While you don’t need a massive truck to tow things, I also can’t recommend towing with a VW Golf. Towing isn’t just pulling a trailer, it’s also stopping a trailer, keeping it steady at speed, and having a transmission that can handle it and keep temps in check. Longer wheelbases do help with stability at speed and sports brakes aren’t built for towing.
Easy Google search shows this car should not be pulling a travel trailer.
Motorcycle trailer, sure. But basically best case scenario this trailer is at it’s tow capacity, which does not give much wiggle room for failure.
But most likely it’s quite past the tow capacity. It’s tow capacity is 2000kg/4400lbs. A travel trailer’s dry weight is already close to that. If it was a pop up camper that’d be one thing, but this is a full dead ass travel trailer. It’s probably around 5000lbs, and who knows what’s stuffed in the back. This is a safety issue.
Quick edit: this is not to say you need to own an F150 for the one time a year you do this, but maybe rental?
It’s also possible to have cars modified to increase towing capacity. I’m not saying this particular car has had that done. But you do see a lot of Dutch towing trailers in Germany. I’ve never heard of anything bad happening, other than them clogging the fucking motorways with their slow ass jalopies.
We, having a regulatory body that defines itself trough regulations, of course have a regulation for that. Furthermore, we define how and when it’s applicable and so forth
And yet, the Golf is rated for up to 2,000kg in the UK (a select few Diesel models), and a 1,200-1,600kg range is typical for many other editions of that model. That’s for a trailer with its own brakes, of course. When I had a trailer with electric brakes, I could stop the whole rig with just the brake controller. I towed that trailer with an S10 Blazer, which had a wheelbase only 4 inches longer than the Golf. The trick was to load it with enough tongue weight that stability was not a problem, rather than relying on a hefty vehicle to overcome sway. I never had a problem with transmission temperatures when keeping the trailer weight under the rated capacity of the vehicle, but an aftermarket oil cooler can always be fitted.
Glad someone said it. Just because you can pull something doesn’t mean you can stop or maintain pulling said thing.
That being said yeah I agree you don’t always need a truck.
If the car is rated for towing the weight of the trailer, of course it can stop it. That’s what the authorities are going to test, among other things, before greenlighting a car with those specifications.
They’ll test it for the weight, however it’s important to understand the testing cycle. Were the tests only setup on flat ground? Did they adequately test braking? Did they ride the brakes for a while? Is there a difference between haulable weight with trailer brakes vs without? It’s also important to note that in the US tow ratings are setup by the manufacturer… which means that numbers are super subjective and simply a circle jerk of who is willing to legally put a larger number on the vehicle.
All the new 3/4 ton trucks can tow more than US drivers with a class C license in most states could legally carry. The numbers are kind of useless IMO.
They’ll test it for the weight, however it’s important to understand the testing cycle. Were the tests only setup on flat ground? Did they adequately test braking? Did they ride the brakes for a while?
Well, it seems that you are not familiar with European road safety testing and certification. My BIL was working in that area, and his executive summary of that was: if it passes European tests, you can sign the American test papers, too, as it would pass them with flying colors.
![[image] Since many people seem to believe you can't tow with cars, here's roughly what dutch people end up doing on vacation.](https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/ea1db421-ccea-4e3d-af37-aec9b3e62de4.jpeg){kind=link}
While you don’t need a massive truck to tow things, I also can’t recommend towing with a VW Golf. Towing isn’t just pulling a trailer, it’s also stopping a trailer, keeping it steady at speed, and having a transmission that can handle it and keep temps in check. Longer wheelbases do help with stability at speed and sports brakes aren’t built for towing.
You can bet your ass that if it’s certified to pull a certain weight in Europe, all these things have been taken into account.
Easy Google search shows this car should not be pulling a travel trailer.
Motorcycle trailer, sure. But basically best case scenario this trailer is at it’s tow capacity, which does not give much wiggle room for failure.
But most likely it’s quite past the tow capacity. It’s tow capacity is 2000kg/4400lbs. A travel trailer’s dry weight is already close to that. If it was a pop up camper that’d be one thing, but this is a full dead ass travel trailer. It’s probably around 5000lbs, and who knows what’s stuffed in the back. This is a safety issue.
Quick edit: this is not to say you need to own an F150 for the one time a year you do this, but maybe rental?
It’s also possible to have cars modified to increase towing capacity. I’m not saying this particular car has had that done. But you do see a lot of Dutch towing trailers in Germany. I’ve never heard of anything bad happening, other than them clogging the fucking motorways with their slow ass jalopies.
Idk someone else in this thread said that it’s kinda a rule in the EU not to buy a used Dutch car with a trailer hitch
What’s the test? Any videos and documentations of these tests?
We, having a regulatory body that defines itself trough regulations, of course have a regulation for that. Furthermore, we define how and when it’s applicable and so forth
And yet, the Golf is rated for up to 2,000kg in the UK (a select few Diesel models), and a 1,200-1,600kg range is typical for many other editions of that model. That’s for a trailer with its own brakes, of course. When I had a trailer with electric brakes, I could stop the whole rig with just the brake controller. I towed that trailer with an S10 Blazer, which had a wheelbase only 4 inches longer than the Golf. The trick was to load it with enough tongue weight that stability was not a problem, rather than relying on a hefty vehicle to overcome sway. I never had a problem with transmission temperatures when keeping the trailer weight under the rated capacity of the vehicle, but an aftermarket oil cooler can always be fitted.
Glad someone said it. Just because you can pull something doesn’t mean you can stop or maintain pulling said thing. That being said yeah I agree you don’t always need a truck.
In Europe, it would not get a rating for a certain weight if it was not able to safely handle and stop it.
If the car is rated for towing the weight of the trailer, of course it can stop it. That’s what the authorities are going to test, among other things, before greenlighting a car with those specifications.
They’ll test it for the weight, however it’s important to understand the testing cycle. Were the tests only setup on flat ground? Did they adequately test braking? Did they ride the brakes for a while? Is there a difference between haulable weight with trailer brakes vs without? It’s also important to note that in the US tow ratings are setup by the manufacturer… which means that numbers are super subjective and simply a circle jerk of who is willing to legally put a larger number on the vehicle.
All the new 3/4 ton trucks can tow more than US drivers with a class C license in most states could legally carry. The numbers are kind of useless IMO.
Well, it seems that you are not familiar with European road safety testing and certification. My BIL was working in that area, and his executive summary of that was: if it passes European tests, you can sign the American test papers, too, as it would pass them with flying colors.