Is there a "Best" towed vehicle for behind my Motor Home?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

wijames2002

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Posts
168
Location
Tavares, FL
I'm sure I'm going to pull a tow behind my motorhome for ease of getting around town while RV'ing. Any suggestions as to the best or easiest small tow to use?

Thanks
 
You are really looking for a "towed" vehicle as opposed to a "tow" vehicle.  And no, there probably isn't a "best". It really depends on your needs and wants as well as your pocket book. Jeeps are a favorite because of their ability to towed "4 down" easily, but there are many different vehicles that I have seen behind motor homes. 

Motor Home magazine produces a yearly report on all vehicles that are towable, and the ease or requirements of each one.  A Google search should produce their latest report. 
 
The best one is one that suits your transportation needs, requires no mods for towing, and does not exceed your coach tow rating. Oh, and one that Mama likes! Small SUVs are popular, but there are more choices of both size and type. Sedans, pick-up trucks, etc.

You should consider both 4-down towing and dolly towing, though 4-down is the most convenient. Most any front wheel drive vehicle can be dolly-towed, so that opens up the choices  quite a bit.

Would you be buying new or used?  For a given vehicle model, some years may be towable and others not (due to transmissions changes).
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
The best one is one that suits your transportation needs, requires no mods for towing, and does not exceed your coach tow rating.


Indeed. Having towed a Cherokee previously, when I bought our current coach I sold my pickup and bought another Cherokee (plus a utility trailer). After about a year it became clear I needed a pickup for other uses, sold the Cherokee and bought another pickup. I moved as much of the towing/braking stuff as possible from the Cherokee to the truck, but it was an expensive decision buying the wrong vehicle. The Cherokee was light enough I could barely tell it was back there and seemed to have negligible affect on mileage. The truck on the other hand is much longer and heavier, and seems to have hit my mileage by about 1/2 mpg, which is about 6%. And my uphill speed is even more ?leisurely? than it was. So clearly it isn?t the best choice strictly as a toad. However, we aren?t full-timers and I need the truck so for me it?s the right choice. I have to admit, once I drag it to our destination, it?s a very comfortable ride, a capable off-roader, and now I?ve got tons of space to bring more stuff  ::)
 
Yeah, as you can see from my signature line, we switch between towed vehicles - depending on what we plan on doing when we get to our destination. We're not full-timers, so we have the luxury of being able to do that, but we probably tow the Jeep about 95% of the time.

Kev
 
Like Kevin, we have the luxury of towing either one of our daily drivers. I prefer towing the Jeep Grand Cherokee because it is more comfortable to drive on longer distance drives and is easier to hook up whereas we sometimes take the Honda when we are not doing a lot of running around. I do take a hit on mileage about 2/10 gal with the Jeep in tow. Both can be towed 4 down.
 
I would think that what you want to tow might be determined by needs and type of RV as some will handle big heavy "toads" and other will not. We started out with a tricked out Miata which towed well at 2300lbs but made the Costco trips problematic. Now tow a pristine '99 Jeep Cherokee (3500 lbs) and its been great. 4 Wheel for beach driving and lots of room for stuff.

I have seen a lot of very expensive cars being towed, but seems unnecessary as they can get beat up quite a bit over time. Have even seen a few folks towing enclosed trailers with very cool cars inside.
 
Thanks for the help. We have a Kia Soul as our everyday vehicle but I understand that we would have to Dolly tow it. I also did not take into consideration the wear and tear on the vehicle since my Soul is new. Thinking maybe I should look for a used vehicle for my tow vehicle.
 
To answer Glen's question, the answer is... it depends. It depends on the type of auxiliary brake you buy, whether or not you need a base plate, what kind of tow bar you buy and whether or not you can do some or all of the installation yourself.

We paid an RV shop to install everything on our Acura. It needed a base plate (the thing that mounts to the Acura's frame that you hook the tow bar to) a wiring harness for the brake/tail lights/break away switch, a battery charger so the Acura's battery wouldn't run down on long trips, and we had to buy an auxiliary brake (RVi2 - $1200.00) We already had the tow bar and safety chains. In the end, parts and labor were about $3200.00.

