what to tow a Snoozy or Eggcamper with?

[Lisa J]

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading this forum for awhile and trying to research which trailer to get. The towing thing is complicated so I thought I'd just ask. We would need to buy a vehicle too (the cars we now own are too small to tow anything). We do know we want to have one of the smaller trailers since we don't want to drive a big truck or SUV. But my husband is tall at 6'3", and there being 2 of us we think the 13' trailers might be too small. We'd really like a Suburu Outback, which is rating at 3000 lbs towing, or a Volvo, rated at 3300. Is it possible to pull an Eggcamper or Lil Snoozy with these? Both are around 2000 lbs dry weight. I know some people on the forum pull 13' trailers with these cars. But not any larger trailers than that, I don't think. Or would we need a car rated at 3500 lbs? The Toyota Venza looks OK, is rather car-like and is rated at 3500.
Thanks for any help.

[Roger C H]

When looking at a car, ask to see the owner's manual. If it says it will tow the expected weight of the trailer you want, it should be okay. More than likely it will require electric brakes, etc.

There have been several threads on towing and weight, etc in this blog.

[mcbrew]

Just curious... What cars do you currently drive?

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Lisa J

Or would we need a car rated at 3500 lbs? The Toyota Venza looks OK, is rather car-like and is rated at 3500.

My $0.02

I would go for the design you like that gives you the highest towing capacity. The other choices could possible do the job, but their margin of safety is thin for anything bigger that a 13' trailer. I speak from experience, because experience is what you are left with when you make big mistakes. Fortunately the only damage my mistakes made were to my wallet.

I think the Lil' Snoozy and the Toyota Venza would make a stylish combination.

[Ron F]

Lisa,
I've towed our EggCamper with a 2002 Toyota Sienna, a 2010 Toyota 4Runner, and now with a 2011 Toyota Sienna. Although the EggCamper has a dry weight of 2K, I wouldn't tow with less than 3500# capacity in the tug.

You'd be surprised how quickly you can add weight with things that you pack for a trip.

The 4Runner towing capacity is 5000# with a 4.0L, V6. Both Siennas have a 3500# tow capacity. The 2002 had a 3.0L V6 and the 2011 has a 3.5L V6. All three towed the EggCamper well, however the minivans provided more space and better access to cargo than the SUV. Also, our aging dog had great difficulty getting in and out of the SUV. I also feel that the longer wheel base in the Sienna helped with handling.

Also, we love our EggCamper. It's very spacious for a lightweight camper.

Ron

[cpaharley2008]

I just went thru this issue recently. I loved the Subaru Outback but the tonge weight capacity of all Subaru's is only 200 lbs. The Toyota's were hard to find with factory tow package, something you want with aux trans cooling and the hitch with wiring already installed. All the vehicles were in the low $20's.
Finally I found a small suv, 4 wheel drive with 500# tongue weight and 5000 lbs capacity with factory tow, a Jeep Liberty which can be had in the low $20's. This will easily tow your Egg or Scamp, it does mine. I get 15 mpg towing.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

I just went thru this issue recently. I loved the Subaru Outback but the tonge weight capacity of all Subaru's is only 200 lbs. The Toyota's were hard to find with factory tow package, something you want with aux trans cooling and the hitch with wiring already installed. All the vehicles were in the low $20's.
Finally I found a small suv, 4 wheel drive with 500# tongue weight and 5000 lbs capacity with factory tow, a Jeep Liberty which can be had in the low $20's. This will easily tow your Egg or Scamp, it does mine. I get 15 mpg towing.

Hi, Jim

Sorry if I've mixed you up with someone else , but...
I thought you've been towing a 16' Scamp with a 4-cyl. Honda CRV???

Francesca

[Greg H]

A truck,that's all you need to know.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Hi, Jim

Sorry if I've mixed you up with someone else , but...
I thought you've been towing a 16' Scamp with a 4-cyl. Honda CRV???

Francesca

I'm the one towing a Scamp 16 with a 4 cylinder 2004 Honda CRV getting 23 mpg.

Norm

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I'm the one towing a Scamp 16 with a 4 cylinder 2004 Honda CRV getting 23 mpg.

Norm

Thanks, Norm...
I guess the numbers in your guys' avatars mixed me up...

