Looking for an American Made Car that can be towed 4 down?

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4ducksrus

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 17, 2010
Posts
814
Hey Folks,
We are in the process of getting rid of my Mini Cooper and decided that any vehicle we purchase at this time in our life should be able to be towed 4 wheels down.  So, here's where my question arises....Are there any American made cars that can be towed 4 down without messing with the transfer case?  I'm looking at the Honda CR-V, but my Union Electrician Husband...wants us to buy American if possible.  TIA  Mikie
 
My CRV was assembled in Ohio.  I think that is still in the US.  ;) US and Canadian parts make up 60% of my CRV.  You have to look at a cars sticker to see where it was really assembled and where the majority of parts come from.  Just because it has a Detroit name, doesn't mean it is made in USA.
 
Molaker said:
What's the matter with your Jeep?  If it is a 4wd, it should be towable 4 down.

We aren't getting rid of the jeep, just replacing my car and figured it might as well be towable as well for future options.

As for the Made in the USA...I hadn't really thought about it that way, just looking at maybe a Ford, GMC, or Chevy....I'll have to look a little differently!  Thanks...LOL
 
US made cars that are 4-down towable are pretty easy to find.  GMC Acadia & Terrain, Buick Enclave & LaCrosse, Chevy Traverse & Equinox & Cobalt & Malibu & HHR, Cadillac SRX, Ford Edge & Escape & Flex & Fusion & Taurus, just to name a few.

You can view lists of them for each model year here:
http://motorhome.tl.com/dinghytowingguide/
 
Besides the US names we know, you can also find where the foreign brands are built in the US.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/19/automobiles/20090619-auto-plants-4.html
 
Bob Maxwell said:
. . . and Smart cars too.
We towed a Smart ForTwo for a year.  Great Little car.  Emphasis on Little.  We went to a CR-V to have more room when on the road for 6 months at a time.
 
Hello- this is my first post after being a member for over a year. Brother Bear recommended this site after I had posted a question on another site. Have spent most my time gaining a lot of free information to get me over our newbie status of being full timers since May 2011, never having trailer or motorhome camped before.

Anyway, on this topic we started out last January hunting for the "perfect" toad and found our criteria changed as time went along and as we learned- going from one car and three pick-ups to one vehicle took a lot of getting used to.

We first wanted a 4wd or awd as we wanted to be able to sight see as we traveled. Our idea of simple soon changed to a more realistic recognition of what was more suited to a pair of seniors with some disabilities.

As always being Ford or GM owners it took a lot of re-adjustment to check other brands- GM and Ford were out as they were just plain uncomfortable for someone of my height and both required me to lift my feet about 6 or 8 inches to lift them over the door sill when exiting, difficult with my back injury and neurological problems in my legs.

Next to the imports-most 4wd did not have an automatic that was full flat towable. The CR-V was an exception and filled most of our requirements, but was not a big 3 manufacturer and as a farm boy I would not risk getting in a situation where the next town down the road in West Texas, population 2000, didn't have a dealer and repair facility. Scratch the CR-V but a great car.

Because of this "service" aspect, we also decided to buy new and we eventually ended up at a Jeep dealer-had never owned ANYTHING Daimler Chrysler before except for a WW II surplus  CJ.

Eventually the dealer was able to up sell us to a 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland - had everything we needed, everything we wanted and a whole lot more. Automatic, 4WD, comfortable great load capacity(instead of being towed by our Class A , it could nearly do it the other way around) and space for all we thought we had to leave behind.

Beware most sites that tell you what is towable or not-most are out of date at best or just plain wrong! Dealers can print out the towable versions of their products along with restrictions, Their service departments can (and most are willing to) make you aware of any service bulletins that affect towing and are the best source in my opinion. Also forums like this will give you a lots of heads up on caveats on towing - like questions about the Ford Escape.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Grand Cherokee- they have just added a third shift at their North Jefferson plant and are again offering a diesel option so they are doing something for employment.

The CR-V also gets a thumbs up, but is a bit smaller.


 
Many vehicles can be towed 4 down even if the factory says not to.

RemcoTowing USA sells modification kits that basically turn your car into a free-wheeling trailre.. NO connection between the wheels and the transmission.

Some are fairly simple.

Not all need it. And the Remco web site has a list of what can and what can not be towed both with and without mod.  The catch is they only show you one model at a time.. In the old days you could download a chart.
 
Our 2007 Jeep Liberty 4wd tows flat.  Dealers tend to tell you what they think you want to hear, so be sure to look at the owner's manual -- it will not only tell you if it's towable flat, but will tell you the procedure (putting it in neutral, etc). 
 
Redman, Thank you for responding.  As far as the jeep, we were looking for something with better gas mileage too.  The CR-V boasts 30 mpg and our jeep wrangler gets best 18mpg.  What does your grand Cherokee get?

Does anyone know exactly what is different in the transmission that makes some towable with out messing with the transfer case and some not?  Just curious....LOL

Mikie
 
Mikie:
We have just over 7500 miles on our Grand Cherokee and virtually every mile has been highway-it doesn't count up tow miles so that is just the miles we have put on seeing what we have missed for the past 40 years.

Mileage has not been easy to calculate when on the road but now that we are settled into Texas Hill Country we have kept track of the last three tankfuls and we are only getting about 23 mpg with the 3.6 liter motor-not a powerhouse but more than adequate even in these hills.

The CR-V is a nice car, wouldn't have complained too much if I had been "forced" to settle on it. Chrysler dealers are a lot more common than Honda dealers and that was the deciding factor.

Good luck.
 
Hi Mikie:

after lots of research - our purchase:
a pontiac G5
(we bought a brand new 2009, in the first part of 2010 - as that made the purchase price very good)

it has been great!

good luck
pdq
 
We just bought a Lincoln mkz hybrid sister to ford fusion. View the owners manual on line..simple to tow, consistently 36-38 mpg...but note hybrids with electric brakes need special type of aux brakes for towing.
 
DITTO said:
We just bought a Lincoln mkz hybrid sister to ford fusion. View the owners manual on line..simple to tow, consistently 36-38 mpg...but note hybrids with electric brakes need special type of aux brakes for towing.

We currently have the Air Force One braking system installed for our jeep wrangler and are planning on having this same system put into whatever car we purchase.  Our thoughts are that when we go somewhere (we are not planning on ever totally being full time) we can take whichever car fits the need. 
 
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