Looking for a towable tow vehicle

My crew and I are purchasing a motorhome soon, and at the same time,
replacing her Toyota pickup with a more economical sedan. I'd like to
get one that's light enough to tow behind the motorhome on winter
trips, but heavy enough to tow the glider when the need arises. Iow a
towable tow vehicle.

I think the Honda Accord might fit the bill. Comments from anyone with
experience towing gliders with Accords or Civics?

-2NO in Tempe

I think the Honda Accord might fit the bill. Comments from anyone with
experience towing gliders with Accords or Civics?


Right you are. Our Honda 6 cyl has towed our PW-6 trailer 33,000 miles
over four summers at highway speeds with nary a problem


--
Charles Yeates

Swidnik PW-6U & PW-5
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/yeatesc/world.html

My first tow vehicle was a 1988 Honda Accord 2.0 liter
I-4 5-speed and it towed my home-built trailer (no
brakes) easily enough. However, on I-95 in Florida
where 18 wheelers were running about 95 m.p.h., I did
get blown around a bit.

Now, I have a 2000 Honda Accord 3.0 liter V-6 automatic
and it tows the same old trailer with ease. It doesn't
get moved around at all like the smaller, lighter Honda
did. However, what I miss is the manual transmission,
whether I'm pulling the trailer or not, but alas, the
auto was the only option. The four speed automatic
does not have an overdrive lockout, which I would like
when pulling the trailer.

I would still be driving the 1988 Honda if a driver
had been paying more attention and didn't pull out
in front of me. It was 'Ramming Speed!' and I totaled
my car. It had only 396,000 miles on it when it died.
And, it was running great! Sigh...

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

At 19:31 02 February 2005, Charles Yeates wrote:


I think the Honda Accord might fit the bill. Comments
from anyone with
experience towing gliders with Accords or Civics?


Right you are. Our Honda 6 cyl has towed our PW-6 trailer
33,000 miles
over four summers at highway speeds with nary a problem


--
Charles Yeates

Swidnik PW-6U & PW-5
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/yeatesc/world.html

what I miss is the manual transmission,
whether I'm pulling the trailer or not, but alas, the
auto was the only option. The four speed automatic
does not have an overdrive lockout, which I would like
when pulling the trailer.


The technical specialist at the dealership said an automatic
transmission is best -- it knows when the load justifies a shift
My 2004 Honda Accord 6 cyl has a five shift automatic transmission,
Perrrrfect
--
Charles Yeates

Swidnik PW-6U & PW-5
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/yeatesc/world.html

wrote:
My crew and I are purchasing a motorhome soon, and at the same time,
replacing her Toyota pickup with a more economical sedan. I'd like to
get one that's light enough to tow behind the motorhome on winter
trips, but heavy enough to tow the glider when the need arises. Iow a
towable tow vehicle.

I think the Honda Accord might fit the bill. Comments from anyone with
experience towing gliders with Accords or Civics?

A Civic works, provided you get a running start at the hills, and slow
down when the trailer starts swaying (70mph in calm conditons, 50 to
55mph in windy conditions).


-2NO in Tempe

Greg Arnold wrote:

A Civic works, provided you get a running start at the hills, and slow

And here we go again... In Europe, we tow routinely with 60 to 70 hp
cars. Works for us, even in the Alps. Obviously US pilots are a
different species.

Stefan

But then, our cars in Europe are engineered with decent suspensions -
something still not heared of in the US... :-)

--
Bert Willing

ASW20 "TW"


"Stefan" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
Greg Arnold wrote:

A Civic works, provided you get a running start at the hills, and slow

And here we go again... In Europe, we tow routinely with 60 to 70 hp cars.
Works for us, even in the Alps. Obviously US pilots are a different
species.

Stefan

Bert Willing wrote:

But then, our cars in Europe are engineered with decent suspensions -
something still not heared of in the US... :-)

We heard of them long ago, and we even build them here, like the BMW -
you've heard of it, I know! The Toyotas and other Japanese cars have
decent suspensions, certainly equal to the Passat and similar. And even
the fully American vehicles long ago became decent to compete with
Japanese and Europeans. Anyway, it's not the suspension that hauls the
trailer up the hill, it's horsepower.

You are not towing your glider trailers _up_ the Alps at 70 mph with 70
hp cars, are you? If you are, they aren't as high or as steep as I thought!


--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Eric Greenwell wrote:

You are not towing your glider trailers _up_ the Alps at 70 mph with 70
hp cars, are you? If you are, they aren't as high or as steep as I thought!

I don't even drive at 70 mph up the Alps _without_ a trailer, because
the streets there are not only high and steep, but also quite narrow and
curvy.

You'd be surprized what you can do with astonishingly few horsepower.
Agreed, towing a double seater may be a bit harder, but still works with
70 hp. Maybe not at 70 mph uphill, but who cares? How often do you tow a
trailer? Once or twice a year for holidays and twice or thrice for a
retrieve, ant that's it in most cases. For me, spending two or three
hours more in a year for towing (assuming the worst case scenario) is
much better than having to drive an insane SUV the whole year. But then,
we don't occupy distant countries to ensure our oil supply, either.

Stefan

Jeep Liberty..

wrote in message
oups.com...
My crew and I are purchasing a motorhome soon, and at the same time,
replacing her Toyota pickup with a more economical sedan. I'd like to
get one that's light enough to tow behind the motorhome on winter
trips, but heavy enough to tow the glider when the need arises. Iow a
towable tow vehicle.

I think the Honda Accord might fit the bill. Comments from anyone with
experience towing gliders with Accords or Civics?

-2NO in Tempe