Towing with a car?

How many of you use a regular passenger car to tow with? I don't intend to tow anything heavy like a car or a boat or anything, but I have a 4 x 8 utility trailer that was given to me and really needs to be picked up rather soon, and my biggest/heaviest car at the moment is a 2001 VWJetta. I found a trailer hitch on craigslist that is for my car and only costs $25. Assuming the trailer is empty, how terrible of an idea is this?

Harbor Freight 4x8 folding utility trailer with some minor customization.

Just don't be stupid. This trailer's max payload is 1195 lbs, well within most car's towing capability.

If you're using a light enough trailer, why not? I used a 150hp Saab to tow my F500 car for several years (total weight was ~1500lb, below the 2000 rating of the car); the original clutch and CVs went with the car to the junkyard at over 275k when rust killed the car.

Those 4x8 trailers only weigh a couple hundred lbs, and are pretty versatile; you can put in chocks for motos, stake sides, or whatever.

This was towed with my SAAB. I've been doing this for 3 years, about 4-6 times a year. Less than 3 hrs, pretty flat.

Years ago I trailered my Go Kart with a 50 hp. car.

So as others have said, a small, light trailer will cause no problem.

I've pulled way more than an empty trailer with my p5.

You'll be fine.

Just don't be a dumbass when you pull a load on the trailer.

My daughter and I did a trip with all her worldly goods on a 4 x 8 trailer, behind a 2002 Neon R/T, 4,400 km across the country, then back again the following spring.

Trouble free.

I towed everything to build the second story of my house behind my old Volvo 245. Size the trailer/load appropriately and you'll be fine.
Vigo regularly tows all sorts of nonsense to and from my house on a tow dolly with his Lexus. He's comfortable pushing things further than me, but he's still alive.

Sure. Why not?

(The Subaru got over 20mpg, too)

I once Pulled My Brother And his Corvair From Miami to Smyrna Ga. With A Plymouth Duster and a 20 foot logging chain. REALLY! Around 73-4, Frickin' Really!!!

I have a 1990 Acura with a tow rating of 1000 pounds.
I have a 2013 Chevy with a tow rating of 0 pounds.

They weigh about the same and have the same power.

Which one do you think I'd rather tow with?

Thank you. Now I am officially encouraged. I may just start using that little trailer, hitched to my Jetta, as a substitute for a small pick up truck.

M030 wrote: How many of you use a regular passenger car to tow with? I don't intend to tow anything heavy like a car or a boat or anything, but I have a 4 x 8 utility trailer that was given to me and really needs to be picked up rather soon, and my biggest/heaviest car at the moment is a 2001 VWJetta. I found a trailer hitch on craigslist that is for my car and only costs $25. Assuming the trailer is empty, how terrible of an idea is this?

On more than one occasion, I pulled a U-Haul 4x8 enclosed trailer behind a 95 Jetta with no problems. It was hard to tell it was there.

I used to tow my Formula Vee behind a Ford Focus to autocrosses. Never an issue. I have friends who use their miata to drag a 4x8 trailer with all manner of supplies for their farm.

I have always had a utility trailer and seldom had a truck. I used to haul firewood behind my 81 Corolla wagon. Having recently sold my F350, I'm back to cars and trailers again.

If you have a car with a 0 rating, look up the euro rating and more or less halve it*.

*The reason for the high euro ratings is over there they have a hard 100kph (maybe lower can't recall) trailer speed limit and like to run 5% tongue weight. 5% probably sounds low because it is, stuff gets unstable when get up past 60mph with a tongue that light(there's a SAE paper on this floating around), hence the lower ratings on cars in the USA where 10% is the rule of thumb, speed limits vary by state, and trailer axles smaller than 3500lbs rarely have brakes (those high euro rating are almost always with trailer brakes).

you'll be fine. You should see some of the campers that were hitched to cars before trucks were a "requirement". 5,000lbs behind a Caprice wagon was pretty normal at one time. Now people are led to believe that a deisel truck is needed for a pop-up camper.

Hard to tell in the picture but the Miata is flat towing the Mini.

Dolly towing the mk1 GTI with my 2.5rs was scarier.

My friend towed his and his wife's Harleys on an expanded metal bed trailer, trailer. I dunno how much the trailer weighed, but the bikes were ~1550lbs. He pulled them with a Jetta TDi.

I towed the Miata with my Volvo 940 (non-turbo) from Columbus, OH to Nebraska and back. And averaged around 19mpg.

I tow that same 4x8 trailer with our man trans Mazda6 wagon a lot. It's handy!

I looked into this pretty extensively a while ago- almost any car can tow SOMETHING, but here in the USA many are not rated for towing. I called multiple insurance companies, and not a single one would cover a car not rated to tow if it had a trailer, so think about the liability end of things if your owner's manual says not to tow.

I ended up with a Saab since it had a decent tow rating, and used it to tow two motorcycles on a trailer. We were rear ended while towing, the car was totaled along with the trailer, and the tow rating of the car WAS questioned during the inspection process, but since it was rated for 1500 lbs and the combined weight of the trailer and load was obviously under that, we were covered and paid out in full. Things would have been different if I had bought a GTO (my first choice, rated for 5500lbs in Australia, unrated here) and I would have been held as at least partially at fault despite getting rear ended, according to the insurance adjuster.

M030 wrote: Thank you. Now I am officially encouraged. I may just start using that little trailer, hitched to my Jetta, as a substitute for a small pick up truck.

Try to keep your total load below ~1200 Lbs and you should be fine. I've been doing this for years with a variety of cars, including towing a 900 Lb MaxJax lift home with a Mini. Having a lightweight trailer helps too.

My civic has a 1000# rating. One year earlier, same generation had 1500#. A same year Accord has none. The hitches for all three list a 2000# limit. If I had the money for one I would have the smallest A liner, approximately 1100#.

An RV dealer nearby uses a Jetta diesel to tow Air Stream trailers all the time. Sorry, no picks. They do have a fancy custom load balancing hitch set up.