So, do you have a small tow vehicle?

[KevinR]

I drive a couple of rabbit diesels. an '81 pickup and a '80 four-door. I've used both of them for tow vehicles pulling a small popup or a light fishing boat. I'm careful not to overload them but each vehicle pulls fairly well. I wouldn't hesitate to tow a light teardrop.

I wouldn't call rabbits fast but they will run at highway speeds and get up to speed fairly quickly. But I'm not sure they'd do well in mountainous driving.

I guess if I was in a big hurry I wouldn't be driving rabbits.

[canned o minimum]

As "I" have stated numerous times, my TV is a 1965 VW Beetle and I tow a Little Guy 4 wide( 785 lbs dry)

I go up into the local (San Bernardino ) Mtns. quite often as well as long distance driving . Mountain driving is SO varied and up/down/winding.. no matter WHAT TV you use, you are gonna go slow !

Besides, it's TEARDROP TIME...tho "I" am notorious fer drivin 70mph on the open road and fer passin up motorhomes and 5th wheels at 85 mph.

When it gits too windy.. I jus pull off the hwy and rest in my TD. I ALWAYS make sure that there is sufficient SPACE between me and the next guy and drive DEFENSIVELY.

Common sense goes a LONG way.. if ya have any. My VW has the old style "drum" brakes all around, an upgraded engine and transmission, and Runs On Fun !

[angib]

is this a 3 wheeler by chance?

Realistically, a Bond Minicar had trouble moving itself, nevermind with a trailer attached. However it was a very clever design for trying to make a car cheaply. Yes, it was a three-wheeler and the entire engine and gearbox. from a motorcycle, are hung off the front wheel. Some good photos here:

http://www.microcarmuseum.com/tour/bond-mk-d.html

such as this one:



Like a lot of microcars at that time in Britain, they were selling to guys who had ridden motorcycles with sidecars and being only a three-wheeler meant they didn't have to pass a car driving test.

[jackdaw]

Weferlinger caravan 79" long, maximum weight 610lb.

Bond Minicar, single cylinder 200cc engine, 10hp. Max speed (not towing) 50mph - on a good day.

I imagine the bicycle was carried in case he needed to get somewhere in a hurry....

I'd imagine traffic moved a lot slower back in them days Andrew

I built the Coppertop for my daughter to tow with her VW Lupo ( VW fox)....It's a bit smaller then the VW Rabbit.... It's a 1.4s petrol....
The Coppertop weighs around 350kg (770lbs) and the Lupo copes very well, just a little slow on long hills.

[David S]

desil pretty cheaper than gasoline or petrol in europe. is that why you all have more desil cars and trucks over there than we do in the states? Slowcowboy.

No Slow,the reason we don't have more Deisel cars is because of the !#%&$ E.P.A. I read an article the other day that said if we could get rid of the E.P.A. and go to all deisel we wouldn't need to import oil.You get more Deisel from a gallon of oil and it takes less energy to produce than gasoline.Plus the milage is better.Oh! and to keep with the theme of this thread ,my TV is in my avitar, 2008 Chevy HHR 2.4 liter.I havn't pulled the teardrop yet but I have a 4x8 steel bed trailer that I have hauled a lot of heavy materials with ie. tile,plywood etc. and it pulls just fine.

[anntann]

One of the reasons diesel is now more costly than lower octane gasoline is the higher standard of sulphur. we're at what now....15ppm..which means the refineries had to install new "stuff" to meet the standards.

Slowcowboy, driving a diesel is not that hard in cold regions. We never...read NEVER plug in our diesel Jetta. We don't even have an engine heater on it. It's simply not necessary with the new diesels. The rabbits...I'm not sure since Mike drives those mostly..but I don't think he plugged those critters in, either. And we're in Wisconsin...regular sub freezing after October, and subzero temps all January.

Diesel USED to be hard to find (in the late 80s I drove a diesel) but no longer. Possibly at some of the really out of the way towns there isn't any, but since I get 50mpg with the Jetta I just drive right on by those towns. (and if I do run out, well..that's what AAA is for! )

The best thing about pulling with one is the power you have. Driving our gas van pulling a trailer up the mountains, we often slowed WAAAAY down..just no power. With the diesels, you just drop down a gear and keep on moving.

Sorry for the thread drift. I had a trucker stop and chat about the trailer I pulled with the Jetta, and he suggested a simple airfoil on the front of the trailer. Lightweight, just enough to keep the air flowing UP instead of down and into the front of the trailer. He figured it would be more MPG and would cost maybe $50 to fabricate. I'm going to try making one from balsa ribs and canvas

[Gary and Cheri]

anntann start a new thread when you build the airfoil. I would be interested in that.

