Sudden TOAD shopping?

[Gumpster808]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

My wife and I were in an accident in her car Wednesday night, got hit by a teenager in a Yukon that ran a light and nearly T-boned us, instead he hit just forward of the drivers front wheel. So it looks like we will be replacing her car in the next few days, and would like to possibly find something that would serve double duty as a TOAD.

Requirements are probably some sort of mid size SUV / Crossover, she had a Ford Flex, but is now considering something smaller as we rarely needed all that space. The 2014 Flex was fully loaded with options, air conditioned seats, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, collision avoidance (not that it helped in this case, blind intersection, ..) etc. and she would like something comparable in features. As you can imagine time to shop is not on our side here, so I was hopeful you could suggest a short list.

here is a photo of her car

thanks Ike

Well glad you are both ok.

We just bought a new Toad ourselves. Wanted to save weight and gas mileage from the 2012 Jeep Liberty.

We got a 2018 Hyundai Elantra. Six speed, only about 2700 lbs, and much better gas mileage than I was getting with the Jeep.

I think most of the things you are looking for are available on the Elantra.

They make a hatchback as well that is also on the list this year for 4 down towing.

If you go new what you will find is while the cars may be on the list the tow plates may not be available yet.

May be smaller than you want to go but love the car and road master has the tow plate that will install with minimal (just a little plastic trim) modification.

Just what we got. Good luck with the search and glad everyone was ok.

[SmootZero]

Your dolly sounds way better than ours! It is very heavy. It takes both of us to lift it and move it and we are just too old to do that plus my husband can’t lift much at all anymore due to bad heart. Sigh

[stepside454]

Originally Posted by Scarab0088

Many thanks for putting it so clearly
Dolly and flat towing really are so similar (we too have done both) and the pick can be as simple as preference.

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Our dolly weighs just over 300lb, but the reduced rolling resistance of a dolly free rolling trailer axle over that of a spinning driveline axle negates the small weight increase.

The cost discussion is always thrown out in these discussions...so...
If bought new retail - with delivery, install, and brakes - a flat tow set-up will run about $2000 and more.
A new dolly with brakes will be $1200 and more.

I won't even recognize towing without brakes...not required in many places, but smart and obviously safer.

If bought used and/or DIY installed, the price drops - of course.

And don't forget the indirect costs at the car's resale. The average car buyer will run away from a car with hidden miles and holes cut in the fascia. It's best to look to sell to another RV'er. Problem is that most all of us like new cars.

Where a dolly has an even clearer co$t benefit is on car #2 and others...each flat tow adds add'l parts and install co$t, but a dolly has no add'l cost to swap cars.

About AllWheelDrive cars...obviously "no" to dolly, but most are "no" to flat tow also. Get a trailer.
But we're really talking about the hundreds of front wheel drive cars, crossovers, or SUV's.

I am not saying to dolly tow is better than 4down, and it cannot be said that 4down is better either...just different.

Safe travels

That I didn’t like it wasn’t clear enough ?
I didn’t like crawling around hooking up the chains & straps each time . I didn’t like the extra piece of equipment to maintain , straps, tires, brakes . I didn’t like having to stop & cinch up straps .
I don’t like having to push the dolly back into the site , up hill.
My completetowbar with baseplate & autostop brakes cost 600.00 & lunch & a case of beer . The towbar was used

[sho4go]

"By the way, even though the other driver was at fault, his insurance company, Nationwide, is balking at payment for hospital/doctor bills (Son spent one night in hosp, his girlfriend spent several days in hospital, 2 in intensive) and we have yet to receive payment for the totaled toad...."

If you have witnesses to corroborate your son's version of the event, I'd say its time to enlist an attorney. I've been there, done that. You're dealing with a load already and the adjuster on the other side is hoping you'll give up and accept whatever they offer. So unless there is conflicting info re: who is at fault, and the other driver may be telling a whole different version of events, I would still enlist an attorney who will probably be happy to take the case on contingency.

[Snufy1]

We are looking at Ford Edge can be flat towed

[judgebobk]

Look at the Buick Envision. Tow it at any speed no problems and AWD.

[judgebobk]

Look at the Buick Envision. AWD pull it at any speed without problems.

[Pete Cedar]

Don't know if you are staying with only SUV's but we flat tow our Ford Focus and have for about 20k miles. Extremely easy to hook/unhook. It's lightweight and doesn't require aux braking in many states. I connected a disconnect switch in the negative battery cable to disconnect power for towing. Push the ignition button, hold the brake while dropping into neutral, ignition off and turn the battery disconnect. No fuses to pull, no drivetrain mods, no dollys to mess with or try to maneuver or store at your site. My wife can do this by herself in about 5 minutes.

[Arch Hoagland]

Store : Remco

Hope this helps. Remco will tell what is towable or able to be modified to tow 4 down.

We got rear ended at a traffic light by a texter last year.

[Cudda]

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Suggest to browse the FMCA towing guide to see what's available.

Best suggestion I've read.

Sent from my SM-J700P using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

[Scarab0088]

We dumped flat towing for the limitations that requires...expensive set-up, wonky brakes, hacks to the cars front end and lighting, and wear on the cars we towed.
These are facts, not opinions .

First,
There's no reason to crawl to load a dolly. If the safety chain connection is not easy to reach, why not add an inexpensive bit of chain or cable you the frame to ease loading...Just like flat towing.
Folks spend thousands to set-up to flat tow, but gripe about safety chain connections on a dolly.
And, the straps go OVER the car's tires

The dolly is no more an extra piece of equipment as all the stuff that makes up a flat tow set-up. The towbar alone is complex and at risk for failure and sabotage (getting too common). Don't even start with the braking and lighting devices and the changes that requires in the car.

We stop to cinch the straps...no different to stopping to check the towbar locks and pins. Hope everyone stops and check those.

We don't push our dolly by hand...especially not up-hill. And we have never even been required to unhook the dolly at a campground. In the rare event we move the dolly separate from the RV, the toad can easily move it. Unhook is very easy with only 25 lb tongue weight.

To the OP...hope you all the best in your search.

Safe travels

[Isaac-1]

Thanks for all the information I am having computer problems so am. Viewing this on my phone and I can't type much

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by SmootZero

Your dolly sounds way better than ours! It is very heavy. It takes both of us to lift it and move it and we are just too old to do that plus my husband can’t lift much at all anymore due to bad heart. Sigh

Acme EZE-TOW. BTW, a sponsor here:
https://cartowdolly.com

Safe travels
We are not affiliated, but really appreciate their product.

[markgott]

We lease a new car every 3 years and dolly towing is the only way to go for selection of vehicles.