Can I pull a pop up with a v8 Volvo XC90?

Context: We're in no hurry, this is just a dream of mine that might just work out. If the numbers don't work, I'll just go back to dreaming about getting an old GMC motorhome instead. I really have nowhere to park anything, but there's a nearby storage facility with cheap 20' spots. I miiiiiiight be able to back a pop up into our garage, but it's narrow and I'm not sure I'd want to try it. We have two kids (2 and 4) and my husband has a dual sport motorcycle he would be interested in taking along. I didn't really get this vehicle specifically to tow, but if it can, bonus!

The numbers:
2006 Volvo XC90 7-seater with the AWD v8 - not currently set up to tow, we'd have to add a hitch and wiring, the 7-seater comes with auto leveling rear suspension
Manual says 5000lb (braked trailer) tow capacity with 2 people, but lowers it to 3700 with 4 people - I'm not sure why the numbers drop so dramatically when adding people.
CCC according to the door sticker of 1210lbs
I saw an E3 Evolution pop-up toy hauler on craigslist with a GVWR of 4400lbs, most of the new ones I'm seeing on manufactures' websites are even higher.
The curb weight of the Volvo is just shy of 5000, so it would still outweigh the Evolution.

The questions:
So, the E3 would be too much with the kids in the car? Even though they won't add anywhere near 1300 pounds?
Are there lighter pop-ups out there that would have a deck for just one motorcycle? We don't need a big 4-wheeler deck, just enough for the one bike.
The manual says we should load for no more than 10% tongue weight, but from reading here, the recommendation is 10-15% for stability? Should I calculate options against 15% just to be sure we don't overload CCC?
Should I give up and keep looking at GMCs and parking options instead?

Reference links:
Would something like this work (I'd rather have an inside bathroom set up though)? http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/rvs/5685340838.html
or should I keep one of these in my 5 year plan (or whenever I can figure out where I'd park it) instead? http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/rvs/5706878119.html

I would not expect good road manners with an XC90 loaded to anywhere near its 5000 lb max, but I have no experience with that specific model. Few vehicles designed primarily for passengers handle well at max load, whether cargo or trailer.  I would be thinking in terms of a trailer in the 4000 lb range, and maybe a bit less since you say they drop the rating to 3700 with 4 adults. I expect that Volvo's experience has shown that the suspension wallows too much with both people onboard and a trailer attached.

15% is high - 10-12% of the actual trailer weight is fine.

Given that you want to haul a motorcycle as well as having a usable trailer, I think you should wait and get a more capable tow vehicle. Not sure the old GMC coach is going to be much better, though. It's not exactly a heavy duty hauler either.

Thanks for the feedback and perspective. I'm mostly interested in the GMCs because I think they're adorable and it would be fun to drive around in one, not at all because I think it would be a practical choice for our situation. I just love the look of them so much.

Do you think it would be reasonable for us, with a good hitch set up, to try and rent a smaller pop-up locally? There are so many private rentals in our area, including pop-ups, although I can't understand why someone would be willing to rent out their pop-up given what I've read about how fiddly the set up can be.

I don't think we'd ever go very far with it, but the area I really like includes driving south on HWY 17, which is windy enough in a car, let alone dragging a trailer of any size. Although, I see plenty of medium sized 5ers making that drive, so it must be doable. We could always just go straight down HWY 1 too.

I will not disagree with Gary! 

What is the CCC of the trailer?  Can it carry the bike and your camping needs?

Your car  CCC is 1200#. This must include the weight of all 4 (or 5?) passengers, plus room for growth, car seats, snacks, toys and anything else in the car.  Now add 80# for the hitch and another 80# for the car mounted receiver and 500# for tongue wt.  I suspect this will really be pushing the CCC.  Do you really want to spend the money for a receiver, hitch, brake controller and TT to find out you hate how it tows??

The E3 was just under 3000 dry, 4400 GVWR, so 1400 ccc. I think the bike is 300. I have no idea how much camping equipment for a family of 4 would run since I've never actually done it. So I'm hoping you guys can fill that bit in with some averages. In the car would be 300lbs of adults (luckily, neither of us are particularly big), 100lbs of kids and car seats (which I know would go up as they grow up), plus stuff, however much that weighs.

