What Cars Do You Drive?

[Briantb]

I believe it was an Altima. I went in hoping to see the new generation Pathfinder.
In the end we bought a VW wagon and decided to keep our Silverado for towing. At the time we were hoping to get one vehicle for towing and everyday driving and all we would be towing was our 13 Scamp and Little Guy Teardrop. Then..we bought a 17 Casita Spirit Deluxe with the monster tongue weight so we kept the truck.. As well as all the trailers.. Scamp is in storage for winter but hopefully sell it in the spring

[honda03842]

Originally neither Casita or Scamp had break away switches. They are inexpensive and easy to add.

I've looked at trailer accidents a few times and the most common failure is not locking the trailer to the ball. As well travel trailer accidents seem to be a minority of trailer accidents. Improperly, typically un-braked, utility trailers were high on the list.

[cog30]

I use a jeep wrangler with a 6 speed for our 1300 boler, works great we can go anywhere and literally have gone up mountains!! Crawled up washed out roads although our trailer has been a bit modes. Go with jeep

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by MC1

Sounds interesting FK..... can you post some links where such concepts are discussed in more detail?

Just look up any posts with the words CanAm in them. They are a company in Canada that consider mfgs. towing values to be strictly suggestive.

If Ya wanna tow a 25' Airstream with a Smart car I am sure CanAm will build a hitch for you.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

Just look up any posts with the words CanAm in them. They are a company in Canada that consider mfgs. towing values to be strictly suggestive.

If Ya wanna tow a 25' Airstream with a Smart car I am sure CanAm will build a hitch for you.

oh Bob you have the speak down pact! One would think MC1 might have written that himself

[Glenn Baglo]

I've been following these threads for some time.
I still haven't figured out why anyone would invest so much time trying to convince newbies that they should go against all accepted norms for towing a trailer. Go ahead, tow an Airstream with a Prius. What could go wrong?
Maybe they are trying to ensure a vacancies at campsites?

[honda03842]

Time to get back to the thread's purpose.

Danielle, there are many choices in tow vehicles. The tow vehicle will be defined by the characteristics of the trailer you tow and secondarily by the type of travel you do.

Normally one selects the trailer and than selects the tow vehicle. In my case I had the tow vehicle and selected a trailer the vehicle could tow. The more normal method of 'trailer selection followed by tow vehicle' is more appropriate. The range of trailers you are interested in is rather significant 17-22 feet.

As to the mocking of Can-AM RV they are a respected and successful company that publishes a lot of information about towing and tow vehicles. Their web site is well worth reading for information. There are many tips there that apply to any tow vehicle/trailer combination.

Wishing you well in your selection process.

[Steve L.]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

I've been following these threads for some time.
I still haven't figured out why anyone would invest so much time trying to convince newbies that they should go against all accepted norms for towing a trailer. Go ahead, tow an Airstream with a Prius. What could go wrong?
Maybe they are trying to ensure a vacancies at campsites?

I agree. Although I would add; Why would anyone listen to a bunch of strangers on this kind of important topic. Still, it keeps coming up, and up.

[Bob Miller]

“A stranger is just a friend I haven't met yet.” --- Will Rogers


If one can't evaluate information from "strangers", on-line web sites are not a good place to look for same.

But then again, I have been called stranger than most anyway.....

[honda03842]

Steve L.

It is reasonable to seek experience from people who own trailers and tow extensively. Of course all information must be analyzed for value.

[Steve L.]

You know, I just don't think so. One has no sense of the stranger's trailer towing experience (maybe they drive 18 wheelers for a job and towing is second nature to them), their tolerance for risk (maybe they camp alone and have different tolerance for risk than someone towing with children or a loved one), or they tow mostly in the flatlands or are retired and don't tow in bad weather because they have a flexible schedule, and so forth. Have you run across people that talk a good talk but you later discover they're pulling it out of their butt orifice? How do you discover that before it's too late? You might have a good sense of yourself but how are you going to evaluate where the strangers are coming from? This is an important topic but I'd rather solicit opinions from friends with trailers than strangers.

Just me. Carry on. I must be feeling extra grumpy today.

[honda03842]

Sorry Steve, I consider this site to be 'friends with trailers' in practically every case. When I am convinced otherwise I'll be somewhere else.

The mere fact they're here looking for information indicates a consciousness.

Unfortunately some of the very best and most knowledgeable have been chased from the site by the negative attitudes of a few. Lucky for me they keep in touch to help me, and probably others, with problems on a private level.

