I want to buy a small/compact SUV for towing 2 motorcycles to a track and/or when I move far. I want to know the truth when it comes to towing with SUVs that have towing capacities of about 3500lbs. And I would like the vehicle to last me a long time… What are your thoughts?
If you are talking about towing up to 3500 pounds you need a Class 2 trailer hitch. The receiver is 1-1/4", that’s the square hole then you insert the Drawbar, the “thingy” that the Hitch Ball fastens to…
I have seen this unit installed after market on vehicles that have no business towing anything… They are often fastened in haphazard ways, like welding to sheet metal, or bolting through floor or trunk pans. All dangerous and probably illegal and if the unit breaks and you lose the trailer and the trailer causes injuries or worse, it will not be consider an accident, but criminal…
Whatever you get, make sure your vehicle is powerful enough to pull that additional weight of everyone and everything inside it, the weight of the trailer it’s pulling, and the weight of everything on the trailer.
That vehicle also needs to be big (as in large and heavy…) to buck cross winds and the side-drafts of passing trucks, and heavy enough to be able to stop all that weight…
You also need to decide if you want 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive. Pulling that trailer over dirt or muddy roads to get to that favorite spot might mean the only way you can get a 2-wheel drive unstuck is to unload those motorcycles and go find a 4-wheel drive two truck…
Here is from an excerpt from one of my earlier postings…
“I also have a 2001 Dodge Ram, 2500, Diesel, 4x4, and my neighbor has a 2020 (or so) Ford F-150, 4x4, V-8, and when he got stupid and went 4-wheeling in a field after a long rain, I used my truck to pull him out… My Big Ram has hauled 18,000 lbs cross-country, his F-150 hauls lawn chairs to the beach. I average 15 MPG in the city and 20 on the highway, he gets almost 20 in the city and over 25 on the highway. Diesel is about 20-cents more a gallon here… When his engine is idling, you can barely hear it, when my diesel is idling, you have to yell to be heard… But neither he nor I would swap for the other truck…”
All that remains for you to decide if you are going to buy what you want, what you need, or what you can afford…
In the end, if you buy something that is designed to do what you what done, then you probably cannot go wrong…
1 Like
Some people can’t handle the truth…or choose to ignore it.
The “truth” is the the very best type of vehicle for towing/hauling is a body on frame truck or large SUV. The drawback to this “truth” is that such vehicles tend to drink more gas than a small SUV. But only you can decide if that matters to you or not.
Sometimes it makes sense to have a small SUV or car for the 90% of driving that you do every day…and either rent or borrow a truck for the towing/haulung that you plan to do the other 10% of the time.
I used to be a “man needs a truck” sort of guy; I always drove a pickup truck “just in case” I needed to randomly move and/or haul stuff. Which I found was virtually never. Then we got rid of the truck, and I started paying to have stuff delivered and/or moved. I’ve been banking the savings ever since.
Good luck.
2 Likes
Are you going to be towing little Honda CFR 250 - 230ish pounds, or big and heavy Harley-Davidson CVO Limited - 963 pounds?? lol
If you decide to go the small SUV tow way, then make sure it comes factory installed as a tow package so it hopefully will have an upgraded cooling system but mainly a bigger transmission cooler to keep the trany cool… Heat KILLS transmissions, so keep that in mind…
Me, I’m a get the right tool for the job kinda guy, in this case, vehicle for the job…
Your money choice and decision…
1 Like
WHAT? After market receiver-hitch made by companies like Draw-tite/Reese are designed to fit and bolt securely to the vehicle. They are custom designed for each vehicle. You can get a class III hitch for almost any vehicle on the market.
Smallish SUVs like an AWD Rav4 can easily tow up to 3,000lbs, with an additional 1,000lbs of payload power. Just make sure you get the right optioned Rav4. 2 Harleys weight at most 2,000lbs. Add another 1,000lbs for a small trailer and you’re well below the max.
We go camping a LOT during the summer towing a popup trailer with my Toyota Highlander. I’ve towed this trailer with my 4runner and my Pathfinders. No problem what-so-ever. If I owned a larger trailer, then I’d get a larger tow vehicle. You don’t need a large diesel truck to tow this type of payload.
1 Like
I’m going to be towing a Ninja 400 and Yamaha R7.
