Tow Car for full-timer in Class A


Violet22251

Junior Member
Last week, after dreaming of full-time RV'ing for 30 years, we purchased our first RV. We pick it up the day after tomorrow! Besides pop-up camping for 20 years, we have gone to RV shows for years & years and rented RV's several times so we are confident that we have the right RV for us and we'll love it! It is a very gently used Winnebago Vista 35F.

Our house sold about 6 months ago, so we put irreplaceables in storage and rented an apartment because we wanted to help our daughter care for her twin girls who are now 1 month old. Our lease is up and the twins will be 6 months old in June so we will then be full-timers!

Our immediate question is about tow cars, dolleys, and towbars. What can any of you recommend? We have a Mazda 5 and there is no transmission bypass pump available per our dealer. We also have a Honda Civic which is not really comfortable for my tall big-shouldered husband to drive.

So are dolleys harder to manage than towbars? And if so, what kind of vehicle is good (or not good) for towing with a tow bar?

Anything else anyone would like to suggest to us just getting started?
 

H2H1

Senior Member
well here we go again. I have a 2010 tow dolly, I used it one time to help a friend out. I have had 3 other dollies to tow our Honda on. I bought a Saturn which was set up to tow all 4 wheels down. I love that, so much easier to hook up and dis connect when you reach whereyou are going. So I say a4d is the best, being easy and fast.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
We have towed a 4 dr 4x4 Tracker for 45K and love it. It gave out after 240K so we bought a 2006 Saturn Vue with the Honda drive train. Very good toad with plenty of room but liked the Tracker better. Chevy no longer offers the tracker. Last one was 2004 I think. Will rebuild motor in Tracker and go back to it. Never used a dolly but 4 down is best for me. Some cgs have limited space for storing a dolly but lot of people use them. Advantage you can tow most any vehickle with them as long as you observe weight limit. I also recommend breaking system when towing 4 down. A good dolly will have breaking.
 

KarenS144

Member
I think a lot depends on what you'll do when in the toad. If you'll be doing a lot of sight seeing and want to see something not on a paved road, then you may want to think about a 4 wheel drive vehicle. If you stick to pavement then perhaps the 4x4 isn't as important.

We tow a jeep which is easy to hookup & ready for towing. I can't really comment on tow dollys since we've never used one but it seems like they add quite of bit of work. You've still got to hitch them up and then you've got to put the vehicle on the dolly & secure it....extra work in my book! ;) You have to deal with them once you're parked too unless you limit yourself to drive thru sites and your total length with the dolly might restrict your choices even further. What do you do with the dolly once it's unhooked? How do you keep it secure so it doesn't become someone else's dolly? Don't forget the dolly adds weight to the rig too so you'll need to crunch the numbers to make sure you're still within weight limits. I know those that use a dolly have it figured out so it's routine and not a problem for them though but a lot of former dolly users say towing 4 down is sooo much easier.

These websites might be helpful:

http://www.towingworld.com/DinghyGuide06.pdf

http://www.remcoindustries.com/Towing/Store.php

BUT..... A HUGE congrats on realizing your dream and going full time!
 
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