So, in the car, 1210-300-100-80-80-500= 150, which basically means we can't put anything in else in the car as the kids grow. But is the receiver and hitch really two separate 80lb parts? It's not like I'd need weight distributing at under 5000lbs right? It would just be the receiver and a ball? But I guess it's really splitting hairs being this close to the CCC. We'd have to pack basically everything in the trailer, but that would have 700-1000lbs of CCC before getting to the limit. I have no idea if that's enough. And we'd be pulling at the limit, which is not a good idea.

I wouldn't mind paying to have everything installed just to hate how it tows a 3500lb pop-up if we found that out by renting one. We could scale back to a utility trailer for the motorcycle and figure out how to tent camp. I could probably even back one of those into my garage. It would probably be really useful for us to figure out tent camping anyway.

Then, in a few years, I could use my GMC to tow the utility trailer!

Looks like my next bigger car will be even bigger. We mostly got this one to see if I could handle a bigger vehicle and bridge the gap when we sell back the VW since the Golf was our only car.

The trailer tongue weight is around 10%, so the hitch on the tow vehicle has to carry about 10% of the trailer's 4000-4400 lb weight.  Call it 400 lbs for now. You need a Class III hitch for a trailer over 3500 lbs anyway. The Class III hitch can do the tongue weight, but whether the XC90 can handle having 400 lbs hanging off its back end is questionable, I think. Weight on the hitch has a lot of leverage, so has much more effect on the steering and handling than weight in the seating area. For one thing, weight placed on the hitch actually lifts the front end and reduces the amount of contact of the front wheels with the road.  I don't know enough about the XC90 to have an informed opinion, but it's probably stretching it to its limits.

You could get a Class III hitch receiver installed and experiment by renting a smaller pop-up or maybe a hybrid trailer and see how it goes.

Thanks Gary, the v8 we have is AWD and adaptive, so it should be able to keep the rear wheels doing the work with weight on the back. The 7-seater also comes with auto-leveling suspension which is required for trailer towing according to the manual, so hopefully that would keep the rear up. The v8 apparently has beefier breaks too.

I've been trying to find out more googling and reading Volvo specific forums, but I see everything from 3000lbs is a death trap (in theory) to someone who towed a car on a flatbed in excess of the 5000lb tow rating who says the set up was under the rear axel rating and it towed beautifully, so everything is fine. It seems like most people using this vehicle are anywhere from the mid 3000s to upper 4000s (but those heavier ones are boats, more aerodynamic). Even someone with a hybrid that grosses in the upper 3000s. I've seen a few more pop-ups with decks in that range. There's actually a nice looking hybrid available as a rental, grosses in the upper 3000s, but I'm not sure I'd want to tow something taller than the car on the first try. It's in a less hilly area though, and we probably wouldn't have to take it far to get to a camp ground.

We actually stumbled on this Volvo while looking in a much higher price range and figured the deal was good enough we could afford to add some things, like a hitch receiver, and still leave enough in the car budget to consider a trailer. Time to start researching a hitch receiver set up and lighter pop ups.

Thanks Gary, the v8 we have is AWD and adaptive, so it should be able to keep the rear wheels doing the work with weight on the back.

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Does it also have rear steering? It helps to have the front wheels touching the pavement. Firmly, if at all possible. 

I would expect that vehicle would do ok with 3000  to maybe 4000 lbs. It's when you start talking about 4500-5000, plus some passengers, that I get skeptical.  But hey, it's your vehicle and you doing the driving. Let us know how it goes...

Once upon a time, many years ago, we had gone to a church camp and stayed in a very heavy old army tent.  Dad had to go home early, so I packed the car for the trip home. (Remember, many years ago)  I loaded the tent, poles and most of the luggage in the very back of the station wagon to leave lots of play space in the middle. (no seat belts, no child seats, no problem!)  Mom drove about 20 miles, barely able to steer the car.  We stopped and repacked with the tent and luggage on the back seat floor, seat back down.  With the weight redistributed, we continued 300 miles home without incident.

