Looking for a towable tow vehicle

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

"Stefan" wrote in message
...
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

In the US and Canada when participating in contests requires a slightly
different set of wheels not fancy but something that will be appropriate
for the
distances traveled. As an example: this year I will be attending the
Seniors,
in Florida 2500km. A month later I will be going the South Carolina
an other 1800 km. In June it will Utah again at least 3000km and after that
maybe a couple of local contest each let say each 600km. All one way.

Out West I will be cruising at 140km/h up or down moderate four lane
Highway hills
with my cruise control on. Let me assure you the difference between 150 hp
(American) and 220 Hp plus and the right handling car makes this kind of
driving not a pleasure but acceptable.
Regards
Udo

Udo Rumpf wrote:

Florida 2500km
South Carolina 1800 km
Utah 3000km
a couple of 600km
....

Agreed. But how many glider pilots fit the same pattern?

Stefan

Stefan wrote:

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?

About four big trips (and lot of little ones) and 10,000 miles a year.
For example, if the 18 meter class National competition is held in
Uvalde, it's a 4000 mile round trip for me. Even to go to Minden is a
1400 mile round trip.

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.

And most US pilots that fly close to home agree with you, and use
whatever car they have.

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

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

Nether do we.

What we don't have here are gas taxes that triple the cost (we do have
gas taxes, but they are not ridiculous).