Towing over 3,000lbs with a CX-5!

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2014 CX-5 GS AWD
Well I finished my roadtrip to BC. I said on my initial post that I may have to tow my uncles 1,900lb trailer because his car broke down, but was fixed quickly so we thought we would not need to use the cx-5 as a tow vehicle. However, Mitsubishi never ceases to surprise, when his 2014 Outlander broke down, yet again, and he had to have it towed to a dealer. So now, I got stuck with his "1,900lb" travel trailer, acres of luggage, and three people in total. "Well, lets see what it can do" I thought. Then I peered in at the dry weight rating of his 16" travel trailer...it's dry weight was 2,150 lbs! I thought "oh hell no, this car is gonna shred itself to pieces...". But we had no choice! I had to hook up the trailer, full of our couple hundred pounds worth of chairs, luggage, water, food, generator etc. When we took his trailer on a scale, days before, with his Outlander, his axle weight was right around 2,400lbs, and his tounge weight is around 165, and now we have an extra person on board with the Mazda!(I'll calculate precise total weight below) I even "talked" to the car saying how sorry I was, and how I had to do what I had to do.

Anyways, I had just filled up with 87 octane fuel(before knowing of the hard pull it was gonna have to overcome, otherwise I would've gone with premium), and had to drive 80 miles to where his Mitsubishi was towed to(thanks for being so unpopular Mitsu so we have to go way out of our way to find a dealer...along the way we passed 2 Mazda dealers.). I was thinking that it would use the full tank to get there. I hooked up the trailer(THANK GOD FOR A WHD AND STABILIZER BARS!), checked electrical, verified trailer brakes were functional...or rather trying to forget we had no brakes since we had no controller! And off we went.

I was amazed at how much low end torque the 2.5 made. Accelerating to highway speeds, while keeping up with traffic, it never revved over 3,500rpm. The transmission adapted to the load and held gears longer and downshifted sooner(thanks to AAS technology). It was never in the wrong gear. I reached 60mph and set cruise and the transmission held 6th gear without the engine complaining. We were able to do small hills until 5th was needed. It hit 3rd once on a long 6% grade, but the speed was held constant. I even got a little too confident and passed a loaded semi on a two lane highway, and it was quite brisk. The CX-5 did everything that I asked for. When I needed to slow, or stop, I manually shifted the transmission down so I would not cook my brakes. Thankfully I only needed to use them twice during the whole 80 miles. But we made it! We went up steep slopes, through busy cities, and on highways, but the CX-5 never lacked in power...never. Handling felt totally unchanged. In fact, it may have felt even more planted. I could not tell the trailer was there until I had to get away from a stoplight in a rush. But even then, I could easily accelerate and blow past traffic if need be.

We finished the trip and unhooked his trailer at a friends place until his car was fixed(bad water pump and ECT sensor). Now I also recorded fuel mileage. Over the 80 miles we used 4.1 gallons which equals 19.3mpg. Not bad!!! With his 3.0 V6 Outlander we maybe get 14mpg, and the CX-5 felt even more powerful, and could actually hold 5th and 6th gear on the higway thanks to low end torque. His V6 needs to be in 4th, revving at 3,200rpm just to cruise on a flat highway. Just shows how incredible our cars are. Now for weight, to add up the total amount, we know his trailer weighs roughly 2,600lbs with our stuff in it, then add the generator, lawn chairs, and other misc. equipment in the trunk of the car totalling about 150lbs, then three people where we'd weigh all around 500lbs, we were at 3,250lbs!!! When I figured that out(post-trip), I almost lost it. Since the tow, we have done about 1,000 miles of unloaded driving on the highway and city, absolutely no abnormalities, no DTC's or anything and I expect it'll stay that way. There is a margin of safety for the weight rating of these cars, but we were probably slightly over it's actual max capacity.

SO YES, you can tow WAY over it's weight limit(obviously not legally or probably for very long)! And if you had a brake controller, it might even be safe! But should you? HELL NO! I'd never tow that weight with this car again, I have no idea if the transmission can take that abuse, so to be on the safe side, I'll stay within 2k lbs. If I knew it was strong enough, this car would have the capability to tow 4,000lbs based on the chassis and power. Well, that's all, hope you enjoyed my small towing review.
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And here's the hitch setup. If I do say so, this is the perfect hitch setup...
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Also: In hindsight, towing this weight with no trailer brakes was very dumb, since I know some of you will bash me for that. I certainly wouldn't do it again, but I had that sheer curiosity plus the fact that we had no choice. I was willing to accept the consequences if something bad happened, but I was confident nothing would if I kept my following distance and used many defensive driving techniques.
 
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Thanks for the nice chronicle of the trip and for all of the details... (nailbyt)

I personally don't have problems with vehicles being stressed past their recommendations,if you have a driver that is intelligent, responsible, aware, and cautious. (sssh)

The problems seem to arise when one drives their loaded tow rig like they would drive a Miata. (drive)

I would love to see some of the Caravans being pulled behind the CX-5's in the UK...
 
