My friend owns a motorhome and is looking for a small car to tow behind it when he goes on vacation. He enjoys vacationing in the Bushveld and needs a car with high ground clearance and the ability to tackle rough terrain.
I suggested a Suzuki Jimny. However, he was told a 4×4 such as the Jimny should not be towed and, if he does attempt it, he would have to stop every 200 km to let the axles cool down. Is there any truth to this advice? This did not make much sense to me so I phoned the Automobile Association’s technical department, but I received conflicting answers.
DES JAMES – Durban
We’ve seen suggestions that pre-1999 Suzuki Jimnys can be towed but later ones may suffer transmission damage. There are two technical issues that could prevent a car from being towed:
1. Damage to the transmission. This may occur because some components are lubricated only while the engine is running. This applies to most automatic transmissions on 4×2 vehicles and some transfer cases or front-to-rear axle couplings on 4×4 vehicles.
2. Lack of vehicle stability due to a small or even negative castor angle. Most rearwheel-drive vehicles have suffi cient positive castor to track the towing vehicle closely, but many front-wheel-drive vehicles have negative castor. In some cases, they will tend to wander from side to side while being towed.
In all cases, the towing speed should be below 90 km/h. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a vehicle for your friend because the manufacturer would have to be consulted to make sure his vehicle of choice will not be damaged.