Looking to Hit the Road!

[fridaynext]

Originally Posted by MC1

Casey... I am a big fan of performance (braking and handling especially).

Audi SUV
VW T-Reg
Porsche Cayanne
BMW X5
Infiniti FX35 or FX45


Guess these are my top 5 preferences but realize they are over kill for a small glass egg. On other forums these vehicles are towing 25 to 30'+ trailers.

For a glass egg there are very few vehicles that can not tow one safely.

On Edit.... Some Mini Vans too are all around versatile and great tow vehicles. Don't be mislead by their modest tow rating.

LoL, now I'm super confused. Which vehicles make terrible tow vehicles?

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by fridaynext

LoL, now I'm super confused. Which vehicles make terrible tow vehicles?

LOL... Unreliable ones... like Audis, VWs, and BMWs, at least after they're out of warranty. I'd rather spend my money traveling.

[fridaynext]

Originally Posted by MC1

There are a few over rated tow vehicles out there with high tow rating that make for a lousy tow vehicle. Do your research or you could end up with something less capable than the Golf.

There was a guy on another forum that had a perfectly good tow vehicle but got talked into "upgrading" not only once but twice, and still ended up with a tow vehicle that was inferior to his original TV. That exercise was about a $40,000 learning experience.

Originally Posted by MC1

For a glass egg there are very few vehicles that can not tow one safely.

On Edit.... Some Mini Vans too are all around versatile and great tow vehicles. Don't be mislead by their modest tow rating.

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

LOL... Unreliable ones... like Audis, VWs, and BMWs, at least after they're out of warranty. I'd rather spend my money traveling.

See, here's a perfect example of how this forum is coming across as completely unhelpful to me. The first two comments contradict themselves, and then the third comment comes in just to attack the second.

If I've learned anything at this forum, it's that I should pull enormous weight with my Golf TDI, because everyone is wrong!



Thanks everyone for the entertaining stay here.

[Bob Miller]

It's really very easy to filter comments. Consider the sources. One member has no experience with FGRV's and touts re-engineering vehicles to tow anything they want, hence the code words "Properly set up".


And never forget, free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it..... lol

[fridaynext]

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

It's really very easy to filter comments. Consider the sources. One member has no experience with FGRV's and touts re-engineering vehicles to tow anything they want, hence the code words "Properly set up".


And never forget, free advise is worth exactly what you pay for it..... lol

And with that, I bid you all farewell. This place is definitely too toxic for me.

[Jon in AZ]

MC1, I apologize for the unnecessarily snarky tone of my last post.

Casey, you have hit on one of the the hot button issues. For my part, I regret adding to the confusion.

[Evergreengirl]

I would like to second what Carol and Glenn have said above. Most private enterprise campgrounds now offer "free" WiFi. Some campgrounds provide WiFi but charge for your connection. In either case, the connection can be extremely poor and sometimes almost useless unless you're willing to get up at 2:00 AM in the morning when no one else is on line. The strength of your signal can vary widely too depending on where you're parked. We've routinely had trouble just sending out travel emails with 3 or 4 small file size photos to our friends.

As for using cell phones and your own WiFi hotspot, my husband and I each carry a cell phone and we have two different providers. We've been in many areas where neither of us could get a cell signal. I think a lot depends on what parts of the country you intend to travel in. Vast parts of Nevada and Utah, say, have very poor cell phone coverage and yet they're some of the coolest places to explore. If you limit your travels to more populous areas you may have a different experience. We've never come across Community Access points like Norm mentioned. And personlly, I've never seen the appeal of sitting in my car in a parking lot somewhere to get any work on my computer done, but that may not be a big deal to you.

It would seem to me that someone who depends on a computer for his or her work and wants to full-time might be best served by a satellite system. I'm not very tech-savvy though so someone else may want to weigh in on that. Searching out public WiFi access is certainly doable but it also takes time away from the main event, which is enjoying traveling. And there are also security issue, which I'm sure you're well aware of, to using public WiFi.

