i know they make a hitch for this car, and rather inexpensive. could i tow my aluminum fishing boat with this car? its only like 450 pounds total if that. base 2.2L 3 speed. would i need an auxillary tranny cooler, or will factory do? thanks, matt



Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member

Typical answer:
Towing is not recommended with the 3 speed or with a 5 spd.

My thoughts:
Since you are only towing 450 lbs, it would be no different than you + 3 average size adults in your car. I would recommend a trans cooler anyway, even if you don't tow (extends the life of the trans). You should be fine provided it is not an all the time thing.

read the owners manual it tells you. i would think you'd be fine with a 14' aluminum boat. my friend tows one with his neon 2.5 hours every other weekend with no problems as of yet.

Quote:

read the owners manual it tells you

The owner's manual says don't tow with a 5 speed, but I do it all the time with no problems

I tow my 1400 pound Austin Healey sprite racer on a light two axle trailer with my HHR. It offers no problems and get 19mpg on the highway too. My guess is you Sunfire should be able to tow a light boat.

lol possibly !!! haha depends on the size and such

I wouldnt do it!


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Where I work: HP
What I take for Memory and Focus: Focus Fast

I've towed boats for several thousand kilometers with mine - and with the 5 speed. I just have to be careful when parking and launching that I'm not too hard on the clutch.

A 14 foot will be a fairly easy tow for your car. You'll probably find that the air it catches will be more of an issue than the weight. I find mine tows much better if I have a cover on the boat - otherwise it's like towing a parachute! For shorter distances I don't worry about it, but if I'm going up north (about 3 hours), then I put the cover on.

Mine pulled my old 14 foot without too much complaint, but it doesn't like my new 16 footer as much. My new one is closer to the 900 pound mark - and sits up higher catching more air. It still does it though - and even gets better gas mileage towing that than our Windstar does driving normally!

I would strongly recommend adding a tranny cooler though - I had a 1987 Buick Century with the 2.5L 4 and 3 speed - and it ran the transmission rather hot when towing. It ended up causing the torque converter clutch solenoid to start sticking - so I unplugged it. The problem started when towing on a windy day - so I know it was directly related.

Just remember that you have to anticipate traffic a little more - acceleration and braking are noticeably affected. Mine also pulls much better on long hills if I run premium gas when towing. It prevents the knock sensor from backing the timing off as soon under heavy loads. Your trailer probably has small tires on it, so your top speed shouldn't be much more than 100km/h (60MPH) anyway. Keep an eye on the temperature gauge - if it starts to climb too much, you need to slow down. I've seen lots of people towing with these cars over the years though - so with such a light load, you should be fine.

John

haha i've had the hitch and had 2 bikes on the back of it. AN yes they are expensive which is why I have a father who looked all over harry's u pull it in hazleton and found one for me. lol

The key to towing with these (and most other small cars) is consideration and attention to your fluids, temperatures and speeds. When GM went with FWD for the masses with the '80 X-bodies, the transmissions (both auto and manual) weren't particularly robust, to say the least. That era also coincided with their use of ATF in the first iteration of the manual transaxle. These units had really poor longevity under towing situation and although proprietary lubricants were quickly introduced, it took years for durability to improve. Also at that time, converter clutches started appearing in a big way and they quickly burned up if abused. The early '80s wasn't a friendly time to be a GM Service Manager at a high volume metropolitan dealership (don't ask how I know) looking at the long line of X-bodies and early J-bodies waiting for warranty work. The point of this is to be careful, watchful and realize both the design and physical limitations of your towing vehicle, especially if you plan to tow on more than an occasional basis. Good luck - Mark

I tow my 16 ft sailboat. With a 5 speed manual.

I used to tow my dads 2 sea-doo's around and launched them in my old 2000 sunfire se 2.2 sfi 5 speed. It was pretty slow going but did the job fine. You should not have a problem.