Forum Discussion
Campfire_Time
Jun 17, 2014Explorer
It's possible. But you will be towing right up to your capacity and perhaps over if you don't weigh the loaded trailer and van. You may not want to tow in mountains or long trips though. Another issue is frontal area. When we towed a small hybrid with a minivan, it was only 7ft wide. Yours a 1/2 foot wider. That can add a lot of stress to the tow vehicle. There should be a frontal area square foot rating for your van. 
Over the years I have twice towed very close to my rated capacities. Both times I knew what I was getting into and what the limitations would be. The first was like yours, a 3500# GVWR hybrid with a mini-van (summer of '03). The second time was with our X20E (4750# GVWR) and a Chevy Trailblazer (summer of '13). I would describe both experiences as adequate at best. Both times I knew that towing in mountains would be out of the question. However I was setup properly and never felt unsafe or had "white knuckle experiences". In the case of the mini-van we replaced it after the first season for 2 reasons, we really hated owning a mini-van, and we wanted to tow on long trips, and in mountains. We just sold the Trailblazer because it had 160k on it and I really didn't want to spend any money on it anymore. In both cases, prior to towing close to capacity we towed trailers with those same vehicles that were well within capacities and with plenty of spare capacity. Our new to us Sierra in my sig doesn't even sweat towing the X20E.
That said, there is a definite difference between towing up to your limit and having spare capacity.
We had an option on our old Kiwi 17a for an oven, we chose the microwave instead. Our X20E was bought off the lot and came with an oven. We use it for cookware storage.
Over the years I have twice towed very close to my rated capacities. Both times I knew what I was getting into and what the limitations would be. The first was like yours, a 3500# GVWR hybrid with a mini-van (summer of '03). The second time was with our X20E (4750# GVWR) and a Chevy Trailblazer (summer of '13). I would describe both experiences as adequate at best. Both times I knew that towing in mountains would be out of the question. However I was setup properly and never felt unsafe or had "white knuckle experiences". In the case of the mini-van we replaced it after the first season for 2 reasons, we really hated owning a mini-van, and we wanted to tow on long trips, and in mountains. We just sold the Trailblazer because it had 160k on it and I really didn't want to spend any money on it anymore. In both cases, prior to towing close to capacity we towed trailers with those same vehicles that were well within capacities and with plenty of spare capacity. Our new to us Sierra in my sig doesn't even sweat towing the X20E.
That said, there is a definite difference between towing up to your limit and having spare capacity.
We had an option on our old Kiwi 17a for an oven, we chose the microwave instead. Our X20E was bought off the lot and came with an oven. We use it for cookware storage.
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