Pulling a trailer with a Civic Hybrid

Look in your owner's manual for the towing limits. I think the limit is

jeff

i gotta say, as someone that's lived in europe for a while, the concept we have here of needing a honking great truck to pull a tiny little wheelbarrow is just bizarre. in europe, the exact same vehicles as we have here have up to 3 times the rated towing capacity, same transmission, engine, everything. and what do we see? europeans hauling honking great trailers with tiny little cars. the hybrid will tow a trailer just fine. just look up the towing capacity on an european or even japanese website.

I've towed a ~2500 lb boat and trailer behind my 2950 lb Volvo 240, it handles fine, though you certainly can feel something is back there. The hitch design has more to do with it than the vehicle. You don't want to exceed the rated towing capacity though, if an accident does happen, it will be a legal nightmare. A 400 lb utility trailer will be towable by pretty much any car on the road no problem.

and whether the trailer has brakes - again something we don't do much over here. i think it's pretty much compulsory in europe.

Roof rack? Seems crazy to have a trailer that weighs more than the gear you're towing.

Dan D '07 Ody EX Central NJ USA

Hi, In what terrain? Sea level? Mountains?

I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. Your capacity is much greater and you are much safer with a trailer that can stop itself.

I towed a 1500 lb. popup camper behind an '81 Civic sedan 5 sp. once a year and it pulled just fine. No harm to the engine or clutch.

Stopping was another matter altogether. A panic stop from 30 mph at a short yellow light in a drizzle took me most of the way through the intersection. Dropped the trailer right off at the dealer to have brakes installed.

Jon

Dano584/28/08

My 2000 CRV has a factory roof rack with a factory decal on it that warns to NOT load it with more than 75 lbs evenly distributed. The OP was talking more in the range of 200 to 300 lbs. That would be pushing it pretty hard.

I just got a 08 Civic Hybrid and the owners manual says that you can not tow a trailer with the car. It states that if you do you void the warranty. RB

Sure, as long as you don't care about the warranty being invalidated.

You're as ignorant as the OP.

I suspect it has more to do with liability issues here in our litigious society. I mean, 75 pounds for the roof of a CRV? Come on, that's ridiculous. It can certainly hold more than that. But our society being what it is, sue-happy, manufacturers have decided to put artificially low limits for carrying and towing. So we don't hurt ourselves or do stupid things like the Internet picture of the Jetta with 1000 pounds or so of sheetrock on it's roof.....

Dan D '07 Ody EX Central NJ USA

Hi, Makes sense considering power train and body structure.

Shoot check this out!!

That's true! And in South East Asia, a Honda Cub 50cc moped can haul a water buffafo on the passenger seat

But like a wise man once saith "When not in Rome, DO NOT do what Romans do"

trailers are much more efficient.

dude, in europe, if you go to honda.co.uk for english, you can read the towing specs for the same cars we have here. the fit [jazz over there] is rated at 1000kg. that's 2200lbs. they have 1.2l and 1.4l engines, both rated at 1000kg. the civic is rated up to 1500kg, that's 3300lbs.

the tow ratings we have here are bullshit designed to con us into buying honking great [and much more profitable] suv's. just like we can't buy the accord wagon here because they want us to buy the much more profitable suv's or minivans.

I tried to do th