Best vehicle to tow a trailer?
 

I've talked to a number of people who are looking for a new vehicle who want something to tow a trailer and I started thinking about all of the options if you rely on a trailer, then I looked around my parents house, low flat bed trailer for hauling large or heavy stuff, small high sided trailer for hauling dirt and gravel, snowmobile trailer, sail boat that belongs to a friend, tow bar for my electric car (it also fits on the low flat bed) and started to think about how a tow vehicle would be a good 2nd vehicle, or a good vehicle to have to share in a family or group of friends.
most people would pick a pickup truck, but are there better choices? I was thinking something like a Jeep wrangler would be a good choice if they had some aerodynamic improvements and that a diesel engine might even be able to be put in if someone had the time and energy.
So lets say you need to be able to tow 2,000 pounds, seating for 2 and cargo area otherwise could be as little as the trunk space in an average car.

I wouldn't recommend towing with a wrangler/tracker ish car. I've seen several of them flip while doing so. (Oddly, I've never seen a samurai flipped, the vehicle known for flipping)

Really just about any mini truck will tow 2000 lbs without issue. I'd recommend an S10 just for the number of parts available.

Yeah, a tall offroader will deliver horrid mileage on-road, and its short wheelbase and high center of mass make it a poor choice for towing.

If you only need to tow 1000lbs, get a Prius. Lots of compact hatchbacks and station wagons can handle 2000lbs. For truly massive loads, 5speed5 pointed out that the '96 Caprice can do 5000lbs, and I bet the Crown Victoria is in a similar category.

In Europe, that can be done by just about anything in what you call the compact class - though not always when an automatic transmission is used, as this can limit the towing capacity.

But towing capacity in the US appears to be rated ridiculously low.
A Volvo V50 T5 is rated for 3300 lbs (with a braked trailer) in Europe, yet it's only rated for a lowly 2000 lbs in the US ! :eek:

My wife and I own a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado extended cab truck for all of our heavy hauling and towing. We try to only use it when it is the most appropriate for the task at hand. {We bought it new 12/31/03, currently has less than 36k miles.}

Unless one goes full-bore aero on a tow-er/trailer combo, the aero is going to be bad anyway esp. if you don't have an enclosed trailer. So pull it with whatever.

If money was no option, I'd go with a turbo-diesel pick up or maybe a sprinter van if it's a small trailer. My brother drives like crap and still manages 20-23mpg most tanks in his Chevy 3/4 ton. He's towed the horse trailer with one horse once and still managed 16mpg (total trailer was probably 4500#). I on the otherhand used to tow my 21' travel trailer that weighed in at 4000# wet with a full sized K5 Blazer and it brought my mileage down from 14-16.5 without to 7.5-8.6mpg while towing. I just didn't think you could get a 305ci engine to use that much gas on level ground. Amazing! I also struggled with overheating everytime the road tilted up over 5%.

The first consideration is what type of engine? I would go with a turbocharged diesle because of the power/torque charictaristics. When it comes to the drivetrain I would go with a standard transmission and perhaps a 4x4 if you drive in snow frequently. If the GVW of the trailer is 2000lbs then one of the VW TDI would be good; or something like that. ;)

I was kind of wondering about a TDI golf, after all its a 2,700 pound car or so, so it's going to be pretty stable and 2,000 pounds is about as much as I could ever see towing, 2,000 pounds is the total weight of my electric car on a trailer for taking it to shows and events that are beyond it's range, it's also about the weight of a trailer full of gravel or dirt.
My civic VX does fine with 1,000 pounds behind it but I wouldn't want to try much more then that with a 1,900 pound car.
I've seen alot of Jeeps that are jacked up with big tires, that is not what I was thinking, the stock ones with stock size tires tend to sit pretty low, they look to have a full frame instead of a unibody and like I said, if they are not jacked up with big wheels they look to be pretty stable and have an EPA of 20mpg with a gas engine, altho 120hp where the TDI golf is 90hp but with more torque then the gas Jeep...
So maybe a TDI would be the way to go, 42-49mpg without a trailer would make it a good 2nd vehicle for people like me who's other vehicle is an electric car so you get the towing ability and good highway miles and only use it for that.

The other advantage of some form of tubo-diesle is that you can use some mixture of vegitable oil or biodiesle and diesle, which will reduce the "money" cost of operation. I have some friends who do this and they drive almost for free, cash wise.

