Newbee $ new beetle owner plan to purchase a T or TT

[Betty as in Boop]

Hi, new to the group and looking for advice/tips about teardrops and tiny trailers to tow with my VW new beetle. Any information is greatly appreciated. Leaning towards a Little Guy TD or a Dutchmen TAB. Glad to be part of the group and look forward to comments.
Betty in FL

[doug hodder]

Betty...first thing....find out what the towing capabilities are of your Beetle with the transmission you have...once you have that in hand, you can sort out the variety of available trailers out there to see what will work for you and your camping style....I do know that there is a lady pulling a Camp Inn with a Beetle (Jolene) Welcome aboard!!! Doug

[Eunice]

Betty welcome. have fun here. This is a great bunch of folks and you can get advice on most anything.
Eunice

[sdtripper2]

Betty:

Welcome ~

Doug's advice to find out your Beetle's tow capacity is sage advice.
You will do best with a light pull with a Beetle I am sure.

Our forum member "Nic" AKA Nicholas has a Beetle that is his Tow Vehicle
(TV) for his Teardrop (TD). Think he has issues with hills with the weight of
his trailer. But would suggest you Private Message him for details.

Here is Nicholas's info:
Nic's profile:
Nic's Personal album showing his TV and TD:

[Betty as in Boop]

Thanks to all for the replies. I'm uncertain ab. the tow capacity of my new beetle (NB) b/c manuals usually say n/a and manufacturer recommends that it not be done--yet---I've heard otherwise (fingers crossed) Auto trans w/tiptronic. Thanks for the advice! Happy to be in, I love these trailers.

[pgwilli]

As I recall, Joanne has a diesel bug (is it ok to call the new ones that?). Big torque available.
Like Doug and Steve said, gets the manufacture’s tow rating in writing via the owner’s manual.
Welcome aboard Betty B.

[Ira]

Hooray! Another Floridian!

Betty, I'm gonna try to tow with a "new" 1995 TRACKER.

But then again, I don't have much to live for, so I figure, what the hell?

[Mike C.]

Welcome Betty,

I see you have already gotten several answers to your questions. That is what is so great about this website. You ask, and before you know it, you will have many and various answers, and some of them will even be right.

Anyway, welcome to the forum, hope you have fun.

[mincey]

Welcome Betty!

If I recall correctly, regarding towing a T@B, I think the Beetle need to be the turbo diesel model to tow it. There was a lot of discussions on a T@B message board about this because T@B's sales literature showed a Beetle pulling a T@B, which led a lot of people to think any Bettle could do it. Like others here have said, definitely check the capacity of your Beetle. Too beautiful of a car to mess it up towing something you shouldn't!!

Cheryl

[packerz4]

hi Beetle Betty! (bb)

i have a '99 bug TDI, there is a good TDI forum out there, i've checked it out a few times.

it seems that the european beetles have towing capacities listed in the owners manual, but here in the states it's not in the manual.

something with lawyers, brakes, liability. anyway, you can tow some, but lighter is better and i'd be super duper careful with your automatic transmission. a small little guy might be perfect.

you may have the 5 cyl? that may pull more? bottom line is you won't get anything in writing from a US dealership or mfr.

welcome to the madness!

i've talked to nic before too (he's super nice, but i haven't seen him on the site for a while). i'm going to put a hitch on my beetle to pull my small HF trailer with my lawn mower on it.

look for a beetle forum, and learn as much as you can about your car.

warmly,
tk

[Mary K]

Hidieho neighbor!!

Welcome the the forum!!

Good luck, keep us posted on what is happening, take lots of for us, and read, read, read cause there is a TON of info here!!

Mk

[vkirchner]

Yep, packerz4 is correct. The US bugs do not have any listing for the towing capacity, I also have a 1999 New Beetle TDI with a manual tranny. The Class2 hitches that are available for the US beetles have a 2000 lb towing capacity. The only worry I would have would be the auto transmission, that scares me a little, although I always drive a stick shift. Maybe a little biased.



Remember the old Chevette's? I pulled a small pop-up camper for years with that, and it had a fraction of the power that the New Beetle has. If you really are concerned, I can contact our Luxembourg office and ask them to find out what the towing capacity is in Europe.

[Betty as in Boop]

vkirchner: that would be great! And thanks to everyone for the info!


and thanks to everyone for the info, I hope it keeps coming!
Betty

[flygal6]

Hi Betty....I googled the european beetle and found the actual sales brochure in a PDF file this is what was listed. From what I got on the thread here is that you have an automatic trans: 1.6 litre 4 speed auto or 2.0 litre 6 speed auto both have the same towing capacity. It is shown as braked = 1000kg or 2204lbs or if unbraked 600kg or 1322lbs. This is directly from the VW Brochure. Hope this helps! Welcome to the forum.
Carol

[Betty as in Boop]

Flygal6,
thanks a bunch! That is encouraging news.
I'm sure I still have a lot more learning to do on the topic, but I'm trying to keep my eyes open for good deals on an appropriate used T or TT, or TAB. As always, any info is appreciated.