Towing capacity of MSP/MP3-T

[KrayzieFox]

Has anyone towed anything with their MSP? I have a turbo MP3, so it's essentially a 03 MSP, and I'm contemplating towing a small trailer this summer in order to move from Iowa to Oregon. It would probably be a 4x8 foot or 5x8 foot trailer so nothing huge, but this is also a Protege we're talking about.

The main concerns I have are brakes and rear struts. What do you guys think? Good idea? Bad idea? Terrible idea?!

 

[Outlawstar98]

Get a Uhaul....

 

[JCell]

i wouldnt tow anything over 600 lbs... and only with a relatively empty car

 

[KrayzieFox]

Get a Uhaul....

U-Haul is $1600, Pod is $3900, Amtrak won't transport furniture or electronics. This is the only option that is even relatively affordable.

i wouldnt tow anything over 600 lbs... and only with a relatively empty car

Fair enough, that's kinda the number I had in mind too. Looks like this won't work out either..

 

[Outlawstar98]

Trash all that wont fit in your car, and buy new?

My parents did that once.

 

[KrayzieFox]

That's probably what will happen.. Even though I'd really like to take my bed and TV with me. The rest I could care less about lol.

 

[justanothermp5]

you could tow prob tow more then 600lbs if u wanted to but that seems like a good number to stop at
if you think about it, having 4 people in the car plus a full trunk is prob around 700-800lbs if each person weighs 180 which is sort of average

ive seen a wrx tow something in a small enclosed U-haul tailer and it didnt look like it was havin a hard time at all lol

 

[.mazda.speed.]

ya but its different with people in the car, towing your putting a lot of stress on the rear suspension.

Shouldn't to much damage, but I would never do it with a msp or a mp3-t.

I have towed ALOT of s*** with my moms 03 es though and it did fine.

 

[KrayzieFox]

By did fine you mean the rear end didn't sag all the way down and ride on bump stops the whole time? Or it did fine cuz it's your mom's ES and you didn't care lol?

 

[kickniteasy]

Try Penske....We got a mid sized box truck and full trailer to tow the car for 1.2K, I want to say it was 700 for just the truck and that was with unlimited miles......I'm not sure why the U-haul quote was so high. Also, play the game with these guys, I got about 4 hundred off my quote from Penske just by bsing and saying it's what u-haul quoted me.

 

[kz9]

Load the trailer so its balanced. Less tougne wieght is key.

 

[KrayzieFox]

Try Penske....We got a mid sized box truck and full trailer to tow the car for 1.2K, I want to say it was 700 for just the truck and that was with unlimited miles......I'm not sure why the U-haul quote was so high. Also, play the game with these guys, I got about 4 hundred off my quote from Penske just by bsing and saying it's what u-haul quoted me.

Cool, thanks.. I'll check them out too.

Load the trailer so its balanced. Less tougne wieght is key.

Yeah a guy I work with was saying that too. I've never towed anything before, so that's probably another reason to not go this route..

 

[Ricktalife]

The Honda lovers at my work love towing s*** with their civics and integras. Usually it's something a little lighter, like a Domo doll. One guy put a big tow hook on the back of his integra, so I guess he expects it to break down.

 

[yudkib]

uhaul generally has the maximum towing capacity available for any given car, and i believe they do custom hitch installation on site if you want it. swing down to a branch theyve generally been very helpful when i went

 

[John_C]

Load the trailer so its balanced. Less tougne wieght is key.

This is correct.

If it's all freeway driving I wouldn't worry about it at all. Maybe keep the car out of 5th gear cos you won't have any power.

If you get a hitch riser and have a correctly loaded, braked trailer, you should be able to tow up to 50% of your vehicle weight. The rear suspension will not sag. If properly set up, the car should be level with the trailer.

Of course, this being a protege and you probably won't be using a braked trailer so your towing capacity will be significantly less. But 600# shouldn't be any problem at all.