Can I tow with a Civic?

Some people get their panties all in a wad talking about needing a large vehicle to tow.

Key things to remember are to balance the weight as mentioned. Heavy items in passenger floor and lighter items in trunk. Keep hitch weight appropriate.
Drive slower and with larger gaps in front of you.
Feel the car and don't stress it out. If you need to slow down up hill, do it.
Manual transmissions do better, many civics are manual. Better for going down hills by down shifting and less heat generated in the transmission.

I drove a 1987 Ford Escort 5 door to Grattan and back from Cincinnati to my first race with a 1960's uhaul style enclosed 5x7 trailer. Wide open 4th gear @ 55mph pretty much the whole way. Not recommended but I was cautious and I didn't die. That was 1998 GLRRA event.

And for the record, a Golf TDI is a small European car. A Cayenne is a mid size European SUV. Let's not mislead anyone.

Bottom line, a Civic is a great car for towing a single sport bike.

 

If the car was designed with those figures in mind, it would be the first time I have ever seen such a thing. Everything I have ran across is not designed for obese people, it is designed for the average person. And by average, I don't mean 'Murica average, I mean worldwide average. In other words, most things are designed with consideration given for a 150lb person.

You should see us trying to cram even just 40 guys in a lifeboat that is designed for 60ppl. It is like sardines.

 

Again, there is a difference between "can" and "should". Just because you can make something roll by hooking it onto your car, that doesn't mean it was designed for towing. There are more factors (safety) that go into towing something other than just being able to make it roll. You also have to consider evasive maneuvers and emergency stopping.

Just because somebody has gotten away with something, that doesn't make it a good idea.

 

There is an AHRMA racer that has a small trailer, he tows his race bike, tools, spares, tent stuff, etc with.... his Gold Wing..! He goes all over that way..!
Ron

 

I went from vegas to road atlanta pulling my bike and gear on a prius around 75mph and still got 35mpg.... 280$ round trip

 

Can I tow 2 bikes on an open trailer with my MG Midget?

 

Evasive maneuvers? Braking? Acceleration? I win!

 

A friend regularly tows to the track with a Miata. Another guy towed his bike on a harbor freight trailer with his prius.

 

Guy at my work, Robert, has a 98 ish 2 door civic. He has a small open trailer and two CBR1000's he tows fairly often to rallies etc. Bought the car with 168k miles on it, he has 406k on it now. Still drives it daily and still pulls his trailer and bikes around. No major work ever done to the car, had a clutch and one oil leak he's fixed in the last 10 years. Awesome cars.

 

so what this thread is saying is that the best tow vehicle is not some beastly, duallie, 1000 lb-tq, diesel pickup truck for a 5x8 trailer, but a compact car....i'm all in

 

I hate towing that little trailer of mine behind one of the vans, you can't see it at all in any of the mirrors if there isn't a bike on it. Every other time I look in the mirror I get that instant of "it's gone!". Royal pain to back up, too.

 

I don't see what's in question here.

I've been at the track and seen someone pulling their track bike with another motorcycle. Or you could just ride to the track like people used to do.

 

Small SUVs like the Forester / CR-V / Escape work great for the small open trailers as well and can haul more of your stuff inside the vehicle than a compact car. Sometimes I wish I had stuck with the open trailer and my Forester XT. Unless it rains or is cold or I decide to go to a track day last minute. Then I am very happy for my pre-packed 6x12 v-nose enclosed and my Touareg TDI (similar to the Cayenne mentioned above).

The TDI gets as good of mileage towing the 6x12 as the XT did towing the open. The TDI gets better mileage when not towing as well. With that being said, it will never save enough on fuel to pay for the price difference.

 

There was no legitimate question here. Edmond was bored and threw chum to the other bored people. And now we're on p.3

 

Or elevators. They always say something like "max capacity, 16 people or 2000lbs" That thing wouldn't hold 16 people unless they were all 5th graders.

 

What about the mirror in the middle?

 

i used to pull the 5x8 enclosed U-Haul trailers with the Escape, not great, but it worked. took 12 MPG though. also got sick of the hassle of loading and the whole rental process all the time, and the bike came with the 6x12. kind of.

curious to see what mileage i will get now.
what does the TDI get you with the trailer? 18?

 

I had the same problem towing my 5x8 trailer with my Explorer. Unloaded, the only way I could see the trailer to back it up was to turn my upper body around and hitch myself up so my head was almost at the ceiling. Damn uncomfortable way to drive. I finally zip-tied a couple of 4' fiberglass stakes (the kind we in the north line our driveways with in winter to avoid plowing the grass). Then I put an old tennis ball on the end of each so I didn't poke my eye out. Worked great.

 

15.5-17.5 generally. On the trip down I-95 where the speed limit is 65-75 it is about 16 if I keep it at or below 70 mph. Going over the hills at 55 mph to Summit Point closer to 17 (seems like more impacted by speed / wind resistance than hills). This is for a 6x12 with extra height and 5200lb axle. Trailer is over 7' tall and 1650lb before loading anything.

 

A classic article on towing here:

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/the-great-american-anti-towing-conspiracy/