Flat tow dinghy choices for 2018 Vista 29VE?

[danhannah]

We tow a 2014 CRV by Honda.

It works very well - hardly know it is there, even on hills. YMMV if you are driving a bigger gas rig.

And it's a pretty good run around town car.

BTW, towing throughout the entire state of California is limited to 55 mph.

AND budget for a tire pressure monitor for your Toad. It is a "Have to have" when towing, In My Humble Opinion...

[jamesdbetts]

Originally Posted by GGcamper

We just purchased our first Class A and are attempting to figure out what to use as a dinghy. We are in our 60s and looking for something affordable, small to mid size, reliable and easy to manage. Any recommendations? How old is too old for a dinghy?

Loved our Fait 500 light and fun to drive
Next was jeep wrangler also fun but more expensive and heavier

Now gave a ford ranger with a cap for extra storage .

Liked the. All so as long as it's towable you should be fine

[Fanrgs]

We have a 2011 4wd Mazda Tribute--a Ford Escape twin--that is flat towable. All automatic Ford Escapes were flat towable until 2012. Same for automatic, 4wd Honda CRVs through 2014. After those years, they went to CRT automatic transmissions, which are not towable 4-down.

Some newer hybrids are flat towable, including the Ford Escape mentioned above and the smaller 2013-2018 Ford C-Max hybrid SUV. Unfortunately, no newer automatic trans Toyota or Nissan SUVs are flat towable.

One thing to note is that a 5,000# hitch receiver does not mean that that MH can tow 2.5 tons. Our Winnebago Sprinter has a 5,000# receiver, but max tow is 4,200#. That is the amount of weight remaining from subtracting the GVWR from the GCWR. Ideally, the toad would weight 15-20% less than that 4,200# to allow for mountain climbing when in the West.

[Gary92345]

We have towed a 2019 Equinox since we bought it new. Tows great, absolutely no hassle to set up, just turn off the automatic lights and the climate control, put it in neutral and turn off the engine.

We have the Demco Stay N Play brake system and a blue ox towbar setup, takes us less than 5 min to hook up or unhook (after a little practice).

The Equinox also is a pretty good daily driver, so we have been pleased with our setup.

[marudnick]

We tow a Ford Focus behind our Sunstar 29VE. One nice thing about the Focus is that the automatic transmission versions can be towed. Unfortunately, Ford discontinued the Focus in 2020 but there are still used ones around. The car is fun to drive and easy to tow.

[cthiggy]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the SMART car. Small, light, excellent gas mileage (Premium Fuel) and does not "REQUIRE" a brake system (less than 2000 pounds) in many states. Like a motorcycle unaffected by weather which can carry much more.

Spouse and I towed a 2013 SMART for four years with nary a problem. Yeah, it was slow and had a clunky transmission, but almost perfect for towing flat. We used bungees on the steering wheel to straighten front tires after cornering. Have to exercise caution on the model year as later versions can not be towed. As others have correctly mentioned above....CHECK THE OWNERS MANUAL.
cthiggy

[JimStreit]

We tow a 2013 Honda CRV. It's light weight, 3,700 pounds, its all wheel drive, lots of space to drag chairs to the beach or carry our bikes, and a bonus is it doesn't add mileage to the odometer while being flat towed. We've been towing it for the past 5 years with about 34k miles without issues. Similar to what others mentioned I installed a small switch on the dash to cut power to the radio and fans while we tow to reduce any unnecessary power draw. If we had a tire problem I don't think we'd feel it in the rig, so we've purchased a TPMS with screw on valve stem caps and keep the monitor part in the motorhome with us.

There is a 65 mph tow speed limit but thats fine with us because I typically don't drive the motorhome faster than that anyway. No need.

An additional benefit of towing an older toad is that rock chips on the front isn't as painful as it would be with a newer vehicle.

Good luck.

[GGcamper]

Thanks for the info. How reliable has your Equinox been? Have you needed repairs other than regular maintenance?

[GGcamper]

Thanks for the warnings about the rock chips. Not something we would have known to expect. Definitely a consideration against buying new.