Right, those cheese-eaters get English pounds and US Pounds confused, (or at least I do, when I hear Top Gear raving about "this 90-thousand-pound supercar goes naught to sixty in three seconds!!" Then they don't know the difference between pounds and kilograms, since tow ratings are usually identical in both units, depending on the nation where
sold. My VW Tiguan is rated for just 2,200 lbs here, but 2,200 kg in Europe. Having just towed with mine over six Colorado passes, I found zero performance problems at that
weight in pounds, so I'd bet that on easy, level terrain, the KG rating would be reasonable.
The thing to remember is that tow ratings aren't set by performance testing or strict engineering formulas. I'd suspect the legal and marketing departments get the final say. Most Europeans seem to want compact tow cars that are city-friendly, and they get that by nudging our tow ratings upwards. Meanwhile, US makers have a glut of profitable heavy-duty SUVs and trucks to sell, so they have reason to trim the ratings, pushing tow customers up-market. Heck, VW probably would have preferred I buy a Toureg for $10,000 more- so they lower the Tiguan's rating to 2,200 lbs. That's 200 lbs less than a Forester with a 4-speed transmission and no turbo, with 70 lbs-ft less torque, and a saggy-butted rear suspension. Figure that out?
Scamp
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