If only it was true that you will only load the motorcycles on…
I have a Harley and if I need to haul it, it goes on the back of my truck… My friends who haul their bikes on trailers are not just loading up the trailers with the bikes. Depending on where they are going (long trip, camping, etc…) those trailers usually have a tool box, coolers, camping gear, tents, lawn chairs, logs (for a campfire), spare parts, cases of beverages (of course, all non-alcoholic…), and so much more…
And those trailers need to be sturdy enough to haul that weight (hey, that’s right, the trailers are heavy too…) so the vehicle and hitch need to be able to handle not just the weight of the load, but the combined weight of the load and trailer…
When I was stationed at Goodfellow AFB, TX, I was the president of the base motorcycle club, and as such, when a military member was involved in a motorcycle accident, I was called in by Wing Safety to give an assessment for the “Line of Duty Determination (LDD).” The LDD was used to determine what action might be taken; ie: training, restriction, pecuniary responsibility, judicial review, etc…) concerning the individual.
There was one instance when a young sergeant was hauling two dirt motorcycles on a “homebuilt” trailer. The actual trailer was a small unit originally intended to haul a lawnmower or a powered wheel chair or something like that… The trailer was not long enough for the motorcycles so he bolted on 2x10 planks to extend the end (homebuilt…). He drove one bike up onto the Right side of the trailer, but he did not secure it with straps, he drove the other bike up and the weak suspension on this trailer caused the first motorcycle to rock and tip off the side of the trailer. The sergeant grabbed the handle bar of the tipping motorcycle but it was too far-gone and it pulled him over with it. He broke his wrist, the second bike is laying over on its side, he is pinned under it and it is still running. He is dangling over the side of the trailer and with the broken wrist, he could not free himself; his wife tried to help but had to run for help to get him out. By the time he was freed, he also had a pretty severe burn on his leg.
Even though this all occurred off-base, while he was off-duty, the broken wrist and burns on his leg meant that he had lost duty time and a Line of Duty Determination is required…
They do not tell us the outcome of any LDDs and I do not know what ultimately happened to the young sergeant.
So, the moral of this story is also buy a trailer that is built to haul the weight and size of the load you intend to haul (two motorcycle and whatever else you intend to take…).
I’ll keep that noted. We aren’t avid campers or anything so we would just be hauling what’s needed for the track. Eventually we will have a truck but for the time being since I’ll be the first with a new vehicle possibly I want a city and towing vehicle specifically just for the 2 motorcycles.
Any vehicle suggestions?
I’ve been looking into…
-Jeep Cherokee trailhawk
-Mazda cx50
-Kia Sorento
You know what I drive, the 2500 Ram with a Class 5, Heavy Duty Hitch, but I am not recommending this. Just for information, my wife’s ‘85 Toyota Corolla, has an Class 2, add-on, U-Haul hitch, that we put on when it was new and we have hauled a 6’x12’ trailer way in the past, the trailer was rated for 2500-pounds, and with weight of the trailer, that put the hitch at the hitches max. And we filled the trailer and the Toyota had no problem hauling that weight or stopping with the weight… In retrospect, it was too much, but we were young and foolish…
About, 25-years ago, pre-truck, U-haul restricted the Toyota to a 4’x8, rated at about 1500-pounds, hence the need to buy the truck so we could haul those lawn chairs to the beach… L 
L . . .
We also have a 2019 Toyota Corolla and 2020 Honda Fit, neither of which can be legally fitted with a trailer hitch. The under bumper, under trunk area is all sheet metal… Both cars have pop-out covers in the bumper areas that allow us to screw in a “pull hook” There is that little “solid Steel…”
There is a lot of good advice being offered by folks who have vehicles that will fill your bill, and if the vehicle is used, read this posting and take that advice too…
Good Luck!
Cool, so you will be about 1/2 the weight of 2 Harleys…
I would stay away from Kia/Hyundai and FWD/AWD Jeeps… And personally anything with a CVT trans for towing…
Those are light bikes. Both combined are 1100 lbs maybe. 1400 lb trailer som 2500 lbs total.
As others have said, whatever vehicle, make sure it is rated for the weight… more is better… and that it has the equipment the manufacturer recommends. The sales literature has that info.
Any good aftermarket hitch matching the max tow rating of the vehicle will come with all the mountings. Check local laws for trailer brakes. Usually 1900 lbs or over requires trailer brakes which need to be wired into the car. If you are not entirely comfortable with wiring, hire it done.
As far as your choices of tow vehicles, the Mazda is the only one I’d consider.
Thank you!
1 Like
Rav4 Adventure or TRD trims are rated at up to 3,500lbs. would be worth considering. Mazda would do fine as well.
1 Like