Yes, you CAN load the back so heavy that you lift the front end and you lose good steering control!

violajack said:

There's actually a nice looking hybrid available as a rental, grosses in the upper 3000s, but I'm not sure I'd want to tow something taller than the car on the first try. It's in a less hilly area though, and we probably wouldn't have to take it far to get to a camp ground.

We actually stumbled on this Volvo while looking in a much higher price range and figured the deal was good enough we could afford to add some things, like a hitch receiver, and still leave enough in the car budget to consider a trailer. Time to start researching a hitch receiver set up and lighter pop ups.

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I would go ahead and get your hitch & wiring installed, then try out that rental. That will give you some real knowledge of how your vehicle will tow. With that knowledge you can target your search for a camper.

Our first tow experience was a rented popup behind a Olds Cutlass.  DW was pregnant with our first.  As a result of that rental we bought a popup and several years later we were towing the popup with 4 bicycles on top of it behind a Astro van.  Years of fun.  We once hauled the popup behind the Cutlass with 5 bicycles mounted on the Cutlass, 5 of us in the car.  Loaded down.  Beverly Hilbillies.  Had a great time but didn't drive over 55.  Rear of the Cutlass was low, low, low. 
Doesn't have much to do with your questions, but you sparked some memories.  Sorry for the hijack. 

HELLO welcome to the fourm. Have you look at getting a pop up toy hauler I just look at one the other day at a trailer store for fun  had a max weight of about 4500 LB, CCC of about  2000 lb. The trailer itself would be about 2000 unloaded. I know that Jayco and Fleetwood both sell them, may be a good option. Find on used and save a ton of cash. Just look up pop up toy hauler on the net there's lots of them  good luck.

Okay, yes yes, I clearly had mixed up the idea of drive wheels with steering wheels. I was thinking I wouldn't loose traction as much as a front wheel drive would, and the auto-leveling suspension should help with keeping things flat, but yes, I can also see the issue of leveraging too much weight off the front and the effect that could have on steering. Would a WD hitch matter at these weights?

I've kept looking and I'm finding more pop-ups with GVWR in the lower 3000s, so it looks like we can stay lighter. I'm definitely going to keep it under 3500, and as close to 3000 or less as I can. And we'll look to rent something first. One of the pop-up renters also has a hybrid toy-hauler, but it's in the upper 3000s, probably heavier than we should do. Maybe if renting a pop-up goes well, we could try that thing on the next go-round.

We'll get the hitch and wiring done. Or maybe we'll try it ourselves; my husband has been rather project-y lately. There are several hitch receivers available - one by Hidden Hitch, and one by DrawTight (there's a curt one but it's only rated to 3500 unless weight distributing). Any reason to pick one over the other?

Then there's the wiring rabbit hole. Should we have that done, or is that something we can DIY (with no experience)?
And a brake controller? Do I need that, or do lighter things like this have surge brakes? Do you guys trust wireless controllers? I know the trailer needs some kind of brakes.

DH was also talking about upgrading the brakes in the Volvo anyway. I would certainly feel better with the beefiest brakes we can get. One of the big plusses of this car is that we don't mind modding the snot out of it. DH has already been looking at chipping it, Bluetooth stereo adapters, the bigger brakes, and anything else he can do to it. It's years of repressed desire to tweak the Golf, but we couldn't while it was under warranty.

I'm thrilled to actually have DH on board with this too. He's suffered through years of eye rolling while I've talked about everything from cashing out of the Bay Area and dragging the family around in a giant 5th wheel for a while, to Rialtas, to Roadtreks, to the adorable little GMCs I'm currently obsessed with. It's a wonder his eyes haven't just rolled all the way out. But he's actually into the idea of being able to take a motorcycle out and camp with the family. I just want to park somewhere pretty and sit and twiddle my thumbs (not likely while the kids are still little, but someday, SOMEDAY!.)

Bobmws said:

I would go ahead and get your hitch & wiring installed, then try out that rental. That will give you some real knowledge of how your vehicle will tow. With that knowledge you can target your search for a camper.

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            I'm with Bob try some rental's and have fun, And see what works best. Ah to be young again.