I was also going to recommend the VW TDI and I believe that several come with the tow bar built in.

There is no end to the variety of trailers out there. I would start with what vehicle you already own and then search what U-Haul sez. Check that against the vehicle manufacturers guidelines (can take some searching).

All too many cars with MORE than adequate brakes & power are under-rated, due, mainly, to the lack of testing by the manufacturer. The new SAE J2807 standard on towing does not address this shortcoming, although the test is rigorous: includes power to back up a ramp, power to take a VERY long steep grade, etc, etc. But the test precludes trailer types, etc. Chances are, in other words, that your Honda Accord can actually handle a decent trailer if:

tires/wheels are sufficient
a weight distributing hitch is installed with a custom hitch receiver
Auto trans cooler
power steering cooler

Etc etc

Not for the unskilled nor for those unwilling to pay for experiments. So see if you can find out what the vehicle is rated for overseas. But, as you do so, remember that European trailers meet a different set of safety standards. American trailers rely on a high tongue weight percentage (10-15% of trailer weight) and some European trailers are set up for 5-7% TW. It's easier for a smaller vehicle to deal with less TW.

Trailer stability (anti-yaw) is handled, when necessary, with add-on equipment. Braking is also thru surge style brakes versus American style electric brakes. Frankly, as in so many other areas, as the US declines into Third World irrelevancy, the civilized world changes standards to meet new information and studies. We get the poor cousin treatment, here, and are stuck in the 1960's on too many items.

A short wheel base vehicle such as a Wrangler can be a more than decent tow vehicle provided it is set up properly, and reasonable limits maintained. My Cherokee is capable of 5k and a fair frontal area on the trailer. In all cases, very low center of gravity, wide-stance roll center (torsion/independent axle) and electric over hydraulic disc brakes is always superior. As is the sway-eliminating PRO PRIDE hitch (and two others). Not cheap to set up, but it can all be done.

As to what is the most useful trailer my vote goes for a dump trailer. One can increase the wall height and install a cover, and otherwise cover every contingency a homeowner might need. But these trailers are usually of a fair size. The nicest one I have seen is, no surprise, European (and sold here).

THULE 3-Way trailer
Thule Three Way Tipper Trailer - Four Wheeler Magazine

BRENDERUP is a manufacturer of horse trailers in Europe and now imports here. This is a low TW, aero trailer that a fairly small SUV/truck can pull with ease.
Brenderup Real Trailers

Plus, there are all sorts of kits out there. Any car I owned I believe I could come up with a satisfactory trailer to make a cross-country trip. Might be slow across the Rockies, but I'd get there. And the tow vehicle would be find afterwards. With this goal in mind one ought to be able to find something suitable to work your metro region.

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Turns out the VW TDI is rated for towing around 1,200 pounds with a 165 pound tung weight, my room mate has Jetta 1.8T with the gas engine and I borrowed his owners manual and it had specs for the whole lineup.

I know my Civic VX can tow a far amount but 2,000 pounds with it (my goal) is a bit much! sure an aluminum trailer would help but my electric car is 1,400 pounds.
More and more people that I know want to move to a vehicle and trailer in order to down size vehicles and they often turn to me with questions as to what to buy, so any other vehicles that are good with trailers would be nice to know about.

If 2000lbs is all you need to tow then I would say pick any mid-size or large RWD car with a limitted-slip differential, disc brakes, and a manual gear box. Then just make sure the hitch/receiver are rated high enough for the load.

P.S. WTF is a power steering cooler?

A power steering cooler looks like a smaller version of an external {as in add-on} transmission cooler. The ones I've seen look to be a two row cooler that's about 12" long overall.

Typical tongue weight for Euro passenger cars is in the 50-75 kg (110-165 lbs) range.

On my V50, it's 50 kg (110 lbs) for a non-braked trailer up to 700 kg (1543 lbs) max gross weight or 7,1% ; and 75 kg (165 lbs) for a braked trailer up to 1300 kg (2866 lbs) or 5,8% .

My 2004 Jetta TDI is rated at 1500 lbs in USA but 3000 lbs in Europe. 45-50 MPG on the highway. I lose 5 MPG towing my light Harbor Freight trailer with a 2 foot high square box all the way around.