• ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I still find it frustrating to see the exact same vehicles get significantly different tow ratings here vs Europe.

    The other day the dealer tried to warn not to tow my utility trailer with my car as it would hurt the transmission (trailer was empty by the way). I pulled up an article from the UK where it was in the top three of best towing cars for this year.

    Dealer looked at me like his brain needed to reboot, after which he told me the cars in Europe must be built differently or get different transmissions and left it at that.

    It’s truly baffling that manufacturers here hold that towing capacity hostage for arbitrary reasons.

  • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    This seems not very fuck cars but ok. Also who does not know you can tow with a car?

    • spiphy@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I think this is in response to stupid large truck vs kei truck thread that made the front page. All the car brains are going on about how everyone ever needs a stupid large truck to tow 85 boats at once

      • WhiteHawk@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I find it very strange that Americans consider ‘trucks’ and ‘cars’ to be two separate things. Trucks are cars.

        • nutcase2690@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          By law they are separate and distinct. Trucks are subject to less environmental regulations (emissions, mpg) are allowed to not conform as closely to automobile standards (the reason why you see trucks with the hood above the height of small children, and you need a stepladder to climb in) and also have to pass different crash tests to be considered “road safe” (a truck only has to not annihilate another truck in a crash test, but crash tests aren’t done with say a truck and a motorcycle, or a truck and a small car)

      • chaogomu@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        That thread was specifically telling craftspeople that they could do their jobs with the little Kei truck rather than a larger one.

        If you use your truck for actual work, you want it to be able to do the job. The Kei truck cannot do the same job as the big truck.

        It was a stupid comparison. It’s like telling someone that they don’t need a bucket truck to work on overhead lines or do tree trimming, they can just use a ladder hauled around in a Kei truck. See? Stupid as fuck.

        No, the correct post to make would have been to point out the obvious fact that 95% of those huge trucks sold are not used for any sort of work at all, they’re just expensive and obnoxious fashion statements.

      • M0oP0o@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Oh you mean those 4 door vans that are passed off as a truck? Yeah no one should get those, they can’t even tow all that well and what can you even use a 4 foot bed for? These are likely the same people that think you should get a $130k 5th wheel that is 32 feet long.

      • kugel7c@feddit.deOP
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        1 year ago

        You are completely correct I was essentially trying to move along the conversation from the last post.

  • 34@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    But will it pull a camper for two that actually sleeps 10 at 85 mph up hill in a 65 mph speed zone?

  • tdot@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Cars and trucks can fuck off, and most pick-up truck owners are fooling themselves by buying into a lifestyle they don’t actually live, but I still would not recommend towing any significant distance with a Golf. You can tow with a hatchback, but it’s not really that safe and your speed is very limited, making you a huge annoying moving obstacle for the rest of us cursed to live in this world designed for cars.

    • starlinguk@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My neighbour tows his caravan with a Mini and my brother tows gliders with a Suzuki Swift.

      Golfs are plenty strong.

    • chaogomu@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      That’s not a truck, it’s an obnoxious fashion statement.

      At the same time, I’ve seen trucks just like that (maybe not as long) towing flatbed trailers with literal tons of stuff on the back. The sort of shit you need a forklift or tractor to load and unload. I’ve also seen those same forklifts and tractors on trailers.

      The thing is, I live way out in the boonies, so that shit is common to see.

      This same truck in any sort of city is an obnoxious fashion statement. It’s all about location.

  • someguy7734206@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    I had a 2005 Camry which broke down last year, so I replaced it with a 2015 Mazda 5. The towing section of the manual for the Camry said something along the lines of “Well, this car is not really intended for towing, but if you must use it for that, here’s what you have to do…”. For the Mazda, the manual just says that it is not recommended to use the car for towing at all.

  • Destroyer Of Worlds@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    if you saw the sheer scope of trailers, campers, Tour Bus RV’s, custom toy haulers etc that invade the coastal areas of where I live, you would realize the problem isn’t the semantics of tow vehicle size. the whole “adventure camping” myth when two people bring a 800 square foot Motorcoach with a car in tow makes me want to vomit. its like a car brain with sepsis. leave your fucking house at home.

    • sndrtj@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      Yeah but these are usually taken to France or Germany where uphill definitely exists.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    The question isn’t “can you”, but “should you”.

    An engine that’s always working at near it’s maximum capacity will fail long before an engine that’s working at a quarter of it’s capacity. Most people wouldn’t dream of constantly running their engine bouncing off the red line of rev limiter. The same applies to towing; if you frequently tow large, heavy loads (for instance, earth moving equipment), you want to get a vehicle that’s rated for much higher tonnage than the weight you’ll regularly be towing. Given that campers are usually very light weight (but only slightly more aerodynamic than a brick), you can get away with towing on in a car infrequently. You should probably not do it daily.

    You may also find that it’s less fuel efficient to tow a heavy load in a small-ish car than the same load in a light truck.

    (BTW - I’m generally opposed to taking vacations in this way. I prefer my vacations on a motorcycle, or on foot with a backpack. I’m not currently in the kind of shape I would need to be in in order to do bicycle camping.)

    Edit: I don’t have a truck. It’s cheaper for me to rent one on the rare occasions that I need one than it is to buy one and deal with the associated costs of owenership. That said, the Home Depot rental trucks suck, because they’re solely RWD, and they have no grip on my road unless there’s a literal ton of weight in the back.

        • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Really? Home Depot and Sunbelt Tool Rental doesn’t deliver around here. You have to pick that shit up yourself, and they will check the gross towing weight before they’ll let you hook up. I’ve towed a wood chipper from Sunbelt with a Civic, and it was pretty much the maximum that the car would tow.

          • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Sorry, when I hear earthmover I think backhoe, grader, skid steer, not wood chipper.

            Regardless, sounds like your civic met the need instead of a RAM 2500 super-duty?

            • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Well, except for the part where then engine skipped timing and died a terrible death few months later. So, I dunno, did it really meet my need? Or was the engine failure purely coincidental? I do know that the mountain roads around here are pretty rough on cars in general; towing at your max capacity while going up a steep grade probably isn’t very good for an engine.

              Renting a truck would have been far, far cheaper than what I spent replacing the engine.

              • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I don’t know your car, it’s possible. I’m not here to judge people on their needs analysis, I’m here to judge people for not doing a needs analysis.

                The point is people should buy vehicles based on needs not wants. The chance of maybe towing a thing up a hill one time in a 15 year vehicle lifetime is probably not a satiasficing for a vehicle that’s primarily used to travel 8.7km each way for a commute and a 1.8km round trip for groceries 5.43 times per month. (Canadian figures).

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I agree but diesel cars are much more common in Europe and they have better towing capacity due to higher torque.

  • Matt_Shatt@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Something interesting about a camper like in the picture in Europe, to me, is where the axle is. It looks much more centered than the campers I see in the US and I have no idea why. The way the axle is in the picture certainly reduces tongue weight on the car. I wonder if the trade off is less stability at high speed? Genuinely curious!

    • Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      The typical tongue loading for a traditional trailer like that is 10%. If you start getting too light it will start swerving from side to side at higher speeds and can lead to a jack knife accident from the tail wagging the dog. Most likely the trailer has heavy stuff designed into the front.