Plus 1 on the never having to plug in my Jetta TDI in Wisconsin winters. Never have a problem starting nor have I had issues with the fuel gelling on me even in the coldest weather we get. I do carry some anti-gel stuff if I ever do have a problem.

As to problems getting diesel, not an issue of you stay near a 4 lane highway almost anywhere in the USA. Might have issues in some places off the beaten path. In Wisconsin I can drive to any small town and get diesel. We have enough tractors out there.

Gary

[KevinR]

oooh, look at all these Wisconsin diesel teardroppers. We should have a get-together.

I'm afraid I have to plug in my old rabbits in the winter if I leave them outside. Wife's new Prius gets the garage and that thing can't pull anything. 30 years and you'd think they could make a car with better mileage than an old volkswagen.

[Gary and Cheri]

KevinR,

Our second car was a two door Dodge Colt made by Mitsubishi (197?) and it got 38 mpg on the highway. From that point on mileage went down. Admittedly we also started a family and needed bigger space in our cars but still you are correct in that until recently we have not seen mileage of 50+ in the vehicles that we drive.

Mitsubishi is supposed to be replacing the Evo rally car with a diesel that is connected to a generator that provides electricity to motors that are built into all four hubs. Car is projected to have about 350 horse and get 72 mpg. Now that should really be able to tow a teardrop.

As to diesel types getting together, we will be at CRA and hopefully the St. Croix campout up by you in October and the October southern Illinois event.

Gary

[H@nk]

The past four editions of the 24 hours of Le Mans, was winning by diesel engines. AUDI or Peugeot. Look at www.lemans.org

[H@nk]

Sorry for the thread drift. I had a trucker stop and chat about the trailer I pulled with the Jetta, and he suggested a simple airfoil on the front of the trailer. Lightweight, just enough to keep the air flowing UP instead of down and into the front of the trailer. He figured it would be more MPG and would cost maybe $50 to fabricate. I'm going to try making one from balsa ribs and canvas[/quote]

A few years ago, I drove a Volvo 740 Estate automatic on LPG or GPL. That car had only 99 horses under the hood and our Rv weighted around 2500lbs. So ther was not enough power to get in the French mountains. I made that time a spoiler on top of my car. It was located on the verry end of the roof (estate). It helped me a lot to level up the milage per litre and the airstream get more over the RV.. It al depends on the aircurve of the tow behind the car. With a teardrop behind it, the chance of success is little, with a big box behind it, its more efficient. I hope you have something about this writing.


why do you think, big trucks have windshields in top of their roofs?
just google for the effect of it

[rowerwet]

diesel engines cost more initially, thanks to old lousy designs in the 70's most americans got turned off to diesel. the trucking industry is the main user of diesel, the older engines they are still using don't run so well on the new low sulfur fuel the EPA requires now so the transition was slow for the US, compared to Europe. For years VW used different engines over here not the same diesels used in the rest of the world thanks to this.
We finally have fuel that European engines run well on, they are still expensive and our emissions regs are based on emission per gal. not per mpg which is the standard in the EU. We will never get th 50 MPG minivan Ford has in Europe, or the 100 mpg VW, thanks to this. We also have heavier cars thanks to our toughest in the world crash standards.
The closest we got to mainstreaming diesel (it smells funy and doesn't evaporate the way spilled gas does) was the Smart car, the European models have a three cyl diesel and get 70 mpg or so, when Peneske took over importing them into North America he decided they wouldn't sell with a diesel, so they get a 4 cyl gas motor and only 35 mpg, no advantage over most small cars that get that and have a back seat...
If you can find a Cannadian smart from the first years they were sold there it should have the Diesel engine, once they came to the US the diesel was gone.

[Bikerman]

Mine is not a diesel, It is a Subaru Forester, 2.5 non-turbo and an automatic. I cuold pull with my F-150 4x4 I guess, but I can go further on a dollar with the Subbie.

[Oldragbaggers]

We will be using a Hyundai Sonata and I have been agonizing about whether it will be enough, so was very happy to stumble upon this thread!
Thanks all.
Becky

[Mike-n-Britney]

Bikerman - you tow with a 2.5 Forester? How much does your TD weight?

We've been considering getting an Outback to take camping (tow the TD) and have been looking a the 3.0 H6 or 2.5 XT (turbo) models. These are more difficult to find than the 2.5i models, but if the 2.5i has enough oomph to drive comfortably towing a decent sized TD, then I may give up the search for a 2.5XT and just get a 2.5i.