The subject line says pretty much everything. I'm going from South Carolina to Minnesota in my 2007 Honda Fit (manual), planning on towing either the UHaul sport trailer or possibly the 4x8 box trailer (not preferable, but it might happen).

I've never towed anything with the Fit, but I've seen other people mentioning that they have done it, so I'm going for it. What should I do to prepare?

 

It will tow fine. In fact, 5MT is better than CVT or auto, because you won't need a trans cooler. I don't remember anymore, but most of these subcompacts that have a counterpart in Europe, were designed to tow 1000 Kg, (a little over 2000 lbs), no matter what your Honda USA manual says about towing, even if it says "towing not recommended". The way to find out for sure is to pick an english speaking country like Australia or Great Britain and look up the 5MT Jazz manual and find out what it was really engineered for.

NOW, having said all that, you may still be screwed because your insurance company may not want to cover you, if your Honda USA owner's manual says "towing not recommended", so if you want to play it safe, you should check with your insurance company.

The reason for the difference between the USA and the rest of the world is, law suits. In the USA, anybody can sue for any reason, and might win. This makes companies run scared when they do business in the USA, so they take the cautious route and say, "no towing", even if the car has actually been engineered for it. Here's another one: (and there IS Honda content here): Leaf blowers. Politically charged topic. Green people generally hate them, and many municipalities ban them. But many places like Santa Barbara, where I live, ban them, but don't enforce the ban. Anyhow, Honda makes AWESOME leaf blowers... But they don't sell them in this country because of the political negativity surrounding them. You won't find a leaf blower on the Honda USA web site. But you will on Honda Australia, or Honda Great Britain.

So, yes, the Fit can tow fine, if you keep it within what it was designed for, but you may not be insured if you do, so check in advance.

-Peter

 

Thanks for the response and the reassuring words. Yes, I think I should be fine, but I was wondering if I need to worry about other things that only experienced car owners and trailer towers would think of.

Like air pressure for the tires – High, low, medium? or any other accessories that are either necessary or desirable for cross-country towing?

 

Obviously, I disclaim any responsibility for any loss you suffer from your towing adventure...

From towing boats and my race car:

Air pressure is subjective. Low pressure rides softer, but is harder on the tires. I run 40psi all the time, towing, or not. I like the durability, rolling efficiency, and sidewall stiffness for cornering feel and rigidity, (what can I say, I'm a road racer). It's probably safer to run higher pressure than lower, when towing as more weight will flatten the sidewalls more, increasing the chances of tire failure, and higher pressure will reduce sidewall flattening.

Your rental trailer _might_ have a surge brake, this will help in hard stopping.

Make absolutely SURE, you put your heaviest items in the front of the trailer. A neutrally balanced or rearward balanced trailer will sway, the faster you go. A divergent sway is dangerous and can result in loss of control. The general rule of thumb is the tongue of the trailer should weigh 10-15 percent of the total weight of the trailer. And it's OK to go with even more tongue weight as long as you don't exceed the max tongue weight for the hitch you buy. Though if you overdo it, the back of the car will ride low.

Of course, you will have to add wiring for the trailer lights. And you should use a powered lighting control module rather than run directly off the car's lighting circuit. Go to etrailer.com (or similar), and buy a trailer wiring kit. It will have what you need.

-Peter

 

Ben i tow with my GK 3rd gen and have no major issues. I had to upgrade and customize the rear suspension with air shocks to compensate for the back end sag due to tongue weight. I have a 5x8 utility trailer 875lbs dry. Not sure how heavy a box or vnose 4x8 is but if its 875ish plus cargo you should be fine. I have hauled around 1700 pounds gross of the trailer/cargo. Granted its acceleration challenges at that weight but its doable if you tow smart. Check out my writeups and videos. Plenty of knowledge to share.





7 way adapter





Curt Brake Controller





Sure Trac 5x8 Trailer 02





tongue weight empty





furniture haul 01





furniture haul 02





Mock Setup of Air Shocks





tongue toolbox





MA811 installed with 40psi and ~130lb tongue weight on car.





~700 pound lumber run

 

I got the idea the OP was planning to use his Fit for a single long distance tow, as he moves his belongings from South Carolina to Minnesota. For a single move like that, I'm not sure I'd take the plunge into air shocks. Obviously, if he were to buy and keep a trailer and use his Fit-trailer combo for repeated trucklike duties the way Bassguitarist does, my advice would be different. Also, if he rents his trailer from U-Haul, it will probably have a surge brake, so he won't need to wire in a brake controller.

-Peter

 

Good point. The only detractor with surge brakes is backing up. You need to insert a pin so the master cylinder in the tongue doesn't engage the brakes while in reverse. They work well for the application. I suppose skipping the air shocks is an option, but the back end was not meant to handle the extra 200 pounds max of tongue weight plus whatever is in the FIT itself. You will need to compensate for ride height, otherwise your Fit's ass end will be nearly dragging on the ground riding on the springs alone.

Air shocks prevent this from happening...

 

Some U-Haul locations won't even rent a trailer for subcompacts.

They go by the factory towing recommendations and if your car says not recommended they won't rent it to you..

Cheers

 

The U-haul trailers are decent and pull nicely but are pretty heavy. Be careful you don't exceed the ratings of your hitch—generally 2000 pounds max trailer weight, 200 pounds tongue weight. I would generally advise no more than about half that for the Fit, especially for a long distance move, which leaves not much cargo weight for the enclosed U-Haul trailer.

General towing advice does apply: leave yourself lots of room to slow down and turn, drive gently and conservatively, and downshift to use engine braking on long descents—a general rule of thumb is to go down the hill in whatever gear you'd need to go up it. Overheating brakes when towing are not something you want to experience. Especially for the tall enclosed trailer, bear in mind that at highway speeds you have a lot more aerodynamic drag, and hence a rather higher load on the engine and transmission.

 

Dear thread and future readers,

I went through with the plan as described above. I had U-Haul install the hitch, rented a 5x8, took the long way around hills, and typically stuck around 60mph, often closer to 55mph. I had a driving partner, so we traded on and off, stopped at a hotel halfway, and made frequent stops to make sure we didn't overheat the engine.

Bad things: We overloaded past the recommended tongue weight and cargo weight by a little bit.

Conclusion: Everything was fine. It never felt twitchy or unstable even during the heavy crosswinds in Iowa. The Fit needed to stay in each gear for much much longer than usual (as expected), but once up to speed, it was a little too easy to get past the recommended speed (55-60mph). If I wasn't careful I'd be cruising at 70mph out of habit simply because the trailer felt so stable. If you are considering doing this, I'd recommend you do it, following the advice in this and other threads. Just use a fair bit of caution and everything will be fine.

 

This part is a pisser, but it comes with the territory here in the USA, where we are unique in the world with our laws that encourage frivolous law suits. The Fit and other international subcompacts like the Yaris, were engineered to tow 1000kg, a little over 2000 lbs. You can tell what a car was engineered to tow, by going to the manufacturers web site for any other developed country besides the USA. So look at the Honda web site for Great Britain, or Australia, or New Zealand. Or if you're handy with French/Italian/Spanish, try those countries, accordingly, if you want to know what your Fit was actually engineered for.

-Peter

 

Did you see my last reply? This is probably a YMMV problem, but I had no problem renting from the rather informal location I began at (quasi-rural, South Carolina) By the way, there was no surge brake on the 5x8.

 

Yes. I was posting more for the benefit anyone who wonders:
1) what the truth is
And
2) where to find it

-Peter