When you travel with a towed vehicle, often known as a "toad," you don't have to pack all of your belongings and make sure they're properly stowed inside the RV every time you want to go somewhere. According to Edmunds, a vehicle can be towed in two different methods. A two- or four-wheeled tow dolly is the first choice. You can tow practically any car with this sort of towing. However, it isn't particularly well-known. You don't need a dolly with the second method, flat-towing, because all four wheels are on the ground.
This second technique is favored, however keep in mind that not all cars can be flat-towed. Flat-towing is possible with any car with a manual transmission. However, if your car has an automatic transmission, which is becoming more common, you'll need to know whether flat-towing is possible. According to Roaming Times, this information is easily found in a vehicle's owner's manual. It also suggests determining what kind of car you want to tow in order to cut down your possibilities and avoid having to sift through hundreds of owner's manuals.
If a vehicle has rear-wheel drive and a manual transmission, or four-wheel drive and a manual transfer case with the ability to put it in neutral, it can almost certainly be flat-towed. There are techniques to flat-tow a vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission. However, this can be a costly and difficult process to manage. The majority of RV dealers can install the essential equipment to make your vehicle flat-tow suitable. This can include things like:
- Driveshaft decouplers
- Lubrication pumps
However, choosing a factory-ready tow vehicle is always the best option. Be mindful, RVshare cautions, that just because one model year of a vehicle can be flat-towed doesn't indicate the most recent model can. Despite its prior popularity, the Ford Escape was updated in 2013 and could no longer be flat-towed. There are obviously some automobiles, trucks, and SUVs that are better suited to towing. Among them are the following:
- Jeep Wrangler
- Ford F-150
- Chevrolet Colorado
- GMC Canyon
- Ram 1500
- Chevrolet Spark
These cars make excellent "toads," but which one is best for you?