When setting up our Jeep to tow, I did all the work myself. I was able to install hard points for our Blue Ox tow bar right on its bumper/frame, so we didn't need to buy an expensive base plate (about $500.00) Our auxiliary brake is portable, so I just move it from vehicle to vehicle (Takes about one minute.) I bought the wiring harness for the Jeep's lights and installed it myself in about two hours ($65.00)

Kev
 
wijames2002 said:
Thanks for the help. We have a Kia Soul as our everyday vehicle but I understand that we would have to Dolly tow it. I also did not take into consideration the wear and tear on the vehicle since my Soul is new. Thinking maybe I should look for a used vehicle for my tow vehicle.
I'm in the same boat.
I used a rented dolly for our first trip and decided that would be a lot of trouble if we made a lot of trips.
 
wijames2002 said:
Thanks for the help. We have a Kia Soul as our everyday vehicle but I understand that we would have to Dolly tow it. I also did not take into consideration the wear and tear on the vehicle since my Soul is new. Thinking maybe I should look for a used vehicle for my tow vehicle.

First, the wear and tear is minimal especially if you are dolly towing because only the rear wheels are turning. I towed both our cars when they were new. The only reason we have 2 toads is because our older Jeep got totaled just after we bought the Honda. The real wear is tires because they are still turning but dolly towing you are only wearing on one axle.

I do not like dolly towing myself but many do it everyday. There are many cars out there that can be towed 4 down and as already suggested go to REMCO website and look at the list.

I have a friend that tows an old Honda CRV which he bought in Texas used because he was tired of not being able to easily run to the store if he needed something. There are many options available.
 
Hi There.  We  are looking for a tow car as well. We have a 32ft c class and towed our toyota venza on a dolly.  We are looking for a car that we can dinghy tow.  It would make life on the road a lot easier.  I get conflicting info on what make, model and year of cars that we can town on all 4.  The latest rv magazine listed the jeep compass, but going on the remco website it says that it needs to be dolly towed  I'm so confused so if anyone has any info I would love the feedback
 
Motorhome Magazine publishes a list every year.
http://www.motorhome.com/download-dinghy-guides/

The Jeep Compass is towable ONLY if it is a 4-wheel-drive model equipped with the Power Transfer Unit (transfer case). The 2WD Compass must be dolly towed.
 
Gary RV_Wizard said:
Motorhome Magazine publishes a list every year.
http://www.motorhome.com/download-dinghy-guides/

The Jeep Compass is towable ONLY if it is a 4-wheel-drive model equipped with the Power Transfer Unit (transfer case). The 2WD Compass must be dolly towed.

I believe the Compass is towable only standard shift 4 down.
 
Depending on your lifestyle, a car hauler enclosed trailer is a good option for some people. My one friend pulls a 24 ft enclosed with two four wheelers, a chevy tracker, as well as a small punt boat in it. I personally pull a 16 ft enclosed. I usually have my motor cycle, and either a golf cart or my four wheeler in it. The other benefit is we can bring other stuff that would not fit in the coach otherwise. My small car will fit in there too, although I have not put it in there yet. A lot depends on what you are towing with. Towing and hitch capacity, as well as motor size can be a limiting factor.
 
I've been towing a 2017 Jeep Patriot for about a year.  True it has to be stick shift but my 30 foot MH doesn't even know it's there.
 
We bought a 2017 Chevy Equinox 2WD, 4 cyl. Because of the "death wobble" scare, we opted to have the battery charger installed, so we can leave the fuse in. We have taken two, month-long trips with no issues. The Equinox is easy to hook up. Just run it for 5 minutes before tow; put in neutral and turn the key to Accessory. That's it. Can't tow over 65 mph and stop and run it for 5 minutes every 4-5 hours. It tows great.
 
Been hunting for a toad for a year.  We have specific needs for size and a limited budget.  I wanted to avoid any automatic which narrows a relatively small group of 4 down vehicles to even less. As luck would have it, a manual Ford Escape and a manual Hyundai Tuscon both appeared for sale in Chicago area this week when we are visiting friends in Chicago.  The dealers were just off the highway and checked out both yesterday. The Hyundai was in rough condition while the Escape was in mint condition.  Walking out of the dealer who had the Escape he dropped the price $8900 to $7900....we saw the Tuscon next.  This morning, the sales manage texted me to call and he dropped the price to $6900.  Done deal on a 2010 with 55,000 miles. We will stay an extra day and pick up Monday.  So sometimes when you least expect it.
 
Back
Top Bottom