Towing - How

[archerm3]

Its funny to see tow ratings, a VW TDI Passat has something like 3 x the tow rating in europe than it does in North America, same car. They have their ratings based on maximum grade for decent with braked and unbraked trailers.

+1.

same deal with Landcruisers, Land Rovers, and Toyota pickups.

I also love it when a vehicle is imported here, and the original tow rating in Kilograms is converted to lbs using the same numerical value, they just change the unit symbol, and the resultant tow rating is cut by 2.2.

We don't have any autobahns over here, yet everyone feels the need to win stoplight drags and not have to downshift out of 5th on a steep incline to feel that they are in a "safe" tow vehicle here in the U.S., lately.

instability is a factor of proper loading profile, and brakes are no big deal if you put proper brakes on your trailer.

I still wish the OEMs would market an affordable truck with a small diesel or V6 that could tow 7-8K with good brakes but didnt need to accelerate 0-60 the same as a Mustang. I don't mind getting up to speed IOT save money on fuel expenditures during daily driving activities.

 

[archerm3]

Yes... and many of the small Diesels have a surprising amount of torque.

A friend bought a new BMW 325it wagon and went to BMW to get a factory hitch for a singe jet ski... he was told by BMW it would void his warranty as the vehicle has no tow rating...

Funny thing is he bought the car European Delivery and just about every 325it he saw in Germany had a factory BMW hitch... he bought one in Germany and installed it when the car was state side.

He never had any problems... and if he did, he was ready to say how can BMW not warrant OEM???

you sure it was a 325iT?? Never heard of such thing, but a 325ix wagon is the all wheel drive version, and yes it isn't supposed to tow as the viscous coupling providing the AWD is rather fragile.

 

[ultrarunner]

you sure it was a 325iT?? Never heard of such thing, but a 325ix wagon is the all wheel drive version, and yes it isn't supposed to tow as the viscous coupling providing the AWD is rather fragile.

Yep... it's the 2 wheel drive with automatic... 325iT

Model year 2002... was told the T is for Touring?

 

[brokenot]

I still wish the OEMs would market an affordable truck with a small diesel or V6 that could tow 7-8K with good brakes but didnt need to accelerate 0-60 the same as a Mustang.

They might someday, but only if we'll buy it.

When we point out examples of vehicles that exist elsewhere in the world that we'd perhaps like to see here, we often forget that the fuel that we feel is expensive here is much more expensive over there....and has been forever. (Geeze, when I spent two weeks tooling around Germany and France 10 years ago in my rental Mercedes sedan, I was paying upwards of $4 a gallon for gas.) I really wonder what the rest of the world thinks when they see the enormous vehicles we tool around in while we complain about our relatively inexpensive fuel.

We seem to think that 300-400 hp and 500-700 ft. lbs. of torque is "just getting by" for the work we really need to get done.

And it ain't.

 

[Renze]

When we point out examples of vehicles that exist elsewhere in the world that we'd perhaps like to see here, we often forget that the fuel that we feel is expensive here is much more expensive over there....and has been forever. (Geeze, when I spent two weeks tooling around Germany and France 10 years ago in my rental Mercedes sedan, I was paying upwards of $4 a gallon for gas.) I really wonder what the rest of the world thinks when they see the enormous vehicles we tool around in while we complain about our relatively inexpensive fuel.

We seem to think that 300-400 hp and 500-700 ft. lbs. of torque is "just getting by" for the work we really need to get done.

And it ain't.

Yup, thats pretty much how it seems, from this side of the big pond...
Big rigs run around 400 to 600 hp running gross weights of 50 ton. You guys think you need 400 hp to pull 12, but your 400hp rigs aint got air brakes ???

My brothers "new" van, a Merc Vito 109, 100.000km bought last week, officially puts out about 90hp from a 2.2 liter four. Its got a six speed, 1st gear you dont need when empty. When you drive away, it takes under a second from 1000rpm to hear -pffwoshhh- and it takes off ! IT has the same low end torque as the 115 with 150hp, just not the top end power.
He tried a drag race against another car with horse trailer at the traffic lights, and he won, with 2 horses in it.

People that are too lazy to shift down to 5th on an incline or at strong winds, should drive an auto, like all elderly people.

 

[brokenot]

I took lots of photos when I was over there, and my wife thought much of what I found intriguing was funny. In the little town in Germany we stayed in a lot of the time, I couldn't get over the number of back alleys and side lots I saw with small utility trailers. The owners had small, (by our standards), sedans equipped with light-duty trailer hitches. So what they had, were practical cars equipped to haul on occasion. Over here, we "need" vehicles that are capable of hauling all the time....even if that duty capability is only utilized occasionally.

This isn't meant to knock anyone's personal vehicle choice as much as it's intended to illustrate differences in perspective. We can't sit and wonder why we're being spoon-fed product types from a manufacturer, if it's what we ask for.

 

[ultrarunner]

I took lots of photos when I was over there, and my wife thought much of what I found intriguing was funny. In the little town in Germany we stayed in a lot of the time, I couldn't get over the number of back alleys and side lots I saw with small utility trailers. The owners had small, (by our standards), sedans equipped with light-duty trailer hitches. So what they had, were practical cars equipped to haul on occasion. Over here, we "need" vehicles that are capable of hauling all the time....even if that duty capability is only utilized occasionally.

This isn't meant to knock anyone's personal vehicle choice as much as it's intended to illustrate differences in perspective. We can't sit and wonder why we're being spoon-fed product types from a manufacturer, if it's what we ask for.

Stayed at a family friends cabin recently... Her father built the entire cabin, very nice, by the way... hauling all the materials with a home made box trailer behind his the 1970 Plymouth Valiant with a 6.

I have always been able to haul more with my trailers than with my trucks... and they are so much easier to load and unload.

 

[herringchoker]

When I was growing up, my father had a 1961 Envoy (made in England by Vauxhall Motors and imported by GM Canada, 4-door sedan, 4 cylinder, about 50 HP, 3 on the tree) that we regularly hauled 1 ton of baled hay with on a home made trailer with an old Vauxhall rear end. It was only a 3 mile haul over gravel and paved roads (often icy). The only problem we ever had was the time the hay shifted backwards on the trailer and lifted the rear drive wheels on the car. That car and trailer hauled everything we needed to move.
Those were the days!

 

[Renze]

This isn't meant to knock anyone's personal vehicle choice as much as it's intended to illustrate differences in perspective. We can't sit and wonder why we're being spoon-fed product types from a manufacturer, if it's what we ask for.

The ugly thing about it, is that we in Europe pay twice as much for gas because the government wants to discourage thirsty vehicles, to save on our natural resources, we might run out within 20 years.
You guys, have vehicles that burn twice as much gas, pay half the price, and complain just as loud, while YOU guys are wasting the natural resources WE are paying 60% excise for !!

 

[brokenot]

You guys, have vehicles that burn twice as much gas, pay half the price, and complain just as loud

Yup.

The "funny" part of it all, is that for whatever reason lots of people here feel we're *entitled* to an endless supply of cheap fuel somehow. To further add insult to injury, we then point and giggle at things like vehicles used in other countries for towing/hauling.

I don't think attitudes would change on a large scale unless the "point and gigglers" here were exposed to the same realities faced elsewhere in the world.