Why doesn't anyone tow with a car?

[Bryan1257]

I drive an 18 wheeler for a livin and when I see people pullin medium to large boats and rv trailers, I get nervous!!! I have personally been pushed thru an intersection in my z71 with my old 22ft.pachanga and I anticipated the light change. I seen the result of inadequate vehicles towin trailers out of their league. Great towin capacity but can`t STOP!

I know the post is old but that is a scary thought towin in a car, not a truck that has mostly all the necesary tools to tow and pull and STOP!

[jhwh]

the V70R is rated 4000lbs here bearclaw, in germany and sweden its rated aprox 4600lbs since they dont have as many hills as us.

speaking of overkill, I towed jetskies yesterday, with a Q7, rated at 7716lbs.

btw norway + sea + jetski + 27th september is not a good idea. almost a meter waves in a small fjord, and ofcourse the damn thing died and I spent ages getting towed back.

[jacklake2003]

I think towing with cars is fine, if your respect the fact that that they cann't stop as well as a truck made for towing. Driving styles must reflect this, or you will get hurt! I think the original post was perhaps pointing out that a lot of people by this very expensive vehicle (truck) just for towing. It works great for the 1 day a month they tow the boat, but the other 29 days a month you have a vehicle that is not fully utilized. I have a truck (Ranger 4x4) but a car is usually better for the purpose of transporting people, is much more efficent, and drives better.

I believe a lot of it is due to the American culture of exploration, adventure and readiness. Like me, I don't need a 4x4 in Atlanta, but that one time a year I'm in a rain soaked grass field, it feels good to push the 4wd button and know I won't get stuck.

I think the European idea is to be a bit more practical and not drive a 2500HD everyday to work just to pull the jet skis on the weekend. But, we are a little more adventursome people and tend to use trucks for other things besides towing. Also, the type of person that buys a boat tends to be a little more of a "hands-on" type of person and can truly get more use out of a truck. Also, Americans tend to have a little more disposable income resulting in having more "toys".

So to answer the original question, I think it's a little bit of both.... Most people towing with trucks use their trucks for other things, but at the same time, maybe we get a little carried away and sometimes buy a little more truck than is necessary.

Chris

[sho305]

Who dug this thread up I've been able to leave my boat at the lake lately, but I still use the truck to get stuff like lumber and appliances and I plow snow with it. I thought about selling the diesel, but in reality if I replaced it with say a smaller F150 that could still plow and haul...what would I gain? I'd get near the same mpg with half the truck. Now if I need to pull a car on a trailer or something heavy its no big deal. Thing is my inlaw keeps getting 20mph with his 4x4 crewcab diesel, that is near the same as many smaller AWD suv/wagons. Fuel is still a little more, but hard to turn that down if you need a larger vehicle and don't put that many miles on. Just the same I'd still rather have something smaller to drive daily with.

[jhwh]

20mpg aint all bad.

just got my new toyota landcruiser diesel here, it does 26mpg mixed 33 highway or something and 20 for in town driving. my 2004 dodge 2500 hemi ram used over twice that ammount. but it was much cooler, I must admit.

[Riverman]

Towing with a car is fine, provided you tow with a REAL car - V8, full frame and rear wheel drive. The Panther has plenty of pep, is very stable and has GREAT brakes. Can't beat 'em!

[delawarerick]

Towing with a car is fine, provided you tow with a REAL car - V8, full frame and rear wheel drive. The Panther has plenty of pep, is very stable and has GREAT brakes. Can't beat 'em!

My crown vic is heavy has all wheel disc brakes and enough power to get out of the way. It is hard to beat a truck I miss my c-10 1985 long bed chevy truck with a 5.0 4 barrel carb and about a 400 rear. In city 10 mpg on road over 55 6mpg. But I could launch & pull a cruse ship. I have never liked a small size truck if you own a home it makes trips to lowes easy. Rick

[Riverman]

I tow and launch my boat locally using my truck, a 98 Chev 3/4 ton. Of course it's better than the car but on a 12 hour trip with the boat (I did 2 this year) you can't beat the car. Much more comfy and far easier on gas.

[bearclaw]

the V70R is rated 4000lbs here bearclaw, in germany and sweden its rated aprox 4600lbs since they dont have as many hills as us
...

