| Author | Message | ||
     Hybridmomentspass |
So I got into a car accident about two weeks ago (girl pulled out in front of me, very low speed though), and her insurance company is currently paying for the local nissan dealership to repair my SUV (pathfinder) I have it to haul the S3 dragbike and 1125R but I only hauled the bike once this past year. Usually its a bit more, about half a dozen times, but nothing crazy. My school is 40 miles away, 5 days a week. I get about 20-22mpg on average, so Im flying through gas in this thing. Right now Im in a Versa rental car getting over 40mpg without trying Just thinking about maybe trading in for a slightly newer (have a 03) smaller car with less mileage (im at 200k) that gets twice the mpg You ever towed a sportbike (440lbs + trailer etc) with a smaller car? Any experience/advice is appreciated, truly. Its just an idea right now, I got to figure something out, as im spending over 3 grand a year in gas just to get to school. | ||
| Sifo |
I used to tow a Hobie Cat with a 1976 VW Scirocco. About a 400 pound boat, plus the trailer, plus misc. gear. Probably a bit less than the total weight of the bike, etc. but not by much. Never had problems. 1600 cc engine BTW. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Towing weights are in the owners manual of any vehicle & usually on a sticker or plate somewhere, mostly front door shut or pillar. Lots of calculating for you to do. Average mileage cost against break even point for replacement. When you take into account purchase, registration & associated costs, most of the time it's not economical to replace a vehicle with one that uses less gas, unless you're replacing the vehicle anyway. If you're at that point of replacing your vehicle & you want something that'll do what you want, I'd be looking at something like a VW Jetta or Golf tdi with a manual box (some of their auto boxes overheat when towing). Should be ok for towing a half ton trailer as long as the nose weight isn't too much. A small economic engine is fine for running light, but for towing you need torque. Whatever you get, go for a bigger lump & pedal it lightly rather than smaller & having to cane it. Unless you're buying latest gen auto a stick will nearly always be more economic (& more fun) The Dub also has vast parts availability & parts-bin tuning potential for engine & suspension. | ||
| Sparky |
We have a '03 Saturn Ion that I bought a trailer hitch for to haul my dirt bike trailer which I modded to carry an '03 XB9R for interstate travel. We never had a problem towing the rig from Cali to AZ and back. Mileage was largely unaffected and there seemed to be adequate power reserves for hills and such. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'd say your main issue with a smaller car & towing is gonna be geography. I see you're in Winston Salem, and I guess you'd be headed to the mountains from there, so you'd be climbing some pretty steep hills. I'm sure most small cars will do it, it's just you may be WFO in 3rd gear climbing a lot of those hills. I took 2 bikes to Copper Head Lodge in N GA a few years back in a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger. That thing was on it's knees at ~48 MPH in 3rd gear on some of the climbs on US 129. | ||
| Ducbsa |
I used to tow from Chicago to Daytona with a Chevette and an open 2 rail Holsclaw trailer, with me and my buddy in the car. We had a cafe BMW and a Commando on the trailer. Could only go 45 mph up Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga. The car had 4:11 gears and a manual trans. Summer of 2012, I towed one bike from Minneapolis to Durango, CO with the trailer and my '07 Pontiac Sunfire, got 25 mpg. I went too fast going down from Wolf Creek Pass and made the brakes smoke, but that was my error. If I had gone slower, it would have been fine. | ||
| Sifo |
Geography is important. I was towing my Hobie around flat lands BTW. Mountains would be another matter. | ||
| Brumbear |
I see a guy with one of those door stopper honda cars towing his quad on a harbor freight trailer all the time at the lost trails in PA. So I'll bet it would work a little sentra and a single axle trailer. | ||
| Elsinore74 |
