Anyone tried towing a trailer?

[malcolmcarey]

Hey all, I've got a 1.4T Sonic with a class I hitch installed and am wondering if anyone else has any experience towing trailers with their Sonic.

I currently own a 5x8 Utility trailer and haven't had any issues with it other than making my slow Sonic even slower. I'm doing a cross country move pretty soon here and all my stuff could fit in my Sonic and in the trailer. However, I'm thinking of getting a 5x8 enclosed trailer to protect from the weather and thieves. I'm just wondering if I'll run into issues with the increased weight.

The trailer I have is rated with a 300lbs empty weight and the enclosed trailers I'm looking at are around 800-1000lbs (900 lbs from Uhaul, 830lbs from Homesteader). The hitch that I have on the Sonic is rated for 2000lbs and really I only have like 500lbs worth of stuff I'm throwing into the trailer.

So I meet the ratings, but want to know if anyone else has any experience with this. Based on what I've seen on the forums, some people have pulled boats, bikes, or 1000lb quads so I feel like I shouldn't have to worry, but what do you all think?

 

[JTee2017]

Going over long mountain inclines could be a big hurdle if going across country. The transmission may get taxed. Also, if you are doing this move now. . . snow fall in the Rockies is not unheard of.

Maybe think of renting an RV motor home, load your stuff in there and tow the Sonic? The motor home would save some motel expense and you could stop most anywhere at a rest area or roadside park.

Myself. . . I would not do it except maybe over 1,000 miles or less and only on relatively flat terrain . . . like down the east coast to Florida or Michigan to Texas.

 

[malcolmcarey]

Oh for context it will be a Michigan -> Texas move so nice and flat. Also I really am not moving too much stuff (college grad who owns more cars than pieces of furniture) so I don't even think I'd fill up the trailer. I also keep my trips pretty low budget, sleeping in the driver's seat of my Sonic isn't nice but it works.

I guess I'm just worried about an enclosed trailer putting too much weight on the tongue and bottoming out my car or whether the transmission can even handle a 1000 mile trip while pulling a trailer.

 

[JTee2017]

Balance the trailer load so that there is only about 200 lbs on the tongue.

 

[Pirate Luke]

The 1.4T’s have pretty stout transmissions. I use mine to tow my motorcycle quite a bit. I’ve noticed if I take it nice and easy and below 65 MPH the transmission rarely sees temps over 200F.

I’ve seen a few other members use it to tow small trailers as well. I’ve got 115k miles on mine...I’d say 20k of that was with some kind of small trailer. In my opinion, you’ll be fine. If you think about it, a 600-800 lb tow load isn’t much different than 3-4 200lb passengers.