Camry Hybrid - 300kg towing capability. Really!!??

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Camry Hybrid - 300kg towing capability. Really!!??

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Horseychick

150 posts

Master Geek

#1622925 5-Sep-2016 10:49

Dingbatt:

Incidentally while researching this I have discovered how many kiwis are towing loads way beyond the capability of their vehicles.

I totally agree with this and have seen a number of cars towing horse floats when I know the car is not capable. For example a horse float will generally weigh around 800-1000kgs and your average horse would be 400-600kgs. So you might just get away with one horse on a braked float behind a car with a 1500kg capacity, but for me that's far too close to call particularly as people will often have gear and horse feed in the float as well which they won't have taken into account.

Some people seem to believe that its the size of the engine not the braking weight that is important. Additionally I've known of a family who towed with a BMW SUV (should be fine eh?) but it totally bent their chassis as it was not designed to have a tow bar attached to it for that weight and over the course of time it pulled out of shape.

And lastly I was towing my float one day following a Toyota Hilux. He had a lightweight trailer on the back which looked like it was from a DIY store. It was loaded with wood but only 4-5 high so nothing major. However, the length of the wood was far longer than the trailer although he did have an orange flag type thing tied to the back. As he came around the roundabout in front of me the trailer started to swing from side to side, I backed off very quickly and drove towards the kerb as I could see what was going to happen. He braked as he felt the trailer swinging badly (I'm guessing) and it jack knifed him across the road. Luckily for all of us there was nothing coming in the other direction and he wasn't going very fast just having left a roundabout. My point is that people don't think about the balance of a load on a trailer either which can be just as much of a problem.

Hunter

78 posts

Master Geek

#1622976 5-Sep-2016 12:28

At least the Camry have tow bar
I tried getting a Honda Civic Hybrid, and they do not even allow any tow bars
Cannot get a straight answer off them why not.
In the end, the cost of getting a Hybrid out weighs the cost of petrol it will save.

I was driving a rental in Cairns last month, the electric motor has heaps of torque for take off.
But runs out of puff at speed.
Very strange rear seats, not sure if its the rental or normal.
Would be nice to have a much bigger battery capacity.
Running on battery does not last long, and limited to under 50kmh

If you do get one, please be careful with the boot lid.
DO NOT press down on the boot lid to close.
Very soft metal there, and there was a row of dents all over the top of the lid

FYI in the end got myself a Toyota 2016 Hilux instead.
More trailer pulling power than I ever need.

mudguard

2113 posts

Uber Geek

#1624243 5-Sep-2016 20:40

Dingbatt:

Incidentally while researching this I have discovered how many kiwis are towing loads way beyond the capability of their vehicles.

Whilst driving around North Canterbury for work this morning I saw about a ten year old Falcon wagon towing a Ford Transit on a trailer! Until I passed them (they could only do 60k on the flat) I assumed it was some sort of truck pulling it. The Falcon's rear wheels were on the their bumpstops and the fronts looked very close to leaving the ground. Shudder.

Sidestep

1013 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1624578 6-Sep-2016 13:27

Hunter: At least the Camry have tow bar
I tried getting a Honda Civic Hybrid, and they do not even allow any tow bars
Cannot get a straight answer off them why not.

If you do get one, please be careful with the boot lid.
DO NOT press down on the boot lid to close.
Very soft metal there, and there was a row of dents all over the top of the lid

Because thin, light metal structures = saved weight

Car makers are meeting the new mandated mileage and emission goals for their petrol driven cars, which EV and hybrid vehicles are, for now - based on - with further weight reduction and drivetrain efficiencies.

Dented boot skin? Non-structural, exterior skin pressings are an easy target, for the boot & bonnet, fenders and door skins they'll just be using thinner, lighter mild steels.

In the old days we'd lighten our street cars by acid dipping the steel panels, sandblasting the floorpan and body shell - which was invariably spot welded, stamped mild steel - for a similar reason; decreased weight = increased power to weight ratio.

Those cars - with mild steel unibody frame rails - were pretty easy to stick a towbar on. The rear structural members often had a couple of drilled and blanked off, double skinned attachment points - specifically for a towbar – and if not you'd just drill into them.

In a newer car, say - a '16 Civic, the rails will be made of ultra-high-strength 1500MPA steel alloy - a relatively lightweight, brittle, highly engineered structure. It can't be drilled, welded or repaired .
Expect more of that. Because they're moving to their Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure designs.

Combine that with it's Indirect TPMS (uses tiny variances in wheel rotation), sensitive EBD, driver assist EPS and near-future rear radar collision mitigation systems, and unless the car's algorithms are specifically designed around towing a trailer, it won't be an option on most passenger cars.

Pop under a modern light car and look at where they're attaching towbars, they're often weird octopus like shapes to reach at least a couple of structurally strong mounting points.

Or they utilise the bumper mount structure, to the rear of the 'crush zone' putting the whole rear of your car at risk. – light bingle or over-stress that towbar = replace the whole rear of your car (ouch!)

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