Toad shopping

[sunshinecruiserTN]

Gosh be darned! I am shopping for a toad. I have called most dealers and talked to their service managers and they tell me they don't recommend any be towed 4-down. even Honda told me none of theirs were towable 4 -down and I see CR-V's all over the place. I am looking for a small car, nothing extravigant, just economic and not too heavy. The Saturn Vue is just a little too big for my liking. My PT cruiser is not towable.

Everything is towable with a dolly. Have any of you had any experience with a dolly? Is it hard to hook up? How does it tow? Does it weave all over the place? Those dollys are about $2200. which I could almost buy a car for that. Wellllll, I might have to put a little more with it for a car but you get my drift.

I know I have rambled w/my thoughts but I'm just so frustrated right now. HELP! How do YOU do it?

[Sunseeker]

I had a salesman tell me the Saturn Aura is towable 4 down.

I have a tow dolly and have pulled it many miles. I had a brake installed on it and it towed quite well. Hooking it up isn't hard, but you will need someone to guide you on straight. I don't use it often so strapping it down is a problem, only because I have to get the instructions out to remind myself each time. Moving it around isn't difficult on a flat surface, but I store mine in my side yard and there is a little grade so pulling it uphill is torture...even with two of us doing it.

We started out with it on a trip we took over the 4th of July. To be cautious, we always drive a short distance then get out to check that the straps are still tight. Well, it's a good thing that's our routine, because it wasn't tracking properly. The tongue turned with us, but the frame didn't so the dolly fender put a deep scratch in the side of my brand new car!!! (Luckily the cg we went to was only 1 1/2 hours from home so I just followed driving the car). BF has a call in to the company to see what could have possibly gone wrong. I used to tow a Buick rendezvous, and except for the strapping had no problems with it.

If I had it to do over, I'd get a 4 down towable instead, but with the expense of this dolly a new set-up wouldn't be practical financially.

[Paulette]

Jeep. I believe most if not all of them are towable 4 down. The older crv's are towable 4 down, but the new one's might not be, I'm not sure.

Anyway, that's my recommendation.

[Sunseeker]

Jenny and Dan tow a jeep down.

[asirimarco]

We towed a Saturn sedan then got a Jeep Larado now we have a Jeep Liberty - much smaller and lighter. All were towed 4 down. Just be sure to read the owners manual before towing. We love the Liberty - use it for towing, hauling and rock climbing. And it is very comfortable. Milage is about 20 but we have a power package and "aggressive" tires on it.

[SeeyaGal]

I tow a Jeep Cherokee and had to make sure it had the tow pkg....not all new Jeeps have them which shocked the salesman.
Mine does and I tow it with no problems , we use a Blue OX tow bar and it does not add up miles being towed. I have towed it more than driven!! I do not have a locking steering wheel so I do not have to keep the key in the ignition. I just have to make sure the transfer case is in neutral. I have valve stem covers alerts ( pressure pro) on the wheels to alert me when I'm losing air in the tires

The Jeep Liberty is towable too and it is smaller....have alot of friends who have them, that would be perfect for you.

[carold]

We have a Toyota Corolla with a standard transmission (shifting involved of course). We tow wheels down and get 37-44 on the road and some city driving.. Don't do a lot of just city driving. carold

[JanJer]

We tow a 2006 Saturn Vue, 4 down and I love the car. It is light weight and tows like a dream. We didn't want a dolly to tow with because you have to figure out where to store it at the campsite, plus we thought hooking up with a blue ox would be much less hassle.

Jan

[retiredhappy]

I'm assuming you want an automatic not a standard. I tow a 2001 Saturn. Its light and tows really well. All I have to do is put it in neutral, make sure hand brake is off, turn key to "Acc" to be sure steering wheel is loose and pull one fuse under the hood which keeps it from racking up miles when towed. I see a LOT of Saturns attached to motorhomes.

