Any experiences with towing close to the 1500 lb. limit with an '08 manual shift, 4 cylinder Tribute? It will be almost all flat, highway miles, so I,m hoping it won't be a big deal??!! all or any input would be appreciated. TIA.

 

Pulling a 1500 lb. trailer down a flat highway shouldn't be a problem, unless the trailer has a large surface area that will catch a lot of wind. I have a covered snowmobile trailer that is 10'x8' and doesn't weigh more than 500 lbs. empty. However, my V6 Tribute can't pull it and hold 60 mph without frequent downshifts of the automatic transmission, so I have to lock out 4th gear. Wind resistance is more of a factor than weight, IMO. If you have an open trailer with little or no frontal surface area, should be a piece of cake. Hold each gear a bit longer before shifting (3500 rpms or so) and stay out of 5th if it struggles at all to hold speed in that gear. Lugging and straining the engine can cause undue stress and even overheating. Leave it in 4th.

Some useless but interesting info: Several car manufacturers are now listing more specified tow ratings. For example, Acura gives a 4500 lb. towing capacity for boats on its SUV, but 3500 lbs. for all other trailers. This is because boats are more aerodynamic and present significantly less wind resistance when being pulled down the road. I used to pull a 4500 lb. boat with my pickup truck and would get better gas mileage than towing my 1000 lbs. snowmobile trailer. Other manufacturers are giving weight guidelines plus frontal surface area limits in square feet.

 

Thanks, i figured to do just what you suggested on gear selection and as far as drag is concerned, i'm kind of in the middle. 2 mid weight street motorcycles on a totally flat lightweight trailer. i'll post results after i hopefully complete the task.

 

Wind drag shouldn't be a problem at all with that load. You probably know they are back there, but should be able to do the job.

 

Allright , I didn't really have faith in this little Ford/Mazda 4 banger, but this buggy just pulled 2 Bmw motorcycles 900 miles sweatless, all while getting 20.5 mpg!!! I rarely had to look for 4th gear and braking was quite adequate. I was looking at trading her in for a v6, but i'm holding off for now. ...... can i put the factory turbo on and go real fast<BG>

 

Glad you made it, fratedog. I assume you have an open trailer for your journey?
I have a 3 series with basically the same drivetrain and I can tell you that this...

... traveling from Pa to Tx was not a lot of fun.

 

Yep, totally flat , lightweight trailer and the bikes pretty much tucked in behind the 'trib.

 

Rich, was that trailer for your mother-in-law or her stuff?

 

I figured you wouldn't have much of a problem. You pulled a pretty aerodynamic setup. Once you get the weight going, it usually isn't much of a problem to keep it going. Compare your 20.5 mpg with my 14 mpg pulling a lighter trailer, but one that offers significantly greater wind resistance.

The 2.3 4-cyl. is a pretty powerful 4-cylinder with 150 horsepower. It wasn't that long ago that V8 powered cars and trucks had only 150 hp! People have forgotten that towing was done with big 80s cars with their barely 100 hp. V6 engines.