I am constantly finding good deals on stuff my wife would rather me not drag home. The problem is its always 400miles away and after driving that far with poor gas milage it is no longer a good deal. I know this sounds crazy and I am a little embarassed asking but my wife has a 96 ford escort with a 1.9l engine and a manual trans. I do have several trucks as well that tow quite nice but use 5 times as much gas. The Escort gets about 38mpg and my 78 ford truck gets 8mpg. I have a small 100lb trailer (1000lb payload) and I would only be towing 300-800lbs at a time. So total payoad would maybe be 900lbs. I've had 5 people (140lbs-180lbs ea?) in it as well as a full trunk and it still got 32mpg on a road trip. It was slightly slugish getting up to speed but not bad and the brakes felt normal. So thats 1000lbs+- inside the car with little to no effect. I am planning on being by myself while I tow (to keep weight down). Has anyone out there towed with a small car?

Truck-800miles round trip @ 8mpg and $3.00 a gallon for gas =$300
Car -800miles round trip @ 32mpg and $3.00 a gallon for gas =$75

 

I suspect hooking a trailer to the car would drop the mpgs down in the lower 20s or below. The engine has no torque that is needed for towing. The car brakes are not big enough to deal with stopping a trailer either. Gas is no longer at $3.00 a gallon, it just broke back through the $2.00 range into the $1.95 range in North Carolina.

Anything that you would put in a trailer behind a little car you can haul in the bed of the truck.

Do some tuning on the truck most can be increased to 10-12 mpg or higher. I think if I was making that trip on a regular basis, I would be looking for an overdrive tranny to mate up. IMHO

John

 

I think people really underestimate what small cars can do. I used to own a 1.9L Wagon, and people over at an Escort forum I was a member of were always pulling boats and small trailors.

Id says it's doable, just leave your self plenty of room to stop. Also, you might check into finding an old wagon. I kept my rear seats folding flat all the time and used that thing like a truck... just a thought.

 

Tow with the escort, you will love it.

I towed a 1400 lb. Jayco pop-up with a 98 Kia sephia 5 speed. I did this or th 2000 and 2001 camping seasons. In 1998 I had an '83 Palomino pop up and towed with a '97 saturn sc1 auto. '99 i switched to the Kia. then the new pop up in 2000.

in 2002 I got my '02 Cougar V6, and towed with that until this fall when I acuired the B4000 and fifth wheel.

The Cougar maintains 22 MPG over the 185 mile trip to maine every year.

The Kia was still in the mid 20's. Also, one way of your trip will be with and empty trailer, weighing as much as a full tank of gas or so. So you should still be over 30 mpg one way. and over 20 on the loaded return trip.

I do have pictures if anyone is skeptical.

 

My wife and I had a 1999 Escort wagon. We made a couple trips to Mexico and around here (Wichita) pulling small utility trailers.

First trip was with one of those molded-plastic Yuppie wagons. The only real problem we had was that the trailer was tall and created a LOT of wind drag. We caught a stiff headwind going south from Albuquerque to Las Cruces and spent three hours at 30-40 MPH (on I-25), getting right at 20 MPG in the process. We did have it loaded sort of heavy and steep hills around Santa Fe were also a little bit of a problem, combined with the wind drag. Overall I think we averaged about 23 MPG--car normally ran around 28, so it did work it pretty hard. That stretch on I-25, I'd have gladly given up some gas mileage just to be able to run 55-60 MPH, but the 4-banger wasn't up to it.

Second trip was a small homemade trailer, a Datsun pickup box on a homemade frame. Lower profile made for a much easier trip and it went fine. Gas mileage dropped maybe to 25-26 and headwinds were not any problem. Had no problem holding highway speed either.

Never had a problem with stopping with either trailer. Escort's brakes are more than enough to handle a 1000-lb trailer. I would hesitate to pull with a manual transmission because I think you would have to slip the clutch a lot to get it rolling, especially on a hill. Ours had an automatic and had no trouble getting the trailers moving.

 

The car is a hatchback and when you fold the seats down you can load a ton of stuff. I've had 3 differnet full size snowblowers, lawnmower, large tiller, pallet, 6 foot 12"diameter log, tables /folding chairs and other countless stuff but sometimes it barely wont fit that is why I am thinking the trailer. Gas here is also around 2 bucks but as soon as it gets warm outside gas prices will shoot right back up.

As far as towing with manual/automatics generally manual trannys are a ton better as you can hold your shifts longer and there is always more torq/hp with a manual transmission. I don't think I will need to worry about clutch slippage.

I don't think my mpgs will fall below 30mpg. If I drive this car very conservitive I can get up to 44mpg but generally Its 38mpg (I drive a little to fast). I always check mpg at every fillup.There was onetime where I had the thing loaded to the hilt and I was fighting a head wind for 200miles, it never droped below 32mpg.

Thanks I think you guys have reconfirmed all my thoughts and I am going to put a hitch on right away. I love to see other people that do it as well.