[blodn1]

Thanks Norm and Ginny - I hope I'm a friend looking for a trailer and looking for helpful information about everything!

PS - This post got me into being a member - I'd like the list of perks, please-)

[Carol H]

I personally hope that people have the good sense to seriously evaluate the value of all the comments as a whole made. Keeping in mind that most people form their opinions based on their actual experiences. It may be that some people simple have not shared the same not so good experiences yet and with a little luck never will.

For example I would give a good deal of thought to why you have two groups of people telling you two different things.

It would sure give me pause if lets say 20 people who may accumulatively have 200 years or far more total towing years experience & collectively have many towing miles where to suggest something different to me than a group of a few people who may have less than 20 years total towing experience and collectively far few miles towed.

One needs also to keep in mind that its also a good bet that some of the large collective group have towed with a number of different set ups over the years. Some such as myself may have also towed at one time or another a trailer and tug combo that the trailer was only slightly under or over the towing capacity of the tug. They are as a result making their recommendations based on actual experience having been there done that and are not simple speculating as to what the difference in the towing experience may or may not be in regards to the size and power of the tow vehicle.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Unfortunately some of the very best and most knowledgeable have been chased from the site by the negative attitudes of a few. Lucky for me they keep in touch to help me, and probably others, with problems on a private level.

We're all familiar with this practice, wherein Vast Stores of Superior Knowledge are conveyed via the site's private message system, most often to unsuspecting newbies to the site. In the purest of cases, these communications come from under the bridge where all Trolls live, invisible to the public eye but nevertheless remaining very active members.

But to say that its practitioner(s?) has/have been "chased from the site" is incorrect in the extreme. Refusal to post publicly bespeaks only an unwillingness to expose one's assertions to potential disagreement or even, Heaven forbid, correction.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

We're all familiar with this practice, wherein Vast Stores of Superior Knowledge are conveyed via the site's private message system, most often to unsuspecting newbies to the site. I

LOL all to familiar with that practise. My favourites are when they start out with "I am sending this privately as it may get a few hackles up or generate discord on the forum" or something along those lines. Really? then why send it to me privately? If you have advise to give that you don't feel is appropriate for general public consumption & are not wiling to have it put to public scrutiny then why would anyone feel it OK to send privately to someone you know little of? A bit of puzzler for sure.

Happy to say the frequency of receiving such PM's has dropped off dramatically in recent months or perhaps my frequent response that they post their opinion publicly actually works.

[honda03842]

I for one have shared every bad experience I have had towing, almost immediately after having them, now 3 and counting. I recognize that by sharing a bad experience one might help another avoid a bad experience.

When my frame cracked I learned of other's frame failures. While fixing my frame fractures I was able to strengthen the places others had fractures.

To me it's important to share the good and the bad. Thankfully the good well out weighs the bad.

A number of people replied privately to me. I appreciated that they read my posts and had concern for our situation. They were 'spot on' people concerned about technical solution.

I do understand some people's leaving this or any site. The vast majority of members are simply great, not so for all, and not a surprise considering their are 20,000 members.

Often one gets weary, I have had the feeling on a number of occasions. The saving grace is our fiberglass trailer and our travels. We love our Scamp. Meeting the couple at Walmarts with their Scamp 13 today revealed another couple delighted with each other and their Scamp 13, mostly life is great.

Safe Travels,

[Danielle8068]

I am sorry for not replying sooner. I accept advise from strangers in bulk because 1, i belive that in general, people are indeed good and that in a larger forum like this one, i trust the more knowledgable to criticize ideas that seem out of sorts with facts ect and 2 because i can ask peole who are tring to tow trailers or i can ask dealers and you guys have.nothing to gain from telling me misinformation.

I do appriciate all the input and i will spend more time culling through it but i am helping put my grandmother to rest after a very hard week so itm ay be a couple more days.

Once again, thank you for those who answeted and who pmed me. I will follow through better when I have my computer to work on and not just aphone .

[Rick Mooyman]

Simple answer to your question. I drive at 2013 Ford Escape SE AWD 2.0 turbo with tow package capable of 3500# and tow a highly customised 1971 13' Boler.

[giro53]

Don't overlook the older Jeep Cherokee Diesel manufactured 2006 to 2008. We pull a 21 ft Bigfoot with our 2008 and so far could not be happier. Rated towing capacity is 7400 lbs and we are towing aprox 5000 lbs. Only have 50,000 miles on ours but so far no problems.