So, I live in Virginia but just accepted a job across the country in California. I've sold off most of my things, but will be towing the remainder either in the car or in a 4x8 UHaul trailer that I've rented.

Why am I doing this? Money. Because the cost of renting a truck, gas, and towing the fit will cost $6500 (includes gas, hotels, having the fit truck transported, etc.). This will cost less than $1000 even after accounting for gas and overnight hotel stays.

I AM NOT ASKING YOUR OPINION. The decision has been made, I am now going to log the experience for good or for ill. If it works, I'm a genius and I just saved a boatload of money. If it is a horrible failure and my fit dies in the mountains, I will post that too.

What made me decide to try this? These forums and others are filled with people asking questions about towing, followed immediately by a cacophony of people who have never tried it but love to quote from the manual. Very few people who comment have any practical experience! I know what the manual says, I know what the Jazz manual says. I also agree with the opinions of this man, that part of this to make us buy larger higher-profit margin vehicles:

The Great American Anti-Towing Conspiracy | The Truth About Cars

Further, people have tried to tow all manner of lesser vehicles and have successfully done so. I was unable to find an incident where some horrible disaster occured because they tried to tow with a Fit. One man even did a similar journey, travelling from Kentucky to Oregon with a 4x8 UHaul Trailer:

Kentucky to Oregon - a set on Flickr

According to him, the Fit did just fine. He just had to slow down during high winds and it lacked a bit of power going through the Rockies.

The Plan:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...0657,79.013672

There's two big tests. On the first day I will cross the Appalachian mountains into Ohio. If I make that, I think all is well. The plains will be a cakewalk and if I make the first mountain range, I feel I can make it through the mountains around St. Lake City as well.

I start the drive on September 29th. I'll be completing the drive over 5 days, arriving in California on October 3rd. Wish me luck.. I'll be updating and posting photos/thoughts along my way.

 

This will be an interesting read. Hard to beat 1st-hand experience. Good luck!

 

Cool... good luck! Do you have any idea of the weight of the trailer, and the weight of your stuff?

So far the most I've towed with mine was about 1,000 lb's. Car handled it well. One thing I would recommend is adding a transmission cooler since you are running an automatic

 

Thanks! The official specs from UHaul say the trailer weighs 850. I would have liked it to be lighter or perhaps even smaller, but that's the best I could get. The Sport trailers only weigh a couple hundred less buthave less than 1/3 of the space, and they are about as rare as a UFO sighting. If I had to take a WAG at the weight of my stuff, I'd say ~500-600 lbs. I'll be putting a good chunk of it into the car itself, and trying to keep the trailer light and evenly loaded.

I thought about the transmission cooler - do you think it'd be worth it? Would it be a bad thing to have in a cool flat coastal area, so that I'd have to remove it once I get there? I could get it installed, I know UHaul sold them, but I wasn't sure. The other fellow who did this just had a stock Fit.. my initial thoughts was that if I encountered excessive gear-finding I'd just pop it into D3 and go slow.

Oh, and I know it was brought up in other threads about towing - UHaul had absolutely no problem installing the hitch and renting the trailer to me. You can plug in your vehicle on their website and it shows what UHaul thinks you can rent and how much you could load into it. The hitch is rated for 2,000 lbs, and they go by the more European standard of not towing more than your vehicle weight.

 

Subscribed for updates. Looking forward to reading about your experiences.


Here's a great read regarding towing ---> https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/gene...tml#post554818

1000lbs total trailer weight seems to be close to the limit of towing w/o trailer brakes. Does the trailer have brakes?

And, if a/t you might want to look into a transmission cooler (as already mentioned).

I think it's very possible to do regardless of what the manual says.... The same car (even in some cases the smaller engine version) can tow in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world.... so why not here?

 

Thanks for the link. I think I am going to go ahead and get the transmission cooler. I think the trailer is probably going to be loaded to about 1100 pounds - I'm going to pack as much of the heavy stuff in my car up to the point it hurts visibility. It'll be 850 base, + a 58" plasma TV + the lighter stuff. The trailer does not have brakes. The other guy who did this did not have brakes either - and he had a motorcycle amongst other gear in the trailer (think 600-800 lbs by itself).

 

You're welcome, that thread is full of good info regarding towing... there's a few others too.

You should be ok.... just err on the side of caution.
Have a safe & enjoyable trip.

 

I'm planning on getting a small utility trailer to tow with my 2012 Sport A/T, so am really interested in your accounts. I would imagine with this type of trailer it's not just the weight that you would have to worry about, but also the wind drag because it probably has a larger cross section on the front than the Fit. I wouldn't want you to take a chance, but would love to see if it does fine without a tranny cooler.

Like you mentioned there are a lot of people that say that the Fit can't tow, but I've read lots of accounts of people using it to tow lots of things and haven't read a single account of an accident or mechanical malfunction caused from towing.

-Dustin

 

Actually the cross-section of this shouldn't be a big deal at all - it's about as wide and tall as the Fit (see pics at the earlier link) - made to be lower profile. But yes, I am going to call around and see about getting a cooler installed today!

 

I took a look at the pictures and would agree that it's not much bigger than the Fit on the front. However, the box is far enough back from the rear of the Fit for a lot of the air to come off the back of the Fit and hit the front of the trailer. Also, the squared off end of the trailer creates a large low pressure area and a lot of drag by itself. That's why tear drop trailers are the shape they are tapering to a point in the back like an airplane wing.

Sorry, I'm getting a little nerdy. It will be very interesting to see what kind of gas mileage you get also. What model Fit do you have?

-Dustin

 

2009 Honda Fit A/T. Worst case, the gas mileage should be much better than the 10mpg a UHaul trailer gets

 

No doubt about that. If we're placing bets I'm guessing you'll be around 25 to 28mpg for the trip.

-Dustin

 

Good luck!

 

I'm an older retired construction worker who has a good deal of experience towing trailers with trucks and I also had a tow hitch on my car and have rented U Haul trailers for personal use. I never undertook anything like the adventure you are about to live through.
You can do this and so can the Fit! The key is drive slowly. Climb hills in S3. Keep reminding yourself you need to take wide turns. I'm used to backing up trailers but if your new at it, it can be a challenge. When you stop at a hotel take a double space that will let you drive out in the morning.
I look forward to reading your trailer blog.
P.S. before you drive away from U Haul, make damn sure all the lights work and tires and chains are good. Best of luck

 

The transmission cooler is never a bad thing.... I would do it towing that kind of weight with an AT transmission. Probably want to also do a fluid change after the trip as well.

If you haven't seen it... might look at my last updated post on my trailer. Not enclosed, but still useful perhaps?

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/gene...hlight=trailer

 

Thanks for the link! Yours is one of the threads I reviewed in advance of this. I'm going to look at coolers and potential mounting spots this evening, should have something installed by the weekend.

I also need to figure out if I can somehow cover it once I get there instead of having to remove it.. given the cool days and cold nights along the coast, it won't help me once I arrive!

 

Is it a bad thing for tranny fluid to stay too cool? I know the engine and its oil needs to get to a certain operating temperature to work most efficiently, but does the transmission work the same way?

-Dustin

 

From my research it seems the fluid needs to be ~80-90 degrees. I think it would be fine, since the temperature will never be too cold out there - but I may have to let the car sit a little longer to warm up before I drive off in the mornings.

 

it won't be any cooler than normal. towing with an automatic puts a lot of strain on the transmission and that will bring the temps up past the safe range.

 

Installing a cooler is a positive thing for any vehicle with automatic transmission that is driven in an urban, mountainous or high temperature environment.