What's Wrong With This Picture: The Great American Towing Conspiracy Lives Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

A recent test by Autobild sought to find the German-market vehicle that could tow the most kilos per euro. Third place (at€13.36 euros per kilo) went to the AWD 1.6 TDI Golf Variant, which is tow-rated at 1.8 tons on the German market (first and second went to the Tiguan and CR-V). Though the American-market Golf TDI has far more power than Autobild’s value-hauler podium finisher, Volkswagen continues to send tow-rating curious Americans messages like this one:

Thank you for visiting the Volkswagen website. We appreciate your


inquiry regarding the capability of using your Volkswagen for towing


purposes.

Volkswagen does not recommend a passenger vehicle be used to tow.

Bastards! Incidentally, this image is from a post on the British Caravan Club’s voting the Golf 2.0 TDI as “Overall Towcar of 2009.”

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Radimus Radimus on Jan 22, 2010

    There is one related point that I don't think any of the commenters have discussed yet: Tongue weight. In the US trailers are designed to put 10-15% of their weight on hitch. IIRC, in Europe the trailers are designed to place far less on the hitch. Hence, when you look up the towing capacity of a VW Passat with the European hitch installed you find a rating of around 4500lbs. However, if you look you'll probably also find that you must limit the tongue weight on the hitch to around 180 lbs. Now, if you use that hitch with US trailers you'll be limited to a trailer of no more than roughly 1000-1500 lbs. Anything heavier than that will load too much weight on the hitch. Dddly enough, that is right around what the max towing capacity is on most US passenger cars. The way I see it, it's not so much that the drivetrains or marketing reasons for the lowered towing capacities of cars in the US. It's seems more because the car bodies are not designed to handle the kind of load US trailers will place on the hitch ball.

    • See 1 previous
    • Radimus Radimus on Jan 22, 2010

      That's a good point, Spike. Most of the issues with FWD towing are fairly easy to mitigate, though. Weight distributing hitches can be used to spread the tongue weight across all of the axles, so long as the trailer's tongue frame can support one. That replaces the weight that would have been pulled off the front tires by the trailer, and adds on some of the tongure weight as well.

  • JMII JMII on Jan 22, 2010

    As someone who tows a bunch (approx. 200 miles a week for the last 10 years) I can offer this info: First off I tow in Florida, its ruler flat but jungle hot. I tow a 16' skiff w/90 HP, I've estimated the rig (boat, engine, fuel, trailer) at 2000lbs but never confirmed, I could be off 500lbs in either direction. I had a Ford Ranger Splash, 4.0l V6, rated at 6,000lbs and it couldn't handle the load. It was always hunting for gears on the slightest slope (highway over-passes) and overheated twice in traffic on me. I switched to a 4.7l V8 Dodge Dakota Quab Cab. The difference was night and day. The longer wheelbase was a huge help as well, it no longer felt like the boat was going to rip the bed off while going over bumps or around turns. I drive at 65mph and get 12 mpg. I think wind resistance is big factor with boats, the shape of the hull is pretty much the worst aerodynamic shape you can have. I can't imagine even attempting to tow my small boat with anything less then a V6 truck or an AWD V6 CUV. No way any FWD vehicle could handle it. Like others said, acceleration is one thing, but stopping and controlling the load in the wind would be a white knuckle adventure. I'd love to try towing with a small AWD TDI wagon, the HP and TQ numbers say it would be similar to the old Ranger's V6, but about the only car-like thing I'd trust is a Dodge Magnum. Now a buddy of mine did tow a very light boat (14' I think) with a Ford Focus hatchback with no problems. However he didn't do it for very long (less then an year) so I have no idea what the long term effects would be.

    • Mikey Mikey on Jan 22, 2010

      Wow, another guy that knows what he is talking about. My buddy has a 16ft with a 70hp.He tried once to pull it up north with his Montana. He told me it took him three beers to settle his nerves when he got to the cottage.The Montana got traded for a used Yukon.

  • Krhodes1 Krhodes1 on Jan 22, 2010

    @JMII & Mikey Have you considered that the issue is that you (or friend) were trying to tow with a crappy vehicle? I mean a Ranger or a Montana, Good God! Comparing my Volvo to my friend's heap of crap Jimmy, the Volvo wieghs nearly as much, had about the same HP and Torque, HUGELY better brakes, HUGELY better suspension, a radiator about half-again as big, a transmission cooler from the factory, and on, and on, and on. Yet that craptastic truck is rated to tow 6000lbs! As I mentioned, my Volvo towed 4000lbs or so more stabily than the Jimmy towed 2000lbs. It certainly would have made short work of towing your boat. I also towed 2500lbs on many occasions with a Saab 9-5 wagon. Never even the slightest drama. In fact one of my Saab Club pals tows a Saab Convertible (on a tow dolly with electric brakes) OH to FL and back every year with a Saab 9-5. Been doing it for many years. Again, never an issue. Go slow, think ahead, and pay attention. You will get there safe and sound.

  • Drgnslayr Drgnslayr on Aug 07, 2014

    I tow a 1500lb trailer with a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with no fuss or drama whatever. 60mph in 4th at 28MPG

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