I have seen so many cars pulling campers lately in my neck of the woods. This can't be good on the cars! The campers are pop-ups but still how crazy is that!
An average sized car can pull a pop-up trailer or a small to medium sized travel trailer. It was very common to do that from after WWII until about the 1970s when trucks became more popular.
The biggest issue with any tow vehicle is overheating the transmission. If equiped with a transmission cooler, and if the vehicle has enough horsepower, their should be no problem.
Every vehicle has a tow rating in the manual. My friend has a Saturn Vue with a 4-cyl engine, and it can haul a lightweight trailer, even a small pop-up. As long as you stay within the capability of the vehicle (and go to the heavy duty maintenance schedule) you should have no trouble. When I was a kid, we pulled a 26 foot camper all over the southeast US with a 1967 Ford Country Sedan station wagon with a 390 cu. in. engine . Of course it had a heavy duty suspension, and towing package, and we added a frame hitch with torsion bars and trailer brakes , but that trailer was no lightweight, either. It stayed fully loaded with stuff all the time. Had some great family times in it!
I've seen some small cars pull very big campers on the highway. I wonder how such a small car can pull such a big camper. I suppose they will learn the hard way, it will eventually cause serious problems with their car and their camper!
Pulling a big camper is rarely a problem for a 6 cylinder car. You can get it going pretty good on the highway. ...just don't expect the thing to stop when you hit the brakes.
I have caught a few and even today I saw one that I swore was pulling more then small sized pop-ups, made me wonder if the car was going to make it or not. We were coming out of a round-about and I swear I thought I was going to see it flip before my very eyes.
It is not how much can you pull (haul) but how much can you keep under control going down the road and get stopped. I have a 27' 5th wheel camper we pull with a Ford 1-ton dually. Pulls like a dream and stops on a dime! Plenty of stopping power and that Power Stroke does not even know the camper is back there! A pop-up should be no problem for most mid-sized sedans. A average sized guy can pick up the tongue of most full sized pop-up trailers with one hand. I doubt most weigh over 1000lbs gross, about the same weight of 5 adults. I would not have second thoughts about pulling a pop-up with the wifes Exterra, should handle it no problem IMO. JMO, DC
Even a fairly light, small vehicle can safely handle a decent load, as long as the tongue weight is not too great, as that tends to lift the front wheels of the tow vehicle, making it difficult to steer, or in the case of a front-wheel drive, pull. To an extent, this can be corrected with an equalizing hitch, which uses torsion bars to transfer weight to the front of the tow vehicle. Trailer brakes can also help a lot, by keeping the trailer in line with the tow vehicle during stops. If you've ever pulled a trailer that is too tongue-heavy for the tow vehicle, you'll never forget just how unstable is is. The trailer will begin to wag back and forth, and the violence of each wag will increase rapidly. Hitting the brakes can totally break the trailer loose and encourage it to try to get in front of the tow vehicle. If you're going to pull a trailer, you need to know the capabilities of your tow vehicle, and the charecteristics of the trailer. Once you're hooked up, get some practice before you set out for any distance. Also, I'd strongly encourage you to practice, practice, practice backing the trailer. It's tricky and not intuitive, although it's not hard to learn. The shorter the distance between the hitch and the trailer axle, the quicker it will cut, and the easier it is to jacknife. My $0.02
Being in the mountains, going down hill is still the biggest problem with any towed trailer. There is a very slight corner up the road a ways from my house. Downhill is steeper than it looks and during the tourist season there are two or three wrecks there every summer. Inexperienced drivers just have to touch their brakes and the trailer just passes right on by, usually rolling both vehicles down a very long, steep embankment. All it takes is a slight misadjustment of the trailer brakes and gravity takes care of the rest.
It really isn't all that difficult to move a trailer by car, the real issue is getting it to stop and/or keeping it under control. So long as your car is in good shape, and you stay within it's capabilities should be alright. I wouldn't however advise anything with sharp curves or steep sides as a first outing.
I truly hate those people who show up to a campground after dark and then have absolutely zero skill at backing their popup into the site. They never, ever decide to be smart by pulling in straight and doing the full site setup in the morning. They get out of the car and spend 90 minutes trying again and again while yelling at each other the whole time. I hate those people.
My Dad could back a 26 foot camper thru an obstacle course at a walk. I'm nowhere as good. We used to sit around camp and laugh at folks trying to back up a little trailer into a slot. Boat launch ramps are also places that can provide hours of fun on busy days....
Let's not forget that a lot of campers today with modern materials weigh a lot less. Look at specs of the 'lite series" or other designated series of lightweight trailers and pop-ups from different manufacturers. The RV industry needs to survive high energy prices and that means providing trailers that can be pulled with fuel efficient vehicles.
I bought a Buick years ago with a strong motor and transmission thinking it would make a good tow vehicle, I bought heavy duty springs for the rear and it made a difference stiffened it up like a truck.without having to drive a truck all the time just to tow my stuff and have an empty bed.alot better on gas too
the Rav 4 is the best little vehicle to tow with, it still packs a tow capacity of 3000lbs for its size
Just don't be like this guy: "I am buying a travel trailer to save money on motels." So he buys a larger trailer in the 27 foot range and pulls it with a Jeep station wagon. Within about 3 months he burned up the transmission and decided that the 6cyl engine and trans were not up to the task. Then he goes out and buys a new 3/4 ton Ford diesel and puts a Banks kit on it. So much for "saving money." The salesmen at RV shows like to say things like, "you won't even know it is back there." Do not believe it. Make sure that your loaded trailer weight is well under the rating of your tow vehicle. Other posters are right. You have to pay attention to the trans, trailer brakes and a controller, suspension, mirrors, and it is always helpful to use an equalizing hitch. A trailer of 30 feet or over is my worst nightmare, even pulling with a diesel. They don't fit anywhere except an RV park. They are big and hard to pull. They are often for sale. I like trailers in the 22 foot range. They fit in a USFS campground.
My parents had this hulking beast of a car in the 70s. The plymouth grand fury station wagon (think: "The Family Truckster" from the Vacation movie), it was hot, ugly, and had this gargantuan gas guzzling 8 cylinder engine (a 450 or something, maybe?). That damn thing pulled a horse trailer with two glue horses. We borrowed a pop up a few times, but the camper was older than that awful car. It was a real sweat box too. You see the old southwest prison work camp movies where they stick the unfortunate hero in "solitary" and watch him sweat almost to death... I used to think "why is he in our camper?". I'll stick to backpacking it these days. Much lighter on the car, but more painful for me.