 

Manual transmissions are fine in trucks if they have low gears, either granny gear tranny or a low rear end. Escorts are geared pretty high, for gas mileage, and not very much with towing in mind. My '95 Tracer (probably a lot like your Escort) is a five-speed and while it will pull itself pretty good, I'd hesitate to put too much extra weight behind it. The 4-bangers actually need the slippage that an automatic gives them when they're pulling a load. On the Escort I manually shifted the automatic a few times when I needed to accelerate a little harder than normal. I prefer towing with an automatic because you don't lose power when it shifts gears.

I think you'll be okay with what you have in mind, though. Those little utility trailers like Tractor Supply sells don't weigh much empty, and five hundred pounds of cargo is about like three passengers in the car....I'd expect you'll need to slip the clutch more than usual to get going but not much more difference.

 

I am not sure why you think you gain power when you shift in an auto. I have not found that the case at all in small cars with manuals vs. the autos. The manual will be much better than the auto, given your torque vs. weight. My Kia was rated at 108 lb-ft., and power was never a problem. Remember the final drive ratio on this front driver's is very low.

If you find the rear end sagging, go to your local auto parts store and get rubber spring spacers that are labeled for front coil springs. the springs on the escort rear struts are smal and tight like a front spring on the older cars they deisigned these spring rubbers for. I found 2-3" of rubber spacers nearly leveled it, and gave a good ride. Though a bit stiff unloaded, but they pop in and out in minutes.

 

Keep in mind that small cars weren't made for towing. So, if you do it often on long trips and you do a lot of "stop and go", that will put a lot of strain on the car and you could end up putting money often into the vehicle as far as brakes, suspension, and possibly transmission or motor. If you can tune up your truck and get a couple more MPG, than you may still come out ahead with your truck. You don't want to have to fork out money for transmissions and motors. Towing weight is much different than "in car" capacity weight.
But, I have seen small cars tow things down the interstate at 75 mph, that I didn't think possible. I'm just thinking if you did that often, it may cause your car to wear out sooner than you would really like. Plus, your trailor better drive nice down the road and not sway much if it's hooked up to the car.

I guess all you can do is try and see what happens.

 

I don't know about towing with one but you can haul more than you think in one. I have hauled hay, feed, 2x4's, bagged topsoil, quickrete and even hauled two adult goats in mine. I have hauled at most 800 pounds in that car and it did ok other than rear sagging terrible. If you try towing 900 pounds make sure you evenly distribute the load and take your time. Watch the temp hand closely too. Maybe before you try to pull that 900 pounds 400 miles try pulling 1000 through your yard then a couple mile radius from your house while traffic is low to see how the car reacts. I think I would try tweaking the pickup to get the mileage up though.

 

A 100 Lb. trailer? Make sure the tires on it are suitable for HWY driving.

 

Yes the trailer is rated for highway use. The truck has 35" swampers and 3.5gears. It is 4x4 and it just gets bad gas mileage. I don't want to put new gears in just to get 3 more miles to the gallon. As far as tuning it up, it is. It has a new ignition module, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, distributor, timing chain, coil, 2 barrel carb overhaul, exhaust, etc and still 8mpg (maybe 10 if I drive very conservatively)

The car has a curb weight of 2,355lbs and a GVWR of 3,457lbs so Ford says this car can safely carry 1102lbs of cargo/occupants. So minus me and a 64oz big swig plus a bag of chips the car should be able to easily carry 900lbs without affecting control or braking ability.

The car has 108ftlbs torque which is almost the same as my friends 99 jeep wrangler (2.5l 4 cylinder) and he has easliy towed a 4 spot 4wheeler trailer(with 3 4wheelers) so that is around 2000lbs.The Jeep has a curb weight of 3092lbs. The only reason I bring this up is this jeep is the weekest thing I have ever been in.

 

The ford escort has a better torque to weight ratio than the jeep wrangler.

The Escort weighs 2355lbs and has 108ftlbs of torque which equals 0.046ftlbs of torque per pound of car.

The Wrangler weighs 3092lbs and has 140ftlbs of torque which equals 0.045ftlbs of torque per pound of jeep.

So in theory the escort will pull a load slightly better than a 1999 jeep wrangler

 

You need the perfect vehicle,an aerostar. It will do evrything you need and still get 20 mpg

 

The trailer and load you are referring to should seem to tow easier than with that 4 cyl. jeep at highway speed. I tow an old steel framed 4x10' deck utility trailer with 2x6 side rails with my 400 lb quad, cooler, and gas can. Where I ride is about a 50 mile drive up into the Berkshires from in the valley. There is this one notorious climb On I-90 called "six mile hill". It maintains a 6-8%grade for six miles on the first climb out of the valley. Towing with my 4.0 L wrangler, i could only hold 60-63 in 5th, and push it to about 68 if i downshifted to 4th. However, the same trailer the next weekend was hooked up to my '02 Cougar and cruised up it at 70 with nothing but a bit of a workout. I can only attribute this to the fact that the jeep has the aerodynamics of a refrigerator, and the car is low and streamline.

You will do well with your weight. Like I mentioned before, half of your towing is going to be done with and empty trailer at less than 200 lbs., you definately wont know its there. only your return trips will have a load. and that load is only going to be slightly more than the weight of me, my brother, my mother and my sister in your car, each with a full duffle bag.

I was surprised that that Saturn SL1 I mentioned a couple posts ago was actually rated for a towing capacity of 1000#.