Until last year, I had a 19 foot "box" trailer that weighed about 3000 pounds loaded. I was towing it with a Dodge 2500--leftover from when I was towing big Airstreams. The brakes went out on the trailer when I was towing it through the mountains (broken wire that I found and fixed later), but even with the big truck I could definitely feel the issue. My sister was recently towing a similar camper with a Toyota Tacoma and had a blowout on a tire, and was barely able to slow it down in time to avoid a guardrail because the brakes on the trailer weren't set up quite right.
Bottom line to me, is that it's not just the towing capacity that matters, but the ability of the brakes too. Smaller cars/SUV's have smaller brakes. I'll be towing my Scamp with a 4Runner--I've towed much heavier trailers with it before, so I know I'll be good. We also have a RAV4, which would tow the Scamp, but the brakes are way smaller. But stopping is more important than moving!
We tow our 13 foot with a Mazda CX5 which is rated to tow 2000lbs. Scamp fulled loaded weighs 1750 and has electric brakes. When towing I use higher octane fuel and our mpg goes down from 31mpg to mid 20's mpg. The Mazda has new tires and tow mirrors clamped on to it. We drive carefully but have traveled freeways and moderate grades and have not had any problems.
Until last year, I had a 19 foot "box" trailer that weighed about 3000 pounds loaded. I was towing it with a Dodge 2500--leftover from when I was towing big Airstreams. The brakes went out on the trailer when I was towing it through the mountains (broken wire that I found and fixed later), but even with the big truck I could definitely feel the issue. My sister was recently towing a similar camper with a Toyota Tacoma and had a blowout on a tire, and was barely able to slow it down in time to avoid a guardrail because the brakes on the trailer weren't set up quite right.
Bottom line to me, is that it's not just the towing capacity that matters, but the ability of the brakes too. Smaller cars/SUV's have smaller brakes. I'll be towing my Scamp with a 4Runner--I've towed much heavier trailers with it before, so I know I'll be good. We also have a RAV4, which would tow the Scamp, but the brakes are way smaller. But stopping is more important than moving!
Dave
We tow our 13 foot with a Mazda CX5 which is rated to tow 2000lbs. Scamp fulled loaded weighs 1750 and has electric brakes. When towing I use higher octane fuel and our mpg goes down from 31mpg to mid 20's mpg. The Mazda has new tires and tow mirrors clamped on to it. We drive carefully but have traveled freeways and moderate grades and have not had any problems.
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