[Nancy]

April 22-26, Bluebonnet Rally, Skyline Ranch, Bandera, TX

The best thing we ever did before purchasing our little Scamp was to visit a couple of gatherings to look at different campers to see what we liked and what would work for us. At the Bluebonnet Rally you should be able to see a large selection of various fiberglass campers all in one location. There are usually specific times for open house. Fiberglass folks often will visit and show even during off hours.

Nancy

[honda03842]

Evergreegirl, Community Access Points exist all over Newfoundland with that name. Though we have phone service, it's very inexpensive, in Canada we can not afford their data plan. In the USA we have a Wi-Fi Hotspot that works almost everywhere we travel.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by fridaynext

See, here's a perfect example of how this forum is coming across as completely unhelpful to me. The first two comments contradict themselves, and then the third comment comes in just to attack the second.

If I've learned anything at this forum, it's that I should pull enormous weight with my Golf TDI, because everyone is wrong!



Thanks everyone for the entertaining stay here.

Don't know if you will consider the following helpful or not but some may find it of help in determining while shopping for a new vehicle if it is or is not a good choose of tow vehicle for whatever trailer they are considering pulling with it.

For a many years consumers have been questioning just how do auto manufactures come up with the weights they claim their vehicles can tow. On many forums including here, we have seen it suggested that it's not the engineering department of the manufactures that sets the tow capacity but the legal department. Who were you suppose to believe? The numbers the auto manufacture puts in their manual or the well meaning friend who tells you the vehicle can pull far more than that or that the vehicles towing capacity in their opinion has been overstated by the manufacture.

In an attempt to fix the above the The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the professional association that sets technical standards for the automotive industry has derived a common standard — J2807. It establishes minimum performance criteria and calculation methodology to determine tow-vehicle for passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles and trucks. This includes all vehicles up to 13 000 lb. GVWR.

There are a lot of people who think the SE J2807 standard is for trucks only - that is not the case its for use on sedans, min vans and SUV's etc as well - anything under 13000 GVWR.

To make a long story short - The majority of auto manufactures agreed to use the test a numbers of years back for the 2013 model year, so they all started pre testing for it. In the lead up to 2013 model year we did see a number of vehicles tow rating capacity change - some up, some down - some manufactures did some major model changes, one can only speculate as what changes where due to the manufactures having followed the J2807 standard. Then one of the BIG manufactures pulled out of the agreement at the last minute. So most of the others did as well.

The good news is it all got sorted out and they all are back in agreement and you will find that most of the major manufactures (if not all) on their 2015 model years are testing to the SE J2807. Some give credit to Toyota for having forced the other major players back to the agreement to all use the same test. Toyota was the only one using the standard as bragging rights in their advertising for a couple of years. Consumers started to question way Toyota was the only one doing the test & questioning what the other manufactures where trying to hide.

As with anything you will find there are those who think the J2807 is a good thing and others who will argue that it means nothing as they have a friend that tows with such and such a vehicle and it is a great tow vehicle even though the manufacture who is advertising that it used the J2807 standard says it should not tow anything.

Do a Google on the J2807 and you will find lots of good explanations of the standard along with photos , etc. Just watch the dates on when they were published, as I said it has been on and off for the past few years so some of what you read about what manufactures are using it or not using it, may be out dated.

I have no doubt the entertainment of reading the different opinions as to what a vehicle can and cannot tow safely and well, will continue but at least we now know how the manufactures are coming up with the numbers as to what it can pull in North America and no need to speculate on it.

Again I have no idea if you will find the above info helpful or simple more entertainment. As with everything its up to you to decide

[dbir]

I didn't read the whole thread - so what im saying may be irrelevant. But here is my experience.

I pulled my trillium 4500 last summer with my 06 jetta. It was all i had (2.0T FSI motor, 6 speed manual) I put about 1500km on with it, the majority of the time i'd pull in 4-5th gear, depending on the terrain.

I didn't have propane or battery on the tongue, and no water in the tank, but adding to the tongue weight would have helped with the balance. I had about 50-75lbs of tongue weight, it danced a bit on gravel roads but was steady on the highway, and the car had enough power to drive out of any sway comfortably.

