Anyone tow with fuel efficient cars (not trucks or SUVs)?

Farm Camp wrote:
I know you didn't ask this but when I was researching my options somebody mentioned that I might consider buying a used truck or full size van and dedicate it to the job of towing. Then keep your gas sipper as a daily driver.

That might not work for your situation but I thought I'd mention it.

In my case we just decided to bite the bullet get the camper we wanted and then went out and found a truck that could haul it.

We did not want to get into a situation where we got a camper that "fit" our TV, end up unhappy with it, have to trade up to a larger camper *and* a new TV... And also take the associated hit on depreciation - since we were only looking at new campers.

Best of luck.

X2

This is an excellent suggestion.

An older used vehicle purchased for the purpose of towing in many cases will be much better than adapting a economy vehicle to towing.

You should be able to find a ten yr old vehicle for a reasonable price and still have some life left in it.

Insurance will be lower and often you will qualify for multi vehicle discounts. Often most insurance companies will give very nice discounts if you tell them the tow vehicle is for "recreational" usage and not a daily driver.

Basically you would just have the tags and insurance per year to pay for so costs should not be all that bad.

Heck, I have not one but three pickup trucks, two antique cars. The trucks are are daily drivers. We dumped the last daily driver car years ago in favor of the trucks. The trucks are more roomy and comfortable to drive than the smaller economy car we had.

Alternately instead of towing why not consider a "conversion" van? It would also qualify for recreational insurance...

Farm Camp wrote:


We did not want to get into a situation where we got a camper that "fit" our TV, end up unhappy with it, have to trade up to a larger camper *and* a new TV... And also take the associated hit on depreciation - since we were only looking at new campers.

Best of luck.

Me not liking the popup was the reason we upgraded to the TT. I can second this comment.

I know you didn't ask this but when I was researching my options somebody mentioned that I might consider buying a used truck or full size van and dedicate it to the job of towing. Then keep your gas sipper as a daily driver.

That might not work for your situation but I thought I'd mention it.

In my case we just decided to bite the bullet get the camper we wanted and then went out and found a truck that could haul it.

We did not want to get into a situation where we got a camper that "fit" our TV, end up unhappy with it, have to trade up to a larger camper *and* a new TV... And also take the associated hit on depreciation - since we were only looking at new campers.

Best of luck.

The Hyundai Elantra has a 3500 lb towing capacity on some models.

I towed a Starcraft 1701 popup with a 2003 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed. 90 hp @ 3750 and 155 tq at 1900 rpm. No trailer brakes.

It did well. Granted, I towed between north central Ohio and Niagara Falls, so no huge hills, but don't let the hp numbers fool you. It did fine, held 5th gear at freeway speeds, and returned 32mpg towing, turbo singing away. I sold the car and the trailer but would do it again if life took me that way.

The new Focus is very impressive as a TV......

You tube... Ford Focus towing review

I have towed quite a bit with my ford focus. I have a small utility trailer for misc. work and I have a pop up trailer for camping. Pulls it no problem.

JeremyL wrote:
I'm looking to upgrade my Yaris to a car that can actually tow a very simple, small trailer. Yet I have no need for a truck or SUV.

A 2011+ Toyota Matix (tow capacity 1500 lbs according to SAE J2807 standards) and a Little Guy 5 wide (970 lbs empty weight) currently top my list. I really like the idea of a hard-side trailer so I know I'm VERY limited with trailer options (i.e. Little Guy or Aliner Alite 400). After living with my 40 mpg Yaris, I don't want a daily driver that gets 22 mpg. Nor do I need 11000 lbs of towing capacity. Yet I want to be realistic and safe.

Does anyone have any real world towing experience with cars? Any suggestions of cars that can tow 1500 - 2000 lbs? Thanks!

Towing and high mileage are mutually exclusive, you can not have both at the same time.

Even IF you found say a 1500 lb trailer to tow it will drop your mileage like a rock.

Think of it like this, basically with towing it is a lot like pushing a bunch of cement blocks without wheels.

You also have more than weight to worry about, hard sided trailers have a very large frontal area which creates a huge amount of drag.

Not sure as to your expectations but even a small popup trailer is going to weigh in at least 1500 lbs empty.

Then you put personal items like blankets, food, clothing, drinks and any other camping items and you will easily add 800-1000 lbs.

If you are really concerned about mileage then towing is not for you, stay in motels and hotels and enjoy 40 mpg otherwise towing you will be 10mpg or less.

Just be sure you find the TONGUE WEIGHT spec on the car you consider. Then most folks want 13% to 15% of FULLY LOADED TT weight on tongue to avoid sway. Ignore receiver spec, what is VEHICLE SPEC. Normally 10% of tow weight.

Example, tow weight spec 1500#, assume tongue weight spec of 150#. Assume 13% of TT weight on tongue. This gives MAX fully loaded TT weight of 1153#.

VEHICLE tongue weight spec nearly always the limiting factor.

There are laws of physics that play...but there is one that is a holy grail of
MPG...all ICE's play in the 20%-40% efficiency. That 40% is s 2cycle diesel, which
will be tough to find in a TV

Towing whatever at some speed will take X amount of fuel factored
by other factors. Like the aerodynamics, how high off the ground,
how efficient the tires are, etc, etc

Why some small blocks towing the same trailer on the same roads and
'similar' speeds (they can't as fast as I can) gets the same and
some times less than my big block towing that exact same trailer. My
Sub weighs in around 7.4K with just me in it and some of those small
block TV's weigh less, but again still get similar or less MPG

It is typically NOT the engine that limits, but the rest of the vehicle...the
body in a monocoque and the frame in a ladder frame with a monocoque sitting on it setup

My 1970 2 seater sports rocket has a Class I tow hitch. Gets 31 MPG if I'm not
on it and on the flats (in-line six...2.4L) and have towed: Lawn spiker, lawn
rototiller, concrete mixer, and a small utility trailer (12" dia wheels)

I'd not tow a pop=up with that 2 seater. All the stuff above were in the 200-500
lb range

PS....that 2.4L goes into the 12-15 MPG range when I'm on it :)