Sedan to tow 6x10 cargo trailer?

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

I'm looking at getting a 6x10 braked cargo trailer with a sway bar, which I hear is about 15-1800 lbs loaded minimally.  
I'm also looking at towing it with a small car, like a VW Golf (40 mpg) which has a towing capacity of 2000 lbs in Europe, but the manufacture doesn't list a towing capacity for the exact same car in the states. Weird. 
Is there some conspiracy to make Americans buy big trucks to tow anything?

What do you think? Would this plan work? What might be some potential complications?

 

[jacks18614]

The only sedan that would be able to tow that trailer safely would be a RWD Crown Victoria police interceptor.

 

[Trebor English]

The Yurpeens are much more likely to actually have working brakes and to go at lower speeds.  That may be relevant.  

Even with brakes you still want the tow vehicle to weigh twice what the trailer weighs.  

While the sway bar is a good idea it doesn't fix bad weight distribution.  You cannot put batteries and water tanks wherever you want.  Just having good tongue weight is a start but not sufficient.  Find and watch the videos where the toy car pulls the trailer fine then the weights in the trailer get moved and the rig gets unstable.  It will be worth the time.  

shows how insufficient tongue weight is bad but notice that the weight is heavy at both ends.  If the mass is concentrated around the axle and there is proper tongue weight it is better.  

shows how spreading out the weight is not good.  

 more of the same.  

Since you are building the interior of the cargo trailer and since you intend to tow it with less than an F350, you can plan accordingly.

 

[user 15857]

You can't rely on Euro towing limits or expect your insurance company to cover any incident where you are found to be towing beyond the limits as defined by the manufacturer (and they will check). My Honda CR-V has a tow limit of 3,000# in Europe if the trailer has brakes, in US max is 1,500# with or without brakes. The problem is with the tendency of Americans to ignore weight limits and 'load it up' so the lawyers decide the published limits here rather than the capability of the vehicle.

 

[John61CT]

Insurance companies have a lot more clout than caravan makers and consumers.

 

[user 423]

What might be some potential complications?

Fried clutch or auto trans. 30-40% (or more) loss of fuel economy. Minimal ability to handle driving over mountains.

 

[rm.w/aview]

While it's common and sometimes heroic to think outside the box, when I think of a tow vehicle a VW Golf doesn't come to mind. I get where you're going with this, and the Golf is a great sports car (my idea of a toy hauler would have a Golf, Gixxer, & a rock bouncer). I believe that there's a more suitable, relatively high mpg tow vehicle obtainable though. Of course, I don't know your plans for the trailer so I could be very wrong and you could be very happy with a small car towing a light weight small trailer.

 

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

Thanks for your input everyone! I guess I'll have to find something else then. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[highdesertranger]

my 2 cents, if you want to tow get a vehicle designed for towing. if you want fuel economy get a vehicle designed for that. trying to force a vehicle to do something it was not designed for will give poor results. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Yes the two are in opposition, but lots of things are that need balancing when someone wants both.

The key in this case is a super light trailer.

Europe is full of them, but we all know they spend lots more than most of us are willing to.

But building a custom rig from the ground up is very doable, and the DIY PMF / foamie pioneers at the TNTTT forum have established tried and true paths that anyone can follow, not quite cookbooks but almost.

They tend to be very small and save money by basing on steel utility trailers

but by going with a custom aluminum chassis platform and maybe adding some framing for internal support I think pretty decent lengths can be achieved and still keep weights down below 3000 even fully loaded.

A Toyota can pull that NP, just add a transmission cooler and temp gauge.

 

[John61CT]

This is a nice example of cheap low tech, not the weight-saving measures needed to go large.

 

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

I'm going to need a towing capacity of 2000 lbs, probably less but just to be safe. In my google searches, I've come across very few articles on the subject. They mostly talk about trucks and suv's with 4000 lb capacity. I just know there's gotta be a vehicle out there that is in the sweet spot. If a VW golf has a 2000 lb rating outside the US, there's gotta be something similar inside the states. 

If I have to get a vehicle that gets 25 mpg dry, I might as well get a cargo van.

 

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

I was thinking about fulltiming in a teardrop, that exact model in the picture, but it would be cheaper to outfit a cargo trailer myself and I couldn't fit my business into it. A cargo trailer weighs only 400 lbs more than that teardrop dry, is there a slightly more robust vehicle that can legally tow it?

 

[jacks18614]

The laws of physics dictate that short wheelbase front wheel drive unitized body vehicles are unsuitable for towing of any kind.

 

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

Thanks Jacks18614, can you elaborate? It seems like there's vehicles with high tow ratings that are unibody fwd.

 

[user 423]

Smaller pickups or SUVs come to mind. They would get better MPG than a van.

What kind of business? Would the extra storage/work space/weight carrying capacity of a van be needed?

How much travelling will you do? Does MPG need to be the main concern?

With a trailer, you can always switch tow vehicles to suit your needs.

 

[Watch_Cowspiracy]

Maybe I can get away with 1500 lb rating as long as the insurance company doesn't weigh the trailer after an accident.

 

[user 423]

Try getting feedback on VW forums like VW Vortex or The Samba

 

[rm.w/aview]

https://www.jennings-vw.com/blog/how-much-can-every-volkswagen-tow/
Another aspect to keep in mind when towing is the tongue weight of the trailer which directly corresponds to how the trailer tows. This affects the handling of the tow vehicle (TV) beginning with the suspension of the TV and includes the steering, as too heavy on the tongue lifts the front of the TV. The range of tongue weight should be 10%-15% of the loaded weight of the trailer. Vehicle towing weight ratings, GVWR, & GCVWR can all come into play at some point and should be considered in the search for a TV. All that said, the suspension of a potential TV may need modification to meet your needs, and the tires might as well. There are many variables right now, and getting a good estimate on the loaded weight of your trailer is a good place to start. It's the foundation on which to build your set up.

 

[John61CT]

Sienna, get some extra space and excellent reliability for the first 200K anyway.

But that's a double-edged sword, they really hold their value