[MC1]

Originally Posted by fridaynext

And with that, I bid you all farewell.

Great!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by MC1

Great!

LOL you do have to giggle just a little at this thread.

While the OP has left the building having deemed this forum totally unhelpful to them it would appear that the time those evil toxic folks took to respond to their new to towing questions, has not been totally wasted.

They have apparently obtained enough useful information here to help them make the decision that towing the size of trailer they whey want to tow, with the vehicle they have, with only the Class I hitch, is probable not in their or the cars best interest.

A decision that I suspect even you MC1 with your extensive knowledge of appropriate hitch set ups & the car in question, would have to agree is a good one

[MC1]

Many of us have been students of the fine art of towing for decades and as the technology develops and improves we learn something new almost every day.

Newbies can't expect to become "all knowledgeable" by reading a few posts on a forum especially with so many varied schools of thought.

So we carry on with our passion.

[Bob Miller]

Originally Posted by dbir

I didn't read the whole thread - so what im saying may be irrelevant. But here is my experience.

I pulled my trillium 4500 last summer with my 06 jetta. It was all i had (2.0T FSI motor, 6 speed manual) I put about 1500km on with it, the majority of the time i'd pull in 4-5th gear, depending on the terrain.

I didn't have propane or battery on the tongue, and no water in the tank, but adding to the tongue weight would have helped with the balance. I had about 50-75lbs of tongue weight, it danced a bit on gravel roads but was steady on the highway, and the car had enough power to drive out of any sway comfortably.

WOW,,,,I can't possibly imagine 50-75 lbs of tongue weight being safe or stable with a 1600+ lb trailer. I am guessinng that weight is a WAG not an actual scale measurement.

[Paul O.]

When I came here a couple of years ago, I did not learn EXACTLY what is right and what is wrong, but got a lot of interesting ideas. Then I tried to sort them out as well as I could. I believe in having some margin when it comes to towing specs.
Here is a bad idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiGChssAue0

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by dbir

I didn't read the whole thread - so what im saying may be irrelevant. But here is my experience.

I pulled my trillium 4500 last summer with my 06 jetta. It was all i had (2.0T FSI motor, 6 speed manual) I put about 1500km on with it, the majority of the time i'd pull in 4-5th gear, depending on the terrain.

I didn't have propane or battery on the tongue, and no water in the tank, but adding to the tongue weight would have helped with the balance. I had about 50-75lbs of tongue weight, it danced a bit on gravel roads but was steady on the highway, and the car had enough power to drive out of any sway comfortably.
]

I see you posted here yesterday your MPG results along with pictures of your NEW tow vehicle - an F150 if I am not mistaken? As you are one of the ones who has been there done that with the car the thread is discussing, perhaps you would like to share why you decided to change to a larger tow vehicle.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by fridaynext

And with that, I bid you all farewell. This place is definitely too toxic for me.

There is a message in this thread that has continually gone unheard.

Casey is relatively aware compared to many newbies on this site yet we managed to drive him away. Imagine the feelings and even fears we create in some less knowledgeable who come to this site. It's all pretty interesting to me.

Members of this forum, particularly long time members, should be able to give their opinions without attempts at ridiculed by other forum members. You can state your view without having to criticize some one else, actually your view may be more respected if it does not contain ridicule.

Everyday is a chance to learn and get better.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by honda03842

There is a message in this thread that has continually gone unheard.

Casey is relatively aware compared to many newbies on this site yet we managed to drive him away. Imagine the feelings and even fears we create in some less knowledgeable who come to this site. It's all pretty interesting to me.

Members of this forum, particularly long time members, should be able to give their opinions without attempts at ridiculed by other forum members. You can state your view without having to criticize some one else, actually your view may be more respected if it does not contain ridicule.

Everyday is a chance to learn and get better.

Norm, when it comes to tow limits, we disagree. But I fully agree with everything you said here. Raz

[honda03842]

Raz, Obviously I don't mind the disagreement. I don't care what others tow with but I am willing to share my experience. as you are. We need to be kind.

Thank you for your comment

Norm