Towing With A Grand Prix????

[Just In Time]

I Just Put A Class Ii Hitch On My 3.8 V6 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, And Was Wondering If I Could Pull My 18' Talon With It. The Owners Manual Says, Max 1000lbs. I Think I Way A Little More, But We Have No Hills In Miami. Any Help In This Matter Would Be Greatly Appreciated.

[Mercury Powered Challenge]

You might can tow it..........but can you stop it?? I'd say if you were going to stay local, like real local you might be OK, but I wouldn't go much over the mfg suggested tow rating. Best thing to do is have the boat and trailer weighed at a scale and decide from there. There is also other stuff to factor in like the cooling sysytem on your vehicle, you might want to add a tranny cooler, not to expensive and a life saver for a tranny.

[Rusrog]

I Just Put A Class Ii Hitch On My 3.8 V6 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, And Was Wondering If I Could Pull My 18' Talon With It. The Owners Manual Says, Max 1000lbs. I Think I Way A Little More, But We Have No Hills In Miami. Any Help In This Matter Would Be Greatly Appreciated.

I guess you could... But why would you? It's a waste of a transmission and it's front wheel drive so it'll have trouble if the ramp is not ideal.

It's your car...

[rossi]

Tow rating on a vehicle is not a classification of what it can actually tow but rather what it can actually stop. More than likely your GP can tow that 1000lbs but it may not be able to stop it to well and like already mentioned, your cooling system might not be to happy..try it and see.

A guy who bought my Hydrostream Ventura towed it from where I live in Jersey to Tennesee. He did it with a Grand AM which you know is lesser than the Grand Prix and he had no problems at all and said it towed real well, and it took him like 10 hrs of straight driving to get home because of all the miles, not because of the car. I was impressed ! I've seen people tow boats like yours with alot less car than you have.

[rocket1]

I have been towing my boats for years with GM cars. Currently have a allison grandsport with a single axle, tow it with a Buick park avenue no problems at all. No problems at the ramps, have not had to replace a transmission. I will tow it though the mountains. I guess it weighs 1700 pounds. Just my two cents.

[JWTjr.]

All the above answers added together are correct, more or less. First, your car is meant first and foremost to carry passengers and gear; the tow rating is not first in the manufacturers' minds when they design and build passenger cars. Second, the rating is influenced by many factors, not just braking and transmission limitations (although those are two of the main factors). Frame/unit body durability, transmission, radiator, brakes, and vehicle wiring/lighting are all factors. Adding a transmission cooler will help more than you can imagine; it's a good $125 insurance policy. Not following anyone too close is another. Retrieving at steep/wet launch ramps may prove to be a bigger problem than you might have thought.

One more thing...just because the hitch is rated a Class I (2000 lbs. GTW/200 lbs. TW) doesn't mean you/your car should tow 2000 lbs.

JT

[stevek]

Buy a tow pig.

[flabum1017]

Buy a tow pig.


I agree....for 500 - 1000 you can pick up a POS blazer or van that can handle the boat, even any big v-8 RWD car.

[Bogman]

I've been towing my LTV around for years with my Grandprix seems to work fine. I agree its not ideal but if thats what you have.....

Dan

[Markus]

My guess is that US tow ratings are artificially low to make sure people buy trucks.

We used to tow with a 1990 Golf II with a 1.8 l inline 4-cyl engine and a 3 speed automatic transmission. It had a tow rating of around 1000 kg.

There are some differences, though: Max speed when towing is 80 km/h, trailers have to go through semi-annual safety inspections, etc.

[sho305]

You should be able to but I'd put on a trans cooler for sure on any car I towed with. Ramps can be a problem, depends on how crappy the ramps you use are but larger V6 cars are pretty good at it...smaller V6 not as nice. Check your braking, be aware with any vehicle how it reacts loaded, they will not stop good with more weight even trucks. Though my 3/4 ton tends to not notice small trailers like a car or small truck would. Also consider water wetter for coolant and maybe a good synthetic trans lube or additive. I use slick50 additive and it seems to help it shift harder, that means less heat. It really shifts hard in the winter for a mile or so with the cooler. If you tow a lot, then I'd recommend you get a vehicle more designed to do that....if you take the boat out once every week or two or go short distance to water I'd not worry as much long as its safe/etc and under 2K lb is pretty light to tow. Towing is all about being careful, aware, having your equipment up to the task, and lots of common sense.

IMO they inflate max ratings on trucks these days. I've towed 10,000lb with a 3/4 ton HD diesel and its a lot of weight.

[Davey W]

I Just Put A Class Ii Hitch On My 3.8 V6 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, And Was Wondering If I Could Pull My 18' Talon With It. The Owners Manual Says, Max 1000lbs. I Think I Way A Little More, But We Have No Hills In Miami. Any Help In This Matter Would Be Greatly Appreciated.I tow my euro with a with a 2000 grand prix GT,no problem,been everywere,added a tow and go kit,cooler ,havey duty brakes,its perfect,i think the GTs handle a little more,Dave

[Hydro-Peep]

Ive towed a Hydrostream Valero from Michigan to the rumble (Kentucky) with a 1994 Pontiac Bonneville. Same motor and sorta the same car (pretty close). It chugged through the mountains but did way better than i thought it would.
A tranny cooler and tranny fluid temp gauge would be a wonderful idea.
Just my 2 cents

[j_martin]

I tow my bass bote with a Caravan. It's a little bigger than a car, and I get a little heat about the soccer mom van, but the other day, a steep concrete ramp I frequent was wet, so it scratched a little pulling the boat out. Someone there with a RWD pickup gave me a tough time, then went to get his boat. 3 of us had to jump into the back of the pickup so he had enough traction to get up the ramp. He proferred that maybe he should get a soccer van to pull his bote. If I have to keep using it, I think I'm going to put electric brakes on the boat trailer just for safety.

The guys are right, though. If you pull it around just local, city speeds, short trips, you'll probably be OK, but if you try to do much highway pulling, especially in the heat, you're asking for trouble. Stopping without trailer brakes is poor, and dangerous.

One sleeper of an all around vehicle is the Chevy Astro van series. They're basically half ton trucks, RWD or 4WD, usually have a pretty strong 4.3 liter V6 in them. They get around 20 mpg and can pull well. You can lock up your gear in the van, carry the kids to soccer, and pull the boat cross country if you wish.

[Matt Gent]

I would check your overall rig weight at a truck scale. If you have a heavy steel trailer it might be too much. If you are ~2000lbs or under it will tow fine. Add a tranny cooler, and don't tailgate anyone.

I have towed many boats with small sedans, even 4cyl (manual trans), and never had any trouble. Tow ratings are very conservative, and there is little to no science behind them (at least for passenger vehicles).

FWD is great at the ramp, keeps your tires up in the dry area. And the weight of the motor is up over the tires too.

[sho305]

lol, In the mid 80s the family was working on a cottage about two hours away. Had a Horizon with a 1.7L that must have been 75hp or so with a 4 speed. Hooked a 2 place sled trailer to it every weekend and loaded $100 of lumber or drywall/etc on it and went. I had to sit in the back seat to hold the car down better so the trailer didn't push it around as much:) We only ran two lanes and not fast....pretty weak but did the job and got 30mpg minimum doing it. Three people and all their stuff plus food, tools, and whatever in the car....car was full. I had a couple of those Omnis for beaters, now that was a great pos car it could do it all and easy to fix. A little small for boats...but I did pull my 19' V8 I/O with a 2.3L I4 ranger a few times, it worked hard but did the job as well as my V6 ranger did and on less gas.