Need to completely regroup,looking for a toad for Fleetwood

[susanka]

Hi, folks. We've been trying to find a "small" truck we can tow; thought we wanted a Chevy Colorado or GMC Canyon. Now we find our Fleetwood Southwind Storm is rated to tow only 3500 lbs. Any truck we can find weighs more than that. We have 29 days to find something if we're going on our planned dream trip. Our next choice would be a convertible. DH doesn't want to do a Beetle because Volkswagen won't say they're towable. The situation is rapidly deteriorating! Any good ideas out there? And thanks for all the help you were when we were looking for a truck.

[gotsmart]

2009 smart fortwo Passion. A towbar setup and a $20 battery disconnect switch is all that is needed for flat towing.

[John___Angela]

moisheh wrote:
I bet very few posters realize that the picture of " John and Angela" in that car has been photoshopped. It is not a real car and has pedals like a toy car. Gets great MPG !!! John has legs of steel.

Moisheh

Yah but I lose all my saving in running shoes. Thank god they are only 19 bucks a pair at Walmart. 🙂

[moisheh]

I bet very few posters realize that the picture of " John and Angela" in that car has been photoshopped. It is not a real car and has pedals like a toy car. Gets great MPG !!! John has legs of steel.

Moisheh

[kjburns]

If you don't mind going a bit smaller, the Ford Fiesta is towable (except the ST that I have). It's light, inexpensive, well equipped and fun to drive. I bought the ST for the fun to drive factor, but it turned out that model wasn't flat towable so I had to pick up a dolly. About the most you can spend on one is $26k with all the options and no discount. The non-ST flavors are well under $20k. The Focus you mentioned is a bit larger, with some more room, and also a viable choice.

[mowermech]

I don't know of ANY computerized vehicle today that will accumulate towed mile on the odometer, UNLESS the switch is in the ON position. when the switch if OFF, the speedometer/odometer is deactivated, and mileage does not accrue on the odometer.
Even my 2001 Dodge 1500 does not accumulate miles when towed.

[Heisenberg]

I have seen the Mazda Miata convertible behind a couple of coaches.

[dicknellen]

You may get more results on the two cars you are now interested in by starting a new issue with there name in the heading. Getting the hitch worked on sounds like a good idea. Dick

[rockhillmanor]

My first V-10 MH came with a modified hitch to accommodate towing a 4 place horse trailer with dressing room AND be able to haul 4 horses at 1,500 each!! That said it was then technically set up to be able to 'safely' tow more weight that the stock hitch.

BUT, your V-10 still has to be able to haul it up hills.

I bought a used Tracker well under 3,000lbs. And don't let anyone kid you, even at that weight you DO know it's back there when you start climbing the grades.

IMHO I would buy an inexpensive used lite weight vehicle to tow behind the MH. Save your everyday vehicle for just that.

Keep in mind that on MANY of the cars you can't not deactivate the odemeter when towing....... So if you use your nice new 'everyday' ca as a toad, you will rack up more miles than the alloted average per year mileage, making it's value plummet when you go to trade it in.

To make the DW happy there are a lot of used convertible Trackers out there! :C

[susanka]

We're putting a new car as a toad because it will also be my daily driving car. We had hoped to replace our 1990 Toyota basic pickup (no power anything, no AC) with a new truck with automatic that could be my daily driver but cannot find one that's not too heavy. (I'll show DH your comments about the hitch.) We currently have our old pickup and a Toyota Camry Hybrid -- 7 years old -- which we'll sell when we get the new vehicle. Thanks very much for your help.

[mowermech]

Why buy a new vehicle to tow behind a motorhome?
Any Chrysler PT cruiser with manual tranny is towable four down.
ANY PT cruiser can be towed on a dolly, as can any front wheel drive car.
MOST 4X4 Jeep Wranglers can be towed four down.
Personally, I would reinforce the existing hitch, or replace it with a 5000 lb hitch, and go.
In fact, I did it with a Tioga 29 foot Class C. I had a well qualified welder reinforce the hitch, and towed a mildly modified '06 Jeep Rubicon Unlimited over the Continental Divide several times. Nothing bent, nothing broke, nobody died, no problems at all. I never weighed the Jeep, so I have no idea about the numbers.

[susanka]

Well, we've regrouped all right. We're now thinking of a 2014 Chevy Sonic or Ford Focus, with auto trans. Would anyone like to weigh in on the benefits of either of these? We wanted a CRV, but it seems like they're too heavy for our Fleetwood.
Thanks very much.

[dicknellen]

You can always rent a car when you need one. Rental car companies will sometimes deliver them to you location. Before we got our CR-V we rented a car from a Ford dealer. Lots of small towns the car dealers also rent cars.
For a convertible some people tow Chrysler products with AT and installing a lube pump, not sure if under 3500#. Or get a used tow dolly and find something that is front wheel drive and light weight. Dick

[susanka]

It's a 1999 Fleetwood Southwind Storm on a Ford.

[wilanddij]

What year Storm are you driving? What chassis does it have under it?