I agree with Mr. Grumpy about the VW TDIs. While you won't need to bring along the radar detector to avoid speeding tickets (while towing), they strike a nice balance between MPG and GVWR. Got to agree with his math regarding operating costs vs. purchase, too. Of course, when the itch to change vehicles hits us, cold calculations are usually out the window. Years ago I pulled a ~3500lb Wells Cargo bike trailer behind a non-turbo diesel 2WD Isuzu P'up. The pace was satisfactory, if not exactly breathtaking. Kind of neat surfing on that torque curve. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I towed a 14 foot dual axle u-haul trailer from Denver to Los Angeles, loaded to the hilt. Tow vehicle: Toyota Celica. Weather: blizzard conditions The type of engine will determine how fast you can climb hills. Towing your bike shouldn't be a real problem for pretty much any car, just keep the tongue weight down by balancing the load over the trailer axle. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I used a 2001 Saab 9-3 to pull a harbor freight trailer with two street bikes through the mountains with no problems at all. The older Saab's had a fairly towing capacity, plenty of power, and a very strong transmission. That car saw a lot of towing, and did finally suffer some kind of catastrophic engine failure while towing at 165k miles (which was a young death for a Saab). But it was a top end failure of some kind, not a bottom end, so I'm not inclined to blame it on towing. It was an auto with no hint of any kind of transmission problem. I would get about 25 mpg pulling the trailer, close to 30 on long highway trips without the trailer, and the thing would accelerate very quickly. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Honestly I dont go to the mountains much with the bikes, only time I deal with mountains and towing would be on my way to Bristol TN to go race or to Ohio for the same. I know the math can be a stretch but I calculated that this year I spent approx 3100 on gas just going to school, not including work or anything social. Next semester I'll be going an extra day, that will make it approximately 600/yr more in gas. If I can get something with twice the mpg that would, in theory, cut my gas expenditures in half. So I'd be down around 1500 a year, 1500 a year savings. if I traded in on something that was 3k more than my truck It'd pay itself off in two years of driving to school, not to mention the extra driving I do. Whatever I get, I'd make sure to have a tranny cooler installed to aid in towing Looking at small cars like the Fit, Versa hatchback, but also been pricing the mid 00s WRX... that'd be a fun car with way more power. As I stated, my truck just tripped 200k (think its 202 actually), so if I could get something under 100k on it then I'd have a little peace of mind too. Its just an idea I'm tossing around my head, we'll see | ||
| Kcfirebolt |
2009 Pontiac Vibe w/ 2.4 I-4 motor. Tows 2000 lbs really well. I always rent from U Haul and their trailers are really heavy. I towed my MZ race bike and a Honda CB175 from MI to Miller in UT, to NJMP in NJ, and to Barber in AL. Great tow vehicle. Sad to have sold it. Bonus, front passenger seat folds mostly flat, so if you're short like me (5'7"), then the an camping pad and a sleeping bag make the car a great place to sleep vs. hauling a tent. | ||
| Buellish |
I towed the S2 on a single rail trailer to Homecoming behind a '99 Miata.It got 26,27 mpg towing.It would get 30 with out the trailer. A couple of years ago I researched small car towing capacity.Nearly all front wheel drive cars were rated at 1000 lbs. I currently drive an '02 Saturn L200 front wheel drive,pull a 1000 lb trailer and commonly haul four to five hundred lb bikes. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
Doing more digging, appears that overseas many of the cars offered here come with tow ratings, but not here in the states ex: versa is rated at 1300~lbs if trailer has no brakes in pretty much every country in the world except the US, where Nissan USA says "NO" to towing Similar on the fit | ||
| Hootowl |
I haul half ton loads in my HF trailer with my Jetta TDI. It does just fine, and still gets 35 MPG while towing. The big difference, to me anyway, when towing with a car vs. a truck is tongue weight. If you don't have your trailer loaded correctly, your car will handle terribly, where the truck will still be OK. Just about any car will haul your ~500 pound bike, but you need to have it centered over the trailer axle, and slightly forward. You probably want about 50 lbs of tongue weight. Less, and the trailer will wander, more, and the car will under steer. You'll probably have to fiddle with tongue weight until the car and trailer feel neutral. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
