“Whitey, It is Walmart’s corporate policy to allow RV’ers to park in their lots overnight, so I would not worry about any local manager. That is why they sell a special version of the Rand McNally atlas. Can’t speak to local ordinances, but never saw any of those signs.”
It might be Walmart’s policy but the local ordinances prevail. There’s a Walmart a mile or two from where I live and overnight parking of any kind is prohibited by city ordinance. But we’re also several miles from the closest freeway.
asemaster, where to the locals in your community keep their cars overnight if overnight parking is not allowed? Where do you put your car overnight? Do you have any motels/hotels there? If so, where do their customers leave their cars?
Just harassing you, I used to live in a community that did not allow overnight parking of RVs. You could not keep your own RV in your own driveway. Its kinda funny though as they now have a WalMart just off the interstate and that WalMart does allow RVs to park overnight, and they do.
@keith, Ha! It’s not the community at large, you can park whatever you want in your driveway. But local ordinance prohibits overnight parking in store parking lots, etc. Probably to discourage people from sleeping in their vehicles, prostitution, etc. That kind of stuff is for the next city down the road.
But on a related topic, my neighborhood is full of people who park on the street. They’ll have a 3 car garage, a 2-car driveway, and still not have enough space. The garage is full of “stuff” and a $40,000 SUV has to stay on the street. Never understood that.
These are people who value their other stuff more then their cars. I can relate to that. Besides, except for repair, I feel garages are over rated as parking areas for daily use cars which are made to be out of doors. A good carport for protection from the sun and direct rain is all one needs. Use the garage for what was really intended; storage for boats, lawn mowers and bikes and a haven for mice.
Too many people come to my dealership and ask if a certain car/truck/suv can pull a certain weight. I always tell them "Yes, why not? A Toyota Tundra pulled a 292,000# space shuttle."
The real question is “Can I tow this trailer and STOP?” The REAL towing limit of any vehicle is how much weight can it STOP with the factory braking system, and any supplemental brakes on the trailer. Any small car can pull a 750# camper without too much fanfare. However the OP has a 14 y/o Civic with a pantload of miles on it. 1) It’s an economy car, usually maintained on an economy budget. 2) It’s an economy car, usually under-powered to maintain highway speeds when loaded down. 3) It’s an economy car, and without any experience towing, it may be damaged by towing anything heavier than a Radio Flyer.
I know this is a really old thread but a DuckDuckGo search had it as one of the top results when I was looking for the towing capacity on my older Civic. My Civic came Factory ready to tow with a Honda branded Class 2 hitch still not sure of the capacity but the manual transmission has a specific towing gear. The car came with the original pamphlet which shows the car towing a ginormous 3000 pound looking camping trailer. My neighbor hauls they’re huge speed boat with a red Honda S2000 and this is in the Appalachian Mountains not like it’s flat train. It’s all about your comfort level and the safety for the other people around you. If your trailer has huge Wheels with beefy tires, really good brakes and your vehicle has the power or gearing give it a try. As far as stoping distance and weight If I were to factor in weight ratios, trailer to vehicle and then compare them to an average semi truck rig I would say that my car could probably handle way more than what I would be comfortable with trying to stop but then again every big rig on the road has that same problem.
My 05 camry, auto, with 2.4L was rated to tow up to 1400 pounds with a trailer brake and 1000 pounds without brakes. I had a small 4x6 trailer that I towed all kinds of stuff with. Typically motorcycles or supplies from the hardware store. I probably towed that little trailer 20,000 miles, over the life of that car. The most I ever pushed it was to the 1000# range and the car really worked hard. I slowed down and locked out the over drive function when towing.
Something to consider. Just because you are within the weight does not mean that your car is up for the challenge. If towing something like an enclosed trailer, that trailer acts as a massive wind sail and your car will struggle. I towed a 5x8 utility trailer that probably only weighed 300 pounds empty. It had a fold up gate made from wire mesh on the back. When that gate was upright the car struggled significantly more than when the gate was down.
The civic is a much smaller car than the accord or camry. I personally would not try and tow anything as substantial as a small tear drop unless you plan to have major mechanical problems on your trip. If you try, plan to replace your transmission and better have a rainy day fund.
European trailers are set up differently from American ones. In Europe, the center of mass is directly over (or very close to it) the trailer’s axle. In America, the center of mass is in front of the axle.
The end result is that American trailers are stable at higher speeds, but they put more weight on the tongue and therefore the American tow vehicle needs to be able to handle a lot more weight pressing down behind the rear axle without unloading the steer tires so much that it becomes unsafe.
European trailers are unstable at higher speeds, which is OK because in Europe people pulling trailers drive slowly (you might have seen Clarkson ranting about this before he got himself fired) and the tradeoff is that a lighter-weight vehicle can handle them because there’s less downward force on the hitch.
I’d be a little concerned. Our first camping experience was in one of those pink campers that we borrowed. It was almost perfectly balanced. When we got back we bought our own that was heavier in the tongue. My experience pulling trailers is that it is very dangerous from a fish tailing standpoint if you don’t have more weight on the tongue.
If they load their campers with their gear in the back, that could make the tongue very light. A swaying trailer with a small car is not a good combination. Carrying a load of long lumber once caused such a problem with sway that I stopped at the next town and bought a couple bags of salt for ballast on the tongue. That took care of it and the salt went in the softener when I got home.
I always chuckle when I hear “towing capacity” and any small vehicle used in the same sentence. I’m a realist. I don’t use the words “pig” and “pretty” in the same sentence either.
Sort of like jumbo shrimp? Lots more non PC stuff I could add!
I’ve towed little trailers (700# no brakes) behind little cars - Saturn Coupe w 1.9 liter 122 hp
Not so little - 1500# (no brakes) behind an 83 Firebird 2.8 liter V6
Downright hefty - 4000# (2 axle brakes) behind a 300 I6 in a Ford van
Hefty and then some - 4700# (2 axle brakes) behind a 1/2 ton Suburban with a 350 V8
And a seriously portly parachute - 9300# (2 axle brakes) behind a 1/2 ton Chevy Avalanche SUV with the 5.3 liter V8
By far the easiest on the cars were the first 2. Both cars had 4 wheel disk brakes and manual trans. No overheating or braking issues. The ratio of car weight to trailer weights was well over 2 in both cases.
The 4700# car trailer behind the Suburban towed fines although the brakes were a bit dodgey. The brakes on the Subby were disk/drum and engineered badly for normal use let alone towing. The weight ratio was 1.5.
The Ford van weight ratio was about 1.5 as well but the axle ratio was a bit low for good acceleration. No trailer package, soft acceleration. Other wise all was good.
The 9300# -er pushed the limits of everything because the trailer was heavier than the truck by 1.5 times. It had a towing package with extra coolers and 4.10 gears. It did the job but had to work very hard to accomplish the task. It was at the limit and a little bit more since the it was rated for only 8400# trailer weight.
The point of this analysis is; Stay with a trailer weight of 1/2 the car’s weight and you should be OK as long as the car can hit 0-60 in 11 seconds or less. Watch your temperatures in a “test” tow before you commit to a 5000 mile trip to make sure nothing overheats. If it does, add a cooler. Easy to check with cheap IR temp readers. Add an oil cooler, transmission cooler and possibly a power steering cooler if needed. Test and verify.
There are exceptions to every rule. I like pigs. Bacon is my favorite breakfast meat with ham being a close second. My third is sausage. I use my Dodge Dakota to transport them home from Kroger. I even worked at my local Piggly Wiggly for 7 years during high school, vo-tech and college. Fun years.
