Flat Tow Vehicle? 2005 Itasca Suncruiser

[wvuee83]

Hi everybody. I just joined today. I have a 2005 Itasca Suncruiser.looking to purchase a vehicle to tow.possibly a Jeep or Mini Cooper. Does anyone have any experience with either of these or any recommendations on towing? I am a new motor home owner.

Jim

[creativepart]

Lots of folks Flat Tow (dingy tow, 4-wheel down tow and Toad are all acceptable terms for this) a Jeep because they are easy to put into a neutral tow with the 4-wheel drive system. But not every Jeep model. Make sure the get the correct version of the system.

The Mini Cooper is not as popular. First, it must be a manual transmission - you can't tow a Mini with an automatic transmission. And second, the Mini Owner's Manual expressly forbids flat towing... even in cars with a manual. But that doesn't mean that you can't do it. Many folks do tow the manual Mimi successfully. I looked at buying one once and the selling dealer even told me that if I flat towed it that it would void the warranty.

Most Chevy SUVs and many Ford and Lincoln SUVs and cars are flat towable even with an automatic.

The most popular Toad was the Honda CRV but in 2015 Honda changed the automatic transmission to a CVT and so anything newer than a 2014 can no longer be flat towed.

You need to look at the Good Sam Flat Towing guide or the FMCA Towing Guide. They put out a new version every year. So, if using a used car you need to find a PDF copy of the towing guide for the same year as the car.

Here's a link to the Good Sam Guides:

https://www.motorhome.com/download-dinghy-guides/

[BobC]

Originally Posted by wvuee83

Hi everybody. I just joined today. I have a 2005 Itasca Suncruiser.looking to purchase a vehicle to tow.possibly a Jeep or Mini Cooper. Does anyone have any experience with either of these or any recommendations on towing? I am a new motor home owner.

Jim

Not all Suncruisers are created equal. Not only is the model number important, but the chassis as well, so let us know what you have.

If you go to the User CP (User Control Panel) in the toolbar, you can set up a signature block similar to mine. That way, everytime you post, we'll know the details on your MH.

[Morich]

We find a good alternate is the Honda HRX manual trans as it is lightweight but has the features we want for everyday driver.
The process has been getting more and more difficult but we had to look at each model we were considering and sort down to what we wanted and what the manual for that specific model said was allowed as they vary a whole bunch.

For us, logic tells us, smaller is better when we want to tow, so set your priorities as to what you want to drive and when as well as what the RV is setup to tow, then shop carefully with auto transmission models being very near gone for flat towing due to the switch to CVT trans.
I might predict there will be nearly no cars built to flat tow in five more years as times are changing and there is not that big a market for the poor fuel economy of older models.

Hybrid and EV may be the better choice soon.