how do you measure tongue weight? and how do you adjust it? Just move the load back/forward some? when hauling a bike on a small open trailer, how could you move the load around? On race weekends I'd have more than just the bike - small tool box (20lbs or so), cooler, leathers,canopy, tent (cant sleep in a small car like I can my nissan lol) and misc small items. Lets say, approximately, 120lbs of extras. I could put that on the trailer and help balance some with that, just unclear of how to measure the weight and move the majority of the mass (bike) | ||
| Chauly |
Bathroom scale. Move the chock on the bike rail to shift the weight. Make sure you do consider the 120 lb. of gear when you do this. | ||
| Ducbsa |
Since my Holsclaw was designed as an M/C trailer, it is very well balanced and easy to pick up by the hitch and move around. | ||
| Buellish |
Make sure you have the coupler at normal towing height before you weigh it with a bathroom scale. | ||
| Teeps |
I've towed motorcycles with a '97 Honda Civic, even though Honda said towing a trailer was not recommended. Just had to watch the downhill speed and traffic conditions. 2 concerns would be trailer tongue weight and GVWR rating on the tow vehicle. If the combined weight of the car and trailer, including all cargo and passengers exceeds the vehicle's GVWR. Then trailer brakes are needed. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I would be most worried about applying the brakes and having the front wheels unload right when I needed the traction the most. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Also this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XL0TysIn0 | ||
| Hootowl |
I must not get out much because that's the neatest thing I've seen in quite a while. | ||
| Reepicheep |
That is clever. | ||
| Ronbob43 |
I used to put the spare rear wheel on my 305 Scrambler, wire the chain to the subframe, pull the front wheel and stick in the spare front axle. Then the axle could be placed between the bumper and ball and snugged down to the ears of the hitch. I made lots of trips between Torrance, Ca. and Aberdeen Wa. without a problem. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
General rule of thumb for towing is nose weight between 25 & 50kg. Here in Europe Any trailer grossing over 750kg has to be braked & in most countries registered too. | ||
| Etennuly |
Wow. This is kind of like an ATGATT thought process. Safely getting the job done is important also. Reminds me of the guy who loaded 4000 pounds of building materials at a Home Depot in/on a Chevette. The car went about a foot before totally collapsing the suspension and blowing all four tires. With these newer small cars I would be hesitant to tow much unless it has a tow rating. The suspension parts and what they mount to are soooo minimal. If it is made for great gas mileage it is light. They make them light by putting in less. Less means less structure, less strength in suspension, brakes, wheels, and points to which to mount a hitch. Of course now days they have more air bags, helps passenger safety, makes towing stupid. I install hitches. I will not put one on a vehicle without a tow rating or one that has plastic parts for mounting points. Most of these small vehicles have brake pads no larger than what we have on our Buells, sure twice as many, but you are going to ask it to stop eight times the weight. You will have to do some research. Keep in mind a wreck involving bad planning is not an accident, it is a mistake. A good balance is 10% of the trailer and it's load weight on the hitch. And the hitch ball height works best if it keeps the trailer's loaded frame near level. If the hitch ball is too low the trailer will push the car all over the place. Why not ride the bike to school for MPG? Me I'm comfortable towing with a 16 or less, mpg Tahoe. Just the cost of doing business. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"Why not ride the bike to school for MPG?" My thoughts exactly! Commuting on the Buells costs about 1/2 the fuel $$ as the CRV, which tows one bike just fine. But, factor in cost of replacement tires, and you break even, until you add in the fun factor. After using a Chevy Cruze for round trip commute from CO to MN this spring, I was in that same space as OP, thinking how much less painful a 40 - 45 mpg cage would be at the pump. Good luck with whatever you decide. | ||
| Sifo |
If you are paying a dealer for routine maintenance on the Buell, the costs skyrocket too. Even a low maintenance bike like an XB can be surprisingly expensive compared to an economical car. I laugh at people who talk about getting a bike to save money. Maybe you can convince your spouse of that though. |
