving to work and back every day). Really nice when you get to your campsite, you can ride around the campground quiet as a mouse (on electric power), not burning any gas.

Only one 'catch' with them: You may need to install a charge line to the battery, as the car does seem to draw 'bout 3 amps from the battery when key is in ACC mode being towed (even with everything off). That can draw its battery down if you tow several hours a day.

chili's trip wrote:

gotsmart wrote:

Sooboy wrote:

On our 2009 CRV, this means after every 8 hours of towing you need to start the vehicle and run through the pre-towing steps again, which consists of running through all the forward gear positions one at a time...stopping in NEUTRAL. It's critical that you NEVER shift from REVERSE to NEUTRAL and then proceed with towing. You MUST shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL.

You're also not supposed to tow the CRV any faster than 65MPH, which (for us) is fast enough.

Bummer. There are no speed, time, or mileage limits for the smart
car.

I just read an article about problems the smart car has with tracking behind the motorhome. Owners have to use bungee chords to stop steering wheel from oscillating back and forth. Smart car is no longer recommended for towing by Motorhome Mag. Good luck
Jack H

Nice disinformation campaign. I have posted that I use a bunjee because the smart car does not track well in the logging truck rutted highways of Washington State. The car is not wide enough to track IN the ruts. On other roads it tracks fine without a bunjee on the steering wheel.

fyi - the flat towing instructions are in the 2013 smart owners manual. My guess the reason why is it is not in the towing guide is that too many smart owners towed their car without following rule #1: Disconnect the battery when flat towing. RVers have dragged their smart cars on the rims because the brakes locked. Others have burned the engine and tranny because they towed it in park. A smart car replacement engine and tranny can cost more than the car is worth.

Except for the steering, the car is drive-by-wire. The transmission is controlled by the computer, not the shifter. The warnings at the bottom of the flat towing instructions say that if the car's computer is awake during flat towing, bad things can happen. Below is a direct quote from the 2013 owners manual:

Do not flat tow the vehicle with the front axle raised. Doing so may cause serious damage to the brake system which is not covered by the smart Limited Warranty.

Failure to follow the recommendations for flat towing can cause damage to your vehicle:

>Not following the battery disconnect procedure in the proper sequence may result in data loss in the vehicle’s control units.

>Not disconnecting the battery and leaving the key in starter switch position 1 (ignition on) may result in
- the vehicle locking. The vehicle will lock if the wheels are turning at vehicle speeds of approximately 8 mph (14 km/h) or more.
- the ESP® being activated. Active braking action through the ESP® may seriously damage the brake system which is not covered by the smart Limited Warranty.
>Not moving the gear selector lever to neutral position N may result in significant transmission damage.
>in a discharged battery.

Solution: A $15 marine battery switch. Guess where the battery is in a smart car? It's in the floor of the passenger side.

I tow a 2013 Subaru Outback. I just have to put the shifter into neutral, and off I can go. I have the Blue Ox tow bar and the invisible base plate and the Blue Ox Patriot braking system. the advantage of the Outback is that it is not very heavy, only 3400 lb, but it is a very roomy vehicle with a ground clearance higher than most SUV's (about 8"), and it has the famous Subaru AWD system that can get you to places where a lot of SUV's can't go!

gotsmart wrote:

Sooboy wrote:

On our 2009 CRV, this means after every 8 hours of towing you need to start the vehicle and run through the pre-towing steps again, which consists of running through all the forward gear positions one at a time...stopping in NEUTRAL. It's critical that you NEVER shift from REVERSE to NEUTRAL and then proceed with towing. You MUST shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL.

You're also not supposed to tow the CRV any faster than 65MPH, which (for us) is fast enough.

Bummer. There are no speed, time, or mileage limits for the smart
car.

I just read an article about problems the smart car has with tracking behind the motorhome. Owners have to use bungee chords to stop steering wheel from oscillating back and forth. Smart car is no longer recommended for towing by Motorhome Mag. Good luck
Jack H

We recently bought a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4 door. We also looked at the Honda CRV and Chevy Equinox. The Jeep Wrangler to me seemed like a much better deal than the other two. We also own an Acura MDX and my wife and I were just underwhelmed when we drove the CRV. Just too much less than the MDX. The Chevy dealer did not seem all that interested in selling us a car. He kept talking about how no one bought AWD. With the Jeep we got 4WD insted which works much better off road. I can remove part or all of the hard top if I chose to. The handling and fun factor of the drive was much better than the Honda or Chevy. It have a powerful six with lots of pickup. Honda is slow.

Some other real benfits of towing a Jeep is what you don't have to do. You don't have to leave the key in. No fuses to pull. Just put the transfer case in neutral and you are ready to go.

Without a doubt the Honda is very good quality. But the Jeep seemed equally good if not better and cost just a little more. If you want to go off road you will be glad you have a Jeep. If you don't you will just have a lot more fun driving it.

Sooboy wrote:

On our 2009 CRV, this means after every 8 hours of towing you need to start the vehicle and run through the pre-towing steps again, which consists of running through all the forward gear positions one at a time...stopping in NEUTRAL. It's critical that you NEVER shift from REVERSE to NEUTRAL and then proceed with towing. You MUST shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL.

You're also not supposed to tow the CRV any faster than 65MPH, which (for us) is fast enough.

Bummer. There are no speed, time, or mileage limits for the smart car.

Sooboy. Quick question on the CRV. In Remco towing all I see them recommend is the 2 Wheel drive (front drive) In all the car lots on line all I see for sale are AWD.. Do you know, can the AWD be towed? Is that what everyone is using. Thanks, Don

donhardman wrote:
On the Honda CRV the FMCA 1013 towing guide says, there is a special procedure that you need to do every 8 hours of towing to avoid transmission damage-see owners manual.

What does this mean

Thanks Don

On our 2009 CRV, this means after every 8 hours of towing you need to start the vehicle and run through the pre-towing steps again, which consists of running through all the forward gear positions one at a time...stopping in NEUTRAL. It's critical that you NEVER shift from REVERSE to NEUTRAL and then proceed with towing. You MUST shift from DRIVE to NEUTRAL.

You're also not supposed to tow the CRV any faster than 65MPH, which (for us) is fast enough.

I've been towing a 99' Honda CRV for 8 years now. I like it BUT maximum towing speed is limited to 65 mph. Every 300 miles (I think) Honda wants you to run the engine with transmission in neutral for 3 minutes. We do it every 150-200 miles. Other cars don't have speed limitations or an engine running requirement.

That having been said we plan to buy another towed vehicle this year. It will almost certainly be another Honda CRV. If you run at 75 mph or drive 10 hours without stops...pick another towed. For us I welcome checking my rig and running the towed every 3-4 hours.

We like the CRV because it's low maintenance requirements, long life (230k and still going for us), good MPG and high resale value.

If at the end of the new car's useful life I wouldn't mind driving a stick I might go with a Subaru. When I'm 75 in 12 years from now I won't want to be driving a stick.