It's 3300 with trailer brakes on the US models, 1600 without.

I think wagons will have a renaissance in this country, along with the crossovers that everybody's making now, like the XC60.
They do a lot of things well and make sense as gas inevitably goes higher.

[sho305]

Hey I forgot, we fixed up the ramp at my lake and I used my golf cart all summer to launch/pull the boat. The big 16 bayliner The cart takes 10 gallons all summer and the boat takes 5 gallons an hour or something like that. Only 85hp seems to make me hold the throttle down more, and you all know about those modern efficient design Force outboards.

[bearclaw]

Hey I forgot, we fixed up the ramp at my lake and I used my golf cart all summer to launch/pull the boat. The big 16 bayliner The cart takes 10 gallons all summer and the boat takes 5 gallons an hour or something like that. Only 85hp seems to make me hold the throttle down more, and you all know about those modern efficient design Force outboards.

At the marina I worked at during high school, we had a golf cart as a yard car. Amazing what they will tow. We just kept a couple spare drive belts on hand. We also disabled the governor on it and had "sidecar-style" races around the island with it. It had chrome kneebars on it that you could grab and lean wayyyy out on the turns, til your shoulder almost touched the gravel. While we were supposed to be out servicing boats in the slips, of course. God I loved that thing. And that job. <sigh>

[Brian38]

Can anyone explain to me what a car is?Not sure if I've ever seen one?Wouldn't it be cool to see a guy pulling a 28' skater with a VW Bug?

[typhoon]

Of course you can't tow a large boat with a small car, I don't think that is what the whole thread was about.
We see a lot of guys over here that "must have" a large diesel light truck to tow with, even though the trailer is only 1200kgs (2600lbs).
Frankly, really big boats on trailers (and large trailers in general) is predominantly a US only thing, over here, an 18ft boat is a fairly large trailer boat, but we do tend to have lots of half cabin boats as well, which can be fairly heavy for their size. Anything larger and they're usually behind an F250 or similar, although Toyota Landcruisers are extremely popular here for towing large trailers.
I don't buy the "needing" a truck to tow smaller trailers, a modern car can outbrake and corner any truck out there, which means controlling a trailer better. I've owned an F150 and didn't see any real advantages to towing with it, apart from a nice low first gear in the manual gearbox.
As for modern cars not being rated to tow, well, they are in the rest of the world. Our Mitsubishi Magna (Diamante to you US guys) is good for 1600 kgs (3500 lbs) and Mitsubishi has a hitch available for that weight, so they are serious about it! It has the brakes to deal with the trailer and 170Kw (230hp) all of which is midrange torque. It tows easily up to it's rated weight. And with traction control and stability control, it is not an issue. As for reliability, our last two Mitsubishis went to 300k kms (200k miles) when we sold them off, purely for the desire for a newer car.....no mechanical issues at all.
My 2.3 litre turbo Volvo is rated for 2300kgs (5000lbs) and with the massive brakes on it, I don't even think about not towing with it. I wouldn't tow a trailer that heavy with it though, it just doesn't have enough grunt, but again, 1500 kgs(3500 lbs) is easy.
I've never had any properly loaded and well maintained trailer try to push any vehicle I have been towing with around.
I'm not bashing anyone with a truck, if you need one to tow a larger boat, you need one. I am just saying a car will tow just fine if you respect the limitations. To say they won't is simply untrue.

Regards, Andrew.

[RotorRider]

Yep, good analysis, Andrew. Everybody will have an opinion based on their own experience and need. One answer will not fit all. But a lot of good discussion will help anyone narrow down what they need.....to bad you can't demo each option for a while to get the best match. !!

[typhoon]

Yep, good analysis, Andrew. Everybody will have an opinion based on their own experience and need. One answer will not fit all. But a lot of good discussion will help anyone narrow down what they need.....to bad you can't demo each option for a while to get the best match. !!

True..Imagine turning up at a dealership with say a 30ft Scarab with bigblocks and asking if you could take their truck on a 4 hour trip, just to see how she goes?!
Unfortunately, you often don't get the whole truth from people when you ask how something tow, pride of ownership and justifying the purchase tend to narrow one's perceptions and ignore some deficiencies.

Regards, Andrew.