Prior to that I towed a 1974 VW bug with a standard shift. Loved it but got tired of no AC and the stick shift - did that when I was a kid and now want easy over cute.

Personally I wouldn't want to bother with a tow dolly - you can buy a car for the price of the dolly. You have to find a place to stow it at CG and to me, just gives me one more thing to worry about plus is the car strapped down right?

I personally also would stay away from the Remco package that you can supposedly add to any car to make it towable wheels down. Its really expensive, not transferable if you change vehicles. I've heard both good and bad about it.

The FMCA web site has a list of towable cars.

[sunshinecruiserTN]

Thanks for the info. I checked all the cars in the MH mag Towing Guide and most if not all of the owner's manuals say NO. That is why I so surprised that you all are towing the jeep Liberty, the owner's manuals I have looked at say NO towing 4-down. So you all must be doing something to it to let it tow that way. I love the jeep liberty but when I looked at the owners manual, I just about cried. This is becoming so frustrated.

I have asked salesmen, i.e. VW and one the phone it was sure, all our vehicles can be towed 4-down. So I went there to check the OM out for myself and the service manager came out because the OM are not in the vehicle and he wanted to know why I wanted to see the OM. I told him and he said, none of our automatic vehicles can be towed 4-down. Dang it! trip for nothing.

Yes, I do want an automatic, air, blah, blah, blah. I'm gonna do more checking on the Liberty. Maybe an '05 or earlier.

[Getupngo]

I tow an '01 Honda CRV four-down, and there are instructions in the manual about how to do it properly.

[Bethers]

Me thinks you need to find a salesman who knows what he's/she's talking about - supposedly the Jeep Liberty Sport 4wd (2008 model) is towable in automatic with 4 wheels down. The other 2008 Jeep's available for towing 4 wheels down are the Commander Sport, Grand Cherokee Laredo 4wd and the Wrangler 4wd.

Find all the 2008's available to tow here Motorhome Magazines 2008 Dinghy Towing Guide

In the first paragraph you can click to see the 2008 guide.

[SeeyaGal]

When I said mine was a Jeep Cherokee it is I believe a Larado, the Rocky Mountain edition it's a 4X4 by shifting it into that. It's automatic, I refuse to drive a stick!! My manual says how to put it into towing mode....just remember it HAS to have the "Tow Pkg" if you look for the Jeeps. When I went to Alaska we were all 4 wheeling one day... we had 2 Jeep Libertys, 1 Cherokee ( mine) and a wrangler . We towed them just fine down the roads all over Alaska and Canada with no problems. Our friend with the Wrangler even went down into a ditch one time so funny how he did it , kinda scared them for a minute but he got back out just fine and we had a good laugh about it....he was watching for Moose!!

I'll tell ya something..and DO NOT DO AS I SAY!!! We have even used the Blue Ox tow bar to hook a 4x4 truck up to it and PUSHED our motorhome which was stuck in a field in Jan 2007 at the Mercedes TX fairgrounds and we were the first group to head into Mexico!!
We got out and it looked like we were drag racing through the field with the motorhome next to us because the truck pulled that one out.

We were fine till a sudden thunderstorm hit right over the top of us at 5 A.M.!!! We were suppose to be on the road by 7!!

Campsites are small enough trying fit your RV in and then to park a dolly is a pain, I'd rather have 4 down any day

[sunshinecruiserTN]

Great ideas everyone, thanks. Still shopping.

[Paulette]

I went with the Jeep Wrangler X, and it is a manual transmission. I wanted something that was basically idiot proof to tow, however I must add that even then I am an idiot and let's just say I don't quite have all the steps committed to memory yet! But if you are just looking for a basic, scoot around town kinda vehicle for getting groceries and little side trips, this one will do. If you are looking for something more comfey, then you probably want a cherokee or liberty or larado or CRV type vehicle. As for Saturns, I know nothing about them but do hear a lot of folks talk about towing them.