Towing 3,000 Pounds

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Redsky wrote:
A Subaru wagon will pull a 3,000 lb. trailer and without the trailer it will get 30 MPG on the freeway.

Dunno which "wagon" you're referring to, but I doubt that any Subaru except possibly the Tribeca is capable of towing 3,000 pounds of travel trailer. Limiting factor is tongue weight- limited to 200 pounds on just about every model. You can't tow a 3,000 pound TT safely with such a low tongue-to trailer ratio. The "high" number really only applies to boat towing- due to differences in design those can be towed with a 5-7% ratio.

Again excepting the Tribeca, Subaru max tow limits are between 2,000 and 2700 pounds...And let's keep in mind that the weight of everything in the car except a 175 pound driver has to be taken off that number in order to stay under max GCWR.

This tongue weight limitation is for the Subaru factory hitch, which is only class II. The aftermarket makes class III hitches for most Subarus that can handle higher tongue weights, as well as WD hitches.

I towed upwards of 4000 pounds with a 2003 Subaru Forester, properly outfitted. I was surprised how stable and composed it was, and with the 2.5 liter 170HP flat-4 engine and manual 5-speed transmission, I had plenty of power and gears for any challenge the road could throw at me. One detail most don't know about, is Subaru rates their cars for towing assuming the vehicle is already loaded with people and gear. No need to deduct for every butt-in-a-seat like other trucks. On other shores, Foresters are rated as high as 3800 pounds towing. The only real limitation in North America is the class II hitch, which is easily remedied. I would highly recommend a Subaru. In fact, I miss mine. I put 110k miles on her before trading it in, trouble-free the entire time despite the towing. Overall mileage was 28-ish open road, 25-ish around town, 20-ish towing a 4000 pound popup.