The only I problem I have with your whole ordeal is the lack of trailer brakes. The tow rating for the CX-5 overseas is nearly 4400lbs, 2000kg if I'm not mistaken. And that number is regardless if you have the diesel or petrol engine over there. My point being the car can physically tow the weight you did, Europeans do it all the time when they go caravanning! That being said, I believe anything over 1000lbs over there needs trailer brakes. You're rolling dice pulling that much weight without trailer brakes. But you made it safely so good for you. You also seem to have a decent head on your shoulders and didn't go above 60mph and used extreme caution when passing or coming to a stop. I have never towed more then a few hundred pounds but I would be totally confident in pulling above the recommended 2000lbs with a properly outfitted trailer with trailer brakes and what not. I think the biggest limiting factor for us in the states is the tongue weight. Generally speaking European setups differ in the amount of tognue weight they set their trailers up with. USA usually runs around 15% percent tongue weight where Euro is around 10%. It has a big impact on how the trailer handles at speeds and at what speeds one can safely travel. Remember in the UK you can only go 60mph max on the motorways (interstate) and 50mph on all other roads when towing. That's not so in the US, you can travel at what ever the posted speed limit is when towing, should you? probably not, especially if your weight is at or above the reccomened tow rating for the vehicle.
 
Wow! great to know! I always figured our CX-5 was under rated! Good Job!

I see you had a load leveling hitch, I'm sure that helped a lot!
 
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Interesting... thanks for posting

Good to know the options while towing in the zombie apocalypse ;-)

EDIT: It really is too bad tow ratings are not higher with trailer brakes. I'd be fine towing a heavy low at reduced speeds. I know my place as well in the slow lane when I have to be. Heck... I even yield to fast moving traffic in the carpool lane when I don't legally have to.
 
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We pulled a similar load though for a fairly short distance. In our case it was 2.5 yards of manure compost in a 730# trailer. I figured the total towed weight to be somewhere north of 3200#. And the CX-5 handled it with no theatrics.
Would I do so again if needed? Most likely, though very carefully, as before. With trailer brakes, I wouldn't worry too much at all.
 
If it wasn't for the potential liability I would use the CX-5 to haul my annual 2,700 lb (energy log + trailer) load for the 25 mile trip to my cabin from a nearby town.

I wonder if there is a heightened potential liability?

Some things "everyone knows" are false. For example. A nearby racetrack offers high speed driving course using your own car. That means you are driving very fast, and sliding in your famely car, CX-5 if you wish. Most if not all standard auto insurence policies cover it. It is a league use of your car.

Overloading your car may be dumb or dangerous or against the advice of the manufacturer, but it is not illegal and there may not be a insurence issue.
 
The only I problem I have with your whole ordeal is the lack of trailer brakes.
I struggled with that too. I knew that if an accident was to happen, no matter who's actual fault it technically was, I'd be held liable(even though the insurance company knows I tow with the CX-5 on occasion). In Canada, the law is that anything over 1,000lbs, there has to be trailer brakes, I'm sure it's the same for the US. But like I posted, I was confident we'd be fine since there were not many hills, traffic was relatively light, and I do have defensive driving habits such as keeping a large following distance, so I knew we'd be fine, but there is still that small chance of being wrong. When I had to brake both times to stop at a red light, I could definitely feel the trailer try to push me forward, so that freaked me out a bit more. But all in all, I was confident. What stuck out to me the most was how capable the 2.5 is. Like using 6th gear towing over 3,000lbs on the highway? That's impressive!
 
Did you ever think of renting a truck to move the trailer? The cost would be little VS. the stress, potential liability and possible damage to you car. Not to mention the heartache if things went pear shaped and someone got hurt.
When I was younger I took many, many chances, now that I am older I prefer to err on the side of caution.
 
AAA has a listing of laws in different states.

http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/trailer-brakes/

Here in WA state it says:

"Every trailer and pole trailer, and every vehicle combination must be equipped with service brakes adequate to control the movement of and to stop and hold the vehicle under all conditions of loading, and on any grade incident to its operation. Every trailer and pole trailer must be equipped with brakes acting on wheels except for those not exceeding a Gross Weight (GW) of 3,000 lbs. if the total weight on and including the wheels of the trailer or trailers does not exceed 40% of the GW of the towing vehicle when connected to the trailer."
 
AAA has a listing of laws in different states.

http://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/trailer-brakes/

Here in WA state it says:

"Every trailer and pole trailer, and every vehicle combination must be equipped with service brakes adequate to control the movement of and to stop and hold the vehicle under all conditions of loading, and on any grade incident to its operation. Every trailer and pole trailer must be equipped with brakes acting on wheels except for those not exceeding a Gross Weight (GW) of 3,000 lbs. if the total weight on and including the wheels of the trailer or trailers does not exceed 40% of the GW of the towing vehicle when connected to the trailer."

That is very interesting. It appear that WA is one of very few states that takes the weigh of the tow vehicle into account. They address the weight of the trailer and "adequate to control" In NY they only address the trailer and make no mention of what you pull it with.

