Tucson owners, have you ever done any "light" / small boat towing?

I kind of figure as long as I take it easy and try to stay in the

500lb range or less of tow I can probably get away with it. Good to know there is an aftermarket hitch for the Tucson. The salesman at the dealership kind of glazed over when I mentioned it.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Towed a small utilty trailer quite a few times with an Elantra 4 cyl. Usually loaded with a few hundred pounds of camping gear. Sometimes a small canoe trailer. Watch your gears and temp. Usual trip was

200-300 mile runs to the Adirondacks.

Huh??

I towed a 12 ft caravan (travel trailer)with a GVW of 800+kg, uphill, downhill and on the flat for hundreds of miles with my Tucson with one climb of 8% for 4 miles and the temperature gauge never moved off normal...but it was the auto version. Fuel consumption only dropped a couple of mpg while towing. Used an aftermarket towbar/hitch which was about $300 cheaper than the branded Hyundai one.

Sounds like the dealer is trying to have a go at you. Look in the specifications section of your user manual and it will list the maximumum towball weight reccommended.

Neville Queensland Australia

They make it sound as if only a Chevy S10 or Ford F-150 is up to the job and the label stating "Do Not Try This at Home (or with a Tucson)" is somewhere on the car in big glowing neon. I mean, I'm not towing a backhoe for crying out loud. So I guess the manufacturer assumes regulars folks will hook up a hitch and do what normal people have been doing for decades, tow crap with their car. Thanks much for the response. I had a feeling it was up to the job.

I could expect it to run a bit hotter due to the extra strain and the Adirondacks are very hilly so if your Tucson can handle THOSE hills, I don't think I'll have trouble in the valleys of the Iowa / Wisconsin border. Thanks for the response!

I don't have any personal experience, but I do know someone that tows his boat with an Elantra. The boat is a 16' outboard and he has been towing it for about 3 years already..

Today I was at the dealer who fixed my Sonata's fuel / brake line leak for my check engine light coming on. I was talking to one of the sales people about the Tucson as I'd like to get one down the road and get a hitch for towing a small Jon boat. The sales person didn't recommend it, especially for long distances because it was a 4-cyl engine. He said the 2012 Santa Fe would be better because it's the last SUV to have 6-cyl and would have enough power to tow and not strain the engine. So any of you Tucson owners ever do any towing? Do they even have aftermarket hitches for the Tucson? Considering the Tucson is a

5-passenger car, a few adults in the back seat would add an easy 400-450 lbs and a simple Jon boat with hitch would be around the same weight if not a few pounds more. By my math, it should do ok if had the 176hp GLS model. Any towing I'd plan on doing would likely be 30-50 mile trips (one way) from garage to river/lakes. What do you guys think, am I dreaming?

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

In the early 60s I towed a 14 ft sailboat behind a 1957 VW conv -- 36 hp with no problems at all. Reduced the top end from 68 mph to about 65.