Sorry about the brain freeze, Jim

Francesca

[Lisa J]

Thanks everyone for all your kind replies. Jesse, we are currently driving an Accord and a Corolla, probably both rated for 1000 lbs. (but towing not recommended). We got the egg TT bug a couple years after buying those. We knew we wanted to downsize in retirement, and were thinking about the Tumbleweed Tiny House idea for awhile, til we realized we wanted to travel a bit and knew a trailer would be a better idea. We are drawn to the eggs because of how leak-resistant they are compared to regular trailers.
I guess my Suburu fantasies need to stop (unless we can squeeze hubby into a Trillium, which probably won't happen. We live in CA, so should go look just in case). The Snoozy is top of our list now, so I'll take a look at the Venza and see what I think. I do want to tow safely.
I know Consumer Reports didn't recommend a lot of the Toyotas this year because of all the recalls. I'll try to sneak my boss's copy at work tomorrow and see what it says about the Venza. The Rav4 is sort of OK looking, but looks more like an SUV than the Venza.

[Mike Magee]

Toyotas are nevertheless very solidly made IMO. I haven't needed anything but fluids and filters, and my '08 Highlander is at 85,000 miles.

It's all too easy to load up a trailer and raise the tongue weight beyond what was expected. I'm happy to have a 5000 tow/500 tongue wt limit on my hitch. Despite the heavier suspension, the Highlander rides very carlike.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by Lisa J

Thanks everyone for all your kind replies. Jesse, we are currently driving an Accord and a Corolla, probably both rated for 1000 lbs. (but towing not recommended).

I would consider either of those to be good tow vehicles for a 13' Scamp. My car, a Scion xD, is basically a smaller version of the Corolla. It has the same 1.8 liter engine, and is rated by the manufacturer (Toyota) to to PA 1,600 pounds. Our scamp, even loaded for camping, weighs less than that. It tows beautifully and gets about 23-24 MPG doing so.

Your Accord, if it is a recent model, has even more power, and probably a higher rating. My father in law has a 1990 Accord with a 2,500 lb hitch on it. He doesn't tow more than a little cargo trailer, though.

You can pretty much ignore most US towing specs for foreign cars. The manufacturer does testing and comes up with a rating. Ironically, a lot of the towing testing on euro and Japanese cars is done in the US! In most foreign markets, people want to tow within car, not a truck. In the US, trucks and SUVs are FAR more profitable, so they lower (or completely drop) the tow rating on cars.

[Ray N]

We towed our EggCamper for two years with our little S-10 pickup which had a tow rating of 5600 pounds, (it had the big V-6). It did fine as long as the hills were only moderately steep, but couldn't keep up with the traffic on steeper hills. I can't stand to block traffic, (although I won't go faster than the 65mph speed rating of the camper tires). Also, since the S-10 only had a four-speed transmission, down-shifting made it really roar and cut into the gas mileage. Anyway, since the S-10 was getting a bit old, I decided to upgrade to a more powerful truck, a Tundra with the new 4.6 L engine with a tow package. It was a great decision, the six-speed transmission does have to down-shift but the extra noise of going from sixth to fifth, or even to fourth, is hardly noticeable, and the towing gas mileage is about the same as with the S-10; plus, the big Tundra is much more comfortable for long trips. Long story short, unless you don't mind having a string of cars behind you on hills, don't skimp on the tow rating.

Please do check with Consumer Reports (etc.), about the average repair record and recommendations for any vehicle you are thinking about purchasing. Their annual "Ratings and Pricing Guide" is only a few bucks, but is well worth it. I am constantly seeing people on this forum recommending tow vehicles that Consumer Reports rates as "much worse than average" repair record, or otherwise "not recommended." I know they aren't perfect, but are a good place with which to balance anecdotal recommendations.

And one more thing, at long last tow ratings are finally starting to become standardized! Some vehicles, (such as our 2011 Tundra), have already started to use the new standard when reporting tow ratings. http://www.automobilemag.com/feature...est/index.html

Oh, we also love our EggCamper. When we attended a fiberglass rally last year, the first thing almost everyone said upon entering our egg was "it's so spacious in here," or something similar. One person said "it's so roomy you could dance in here." Well, maybe not quite, but I'm 6' 4" and love not having to stoop over or dodge low-hanging obstacles. Oh, and I don't think Consumer Reports is recommending avoiding any Toyotas anymore because of the recalls, that problem seems to be long over.