Hi,
Because of the fact that I always wanted to have a Porsche 911 convertible, I am thinking about purchasing a used one despite the fact that its probably an inadequate choice in times like these. However I want this Porsche to be my everyday car which I also need to carry things. I do not want to buy a second car just for carrying things around. As the car does not provide much storage space I’d like to install a trailer hitch so that I can use it with a trailer. When sharing that idea with my friends I got nothing but a swell of deafening laugther. They said that it has NO style at all to hook up a trailer to a Porsche and that it would be too embarrassaing. At the end of the day I think its not more than - what? -a car! Which must get me and my load from A to B. What do you think?
I wonder if you can even buy a hitch for a Porsche 911? IF, you can it would have to be a small, light weight trailer. Sometimes you just can’t get everything you want in one single car. A 911 is a rear engine car. To fit a hitch you have to work around the motor, transaxle, and exhaust system. Just doesn’t sound like a good idea. There is going to be little to no weight on the front tires, like the ones that steer.
How about a 3 series BMW? Quick, good handling, stick available and I’m sure you could tow a light weight trailer with a Beemer.
Bad idea. Porsche doesn’t recommend towing with any of it’s cars (save for the Cayenne). I expect the rear engine on the 911 would exacerbate weight distribution problems. Even mounting a hich would be problematic. The good news is that if you can afford a 911 you can also afford a used truck to haul your load around.
“Autoanything” lists a hitch for older models of 911.
Good luck on anything more than 500 lbs. Let me know you’re coming so I can get off the road. If it’s a really light baggage trailer or bike rack, I see no problem.
Besides, they handle so well to begin with, the trailer could deteriorate that to say an Accord or a John Deere. Won’t know til you try.
Since the engine in the 911 is in the rear, the hitch would go on the front. You would then push along your cargo in a device called a leader instead of a hauling your cargo in a device that you pull along called a trailer.
If you really want a 911, just rent/borrow a truck when you need to tow something. I would not try putting a hitch on it.
What kind of things do you plan on carrying around? Would a nice chrome bonnet-mounted luggage rack suffice?
I pulled a Sunfish sailboat trailer with a three cylinder Geo Metro. If that car can tow a small trailer, why not a Porsche? People pull small trailers with Honda Goldwings and smaller motorcycles also.
The key words here are “small” trailer and common sense speed driving. What you really need to worry about is not the engine, but the car brake’s ability to stop and how it makes the car handle.
The NTHSA says to check the owner’s manual. I’ve seen small cars and SUV’s with them, but I have heard that even trucks like the Ram Viper with a V10 are not supposed to tow.
A Porsche 911 roadster can never be your “everyday car”. Forget that. Now about the hitch. Installing a trailer hitch on a 911 reduces the 911’s value to that of a parts car. No Porsche buyer would TOUCH one with a trailer hitch installed. If you just don’t care about these things, go for it, it’s your money.
A Porsche-up truck. Why hamstring a nice trip by hitching a trailer to a sports car? It’s much easier to get something with a trunk and enjoy your trip. The first time you jack-knife the trailer while trying to back up, you will wish for normal wishes. You don’t want to be the top clown on U-tube.
A 3 series Beemer is certainly a great car and it would even fit my budget so that I could get it new. Whereas the Porsche would be a used one. But its just not the same and even though the convertible is also a very nice alternative I prefer the look and handling of a 911. Maybe I should get a used truck to haul things around.
I need more space than that. I think about carrying construction equiptment and building materials as I am going to reconstruct an old house, but bit by bit so it does not have be a huge truck.
Have you thought about just renting a suitable vehicle when you need to haul something too big for that car? It can make more economical sense than owning, licensing, and insuring a small pickup truck that you may need only a couple of times a year.
Bad idea. I would not consider anything larger than a bicycle carrier. I might add that the sail boat (Sunfish) noted is a very small boat, sort of like a surfboard with a small bed sheet… That might be OK if you don’t need to go far.
Not knowing where you live…its always nice to have a winter beater.
Lots of my fellow race track rats have small tire trailers on all kind of sportscars.
How often will you need to carry extra stuff? Home Depot has trucks for loan. U-haul has pick-ups for 20 bucks a day (advertised anyways) Might this be an option.
Heck before I had my truck, I carried 2x4’s in my Miata with the top down.
I hope to have a 911 before i go to that Big Track in the Sky…go for it and figure of the mundane stuff later
Go with Steve’s suggestion to rent the Home Depot truck. You’ll totally destroy the 911 by the time you finish hauling enough materials to reconstruct an old house. And the gas you’ll save by hauling fewer large loads with the rental rather than 5,000 tiny loads with the Porsche will more than pay for the rental’s cost.
I just finished redoing my own house. Rewired, replumbed, reconfigured and rebuilt the heating system, new windows, new roof (had that done), new furnace, patching and sealing of the basement, repainting of the outside, numerous misc framing and sheetrock projects…there’s no way you’l do this with the 911.
A used truck comes with the expense of purchasing it, getting it up to snuff, registering, inspecting, and maintaining. Use the rental. It’ll be a lot cheaper.
A Honda Goldwing has an 1,800 CC horizontally opposed six cylinder engine. It’s power to weight ratio is off the scale. So pulling a small trailer the size of a rooftop carrier isn’t asking much. However, a trailer full of construction equipment and building materials is another story.
A trailer hitch on a 911 would put more weight on an already weighted down rear end. It would be fun trying to keep the front tires on the ground!
If you can afford a 911, you can afford to spend $1 - $2k on a beater pickup truck. There are a lot of old trucks trying to get sold these days for very little money.
Twotone