A few months a year my parents travel and live in their C class RV. After a few years of towing a Nissan Leaf on a tow dolly they sold that car and want to replace it with a small gasoline car that they can flat tow. My parents are getting older and loading a car onto and off of the tow dolly whenever they needed it has been a hassle for them, particularly in the dark or when the weather was inclement.
My parents would like the replacement toad to be new-ish, low maintenance, less than about 3,000 lbs and under $10,000. They're not really SUV people. There don't seem to be a lot of vehicles on the market that are rated for flat towing, and some of those that are require special procedures -- selecting transmission modes, disconnecting battery, letting the car idle every few hours, etc. What they really need as an easy button answer, and preferably not too expensive. Have any ideas?
If they can drive stick, manual Fiat 500s can be flat-towed at up to 65 MPH!
About 10 years ago, I would have said Saturn S series. They are perfect tow'ds, even as automatics, with no external pump needed for flat towing and were the go-to for countless RVers.
I still use my SW2 that way, but it is far from "newish" anymore, and nowhere near $10k.
Robbie
UltimaDork
11/6/18 9:19 p.m.
My Saab 9-3 challenge car flat towed really really nicely for about 3000 miles under my ownership.
Probably not any easier to load thank a dolly, but cool idea:
On a more serious more, this site can be used to see what is needed for flat towing by year, make, and model:
Model check
Apparently Subaru with a manual transmission is fine for flat towing.
Anecdotally, I see a ton of Jeep Wranglers as toads when we go camping, but that's not really what you're looking for. I think Fiestas and Foci can be flat towed, too, I've seen some of them around.
They're not really Jeep people, but Focus is on the short list. I'm surprised about Subaru -- I figured that AWD would make flat towing a no-no.
Robbie
UltimaDork
11/7/18 9:45 a.m.
nderwater said:
They're not really Jeep people, but Focus is on the short list. I'm surprised about Subaru -- I figured that AWD would make flat towing a no-no.
why would flat towing AWD be bad? The things normally drive with all 4 wheels on the ground, sooooooo
Jeeps are nice because you can usually put the transfer case in neutral so the transmission doesn't spin at all.
Foci and fiesti would have the dual clutch trans right? less of a normal automatic and more of a regular manual transmission when in neutral.
Anything with a manual transaxle should be flat-towable indefinitely, as farasthe drivetrain is concerned. (Manual transmissions might starve for oil. Jeeps and other 4WD vehicles can shift the transfer case to Neutral so the transmission does not rotate)
Saturns (real Saturn-engineered cars, not rebadged Opels) were very popular for flat towing because the automatics were internally more-or-less automated manuals. We'd get people picking up their new S-series with their RV, hook it up to the (dealer installed) flat tow package, and they'd be off...