BTW Trailer brakes on European trailers are very different then the US. They don't use electric brakes and a controller, rather a self contained mechanical (cable) system There system includes brake away braking and a required dolly wheel to support the tounge while the trailer is stopping. The system also includes a parking brake. https://caravanchronicles.com/guides/understanding-over-run-brake-systems/
 
That is very interesting. It appear that WA is one of very few states that takes the weigh of the tow vehicle into account. They address the weight of the trailer and "adequate to control" In NY they only address the trailer and make no mention of what you pull it with.

BTW Trailer brakes on European trailers are very different then the US. They don't use electric brakes and a controller, rather a self contained mechanical (cable) system There system includes brake away braking and a required dolly wheel to support the tounge while the trailer is stopping. The system also includes a parking brake. https://caravanchronicles.com/guides/understanding-over-run-brake-systems/
Isn't that essentially what surge brakes are? When the trailer pushes into the ball hitch it activates the trailer brakes. Looking at it further they are one in the same. Overrun brakes is just a different name for surge brakes. Surge brakes are quite common on a lot of trailers in the US and qualify for "trailer brakes". The up side is there is no brake controller needed to activate them if you are using the cable or hydraulic version of surge brakes.
 
Isn't that essentially what surge brakes are? When the trailer pushes into the ball hitch it activates the trailer brakes. Looking at it further they are one in the same. Overrun brakes is just a different name for surge brakes. Surge brakes are quite common on a lot of trailers in the US and qualify for "trailer brakes". The up side is there is no brake controller needed to activate them if you are using the cable or hydraulic version of surge brakes.

yes, they are surge brakes but three differences. Hydraulic surge brakes are almost extinct in the US, and having owned trailers with them, I think they should be. Second, the cable system makes it easy to implement a parking brake and this makes for a easy test of the system. The 3rd is there requirement for a dolly wheel that will support the trailer on break away from the vehicle hitch. We allow just drop the tongue to the pavement.

I haven't owned or used the cable system so I dont know if it works better in practice then electric brakes.
 
I want to hear more from people who have towed over 3000 pounds/1350 kg. I'm looking at RVs (caravans) that may weigh 3000 - 3100 pounds loaded. I believe I can tow that with trailer brakes and sway control if I keep my speed sane. Have any of you pulled that much weight for long distance?
 
I want to hear more from people who have towed over 3000 pounds/1350 kg. I'm looking at RVs (caravans) that may weigh 3000 - 3100 pounds loaded. I believe I can tow that with trailer brakes and sway control if I keep my speed sane. Have any of you pulled that much weight for long distance?

Not quite what you're looking for but I tow a (850lb dry, 1200lb with tent, ~2000lb fully loaded) Jumping Jack Trailer with a 2011 SX4 and soon to be a 2018 Mazda 3 Sport GT manual (same engine, slightly smaller, lighter and more aerodynamic vehicle vs CX5).

I've got trailer brakes and have a brake controller on the SX4 (and will on the 3).

The CX5 is rated for 4400lbs elsewhere in the world so the mechanicals/frame are clearly not the issue. Depending on trailer/tongue weight etc, you may not even need ASB's (I don't) but it certainly wouldn't hurt likely with what you're looking at in that (higher) weight range.

North America is pretty bass-ackwards with their tow ratings and it's largely because some jack arse would load up his CX5 (or other) at it's max rating, without breaks, improperly loaded and attempt to do 80MPH on a windy road while passing and weaving in and out of traffic.

#holdmybeer

If you're +/- 3500lbs loaded with brakes, controller, properly loaded, ASB's (if necessary) and not driving like a moron (stay at or below 60MPH -short of say 65 to pass in brief spurts- leave lots of space to brake etc), you'll be fine. Bonus points if you've towed before.
 
I regularly tow my boat behind my current CX5 2016 MY Akera. Mainly because of this, I chose the 2.2 turbo diesel for its torque and economy. Prior to this car, I towed the same boat with a 2013 CX5 GT, also diesel. Prior to that, a Holden Commodore SV6 sedan.

Here in Australia Mazda rates my CX5 to tow 1800kgs (with trailer brakes), which for the metrically challenged is close enough to 4000lbs.

I have put my boat/motor/trailer combo ovr a weighbridge and in normal load conditions its around 1150- 1250kgs (2755lbs). Trailer is rated to 1490kgs (about 3300lbs).

It tows the boat very well, especially considering that it is a cuddy cab, sits high on the trailer with 14 wheels and thus a lot of windage. Most trips are local, but I do quite regular runs 2-3 hours along the highway at 100km/hr. Next week I am heading away for a week fishing trip at a little fishing town 3.5 hours away.

In Australia all trailers being towed behind cars and SUV*s must have brakes if they weigh over 750kgs (about 1650lbs) and if 2000kg or more, brakes are compuslory on all axles plus must have a breakaway system.

Mine is a single axle trailer and has over-ride hydraulic disc brakes with stainless steel calipers. I have had previous boat trailers with cable operated disc brakes and IMO the hydraulic discs are superior, especially with the stainless calipers.
 
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Great story. I am looking at a new cx5 to tow a jetski/trailer weighing about 1300lbs. So far I haven't heard anybody told me to buy an F150 LOL!
 
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