Pulling a toad

We are thinking of pulling a 2400 lb car behind our ERA. What impact can we expect on MPG? I would guess 20%. Any thoughts or experience?

Not sure why you would punish the drive-line like that, if you need transport to explore around or buy groceries when camp is set up think about a Honda CT110.

georgelesley said:

We are thinking of pulling a 2400 lb car behind our ERA. What impact can we expect on MPG? I would guess 20%. Any thoughts or experience?

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Based on my experience with my enclosed trailer you're about right.

I would agree with the scooter recommendation but maybe go for something cooler like a honda ruckus or step up to a big ruckus

We just got back home after just under 5000 miles with our new Coach House RV, which is built on a 2013 Sprinter cab/chassis, and is 25' long. We had rented a car for the first week to handle the "run around" stuff, but wound up turning it in after just a few days. We had been debating for a while whether we would want a toad, but now we think it's not necessary. I had no problems at all getting around with the camper, even in the cities. Everywhere but the largest cities, parking simply wasn't a problem. In Portland and here in San Francisco, it took a bit of looking a couple times to find a street space, but not really that big of a deal. A lot of times, we could simply park in a regular auto space (or straddle two, in a couple of cases).

After a month on the road, we now have no interest in getting a tow car.

Aside from parking being very easy in a sprinter (takes 1.25 parking spaces), if my T1N transmission is any indication, don't even try it. The transmissions are the weak link and they are a bit undersized even to pull the sprinter itself around.

I greatly appreciate the responses. I have been solidly against pulling a toad for all the above posted reasons and a few more. I think the wife has been remembering the days when we fulltimed in a large class "A" and pulled a toad. Pulling a toad then made sense. Pulling a toad now behind a "B"in my mind destroys on of the main benefits of having a B in the first place. Traveling the back roads in a "B" I can't see why one is needed either. We just went to a class "B" rally with 30 rigs and not one toad. I think the lesson here is clear. Thanks for the ammunition and any other reasons not to are welcome.

George, I've seen some Sprinter B's towing toads but mostly smaller Class C Views and Navions. When we first started looking at RVs we started out looking at a Winnebago View. The first words out of my wife's mouth were, "We would have to pull a car and I don't want to do that!" Keep in mind we had just decided we were not going to pull the Airstream trailer we owned at the time and that's why we were looking.

Pulling a toad with a B does totally change how you drive. Even putting a cargo carrier on the back changes where you drive sometimes and how you park. That might not be the case with your IRA since you already have that extra length to consider. The biggest change is do you dare pull into a tight parking lot that does not have stall to stall parking where you can nudge over like in a Walmart parking lot. I'm talking about those small strip malls for coffee and donuts, restaurants and many fast food parking lots. Even service stations can give you a challenge or you would have to be more selective in choosing where to fuel.

If you pulled a toad then the next logical step would be not to sacrifice inside living comfort and get a bigger RV. Of course that then turns the RV into a point A to point B destination vehicle and not a touring vehicle. I think pulling a toad would do that to you.

So, why would you pull a toad (my rhetorical question)? Well our last two major trips (Alaska and Texas) were both over 9 weeks long so we know we can easily live in our B. We have not snow birded yet. We've discussed heading south for the winter. We looked into the idea of renting a campsite by the month with full hookups rather than tour and moving every few days. If we got permanently settled into a campground for a month plus then a toad would certainly be attractive to have just so you can leave things in place at the campsite. Then that of course goes full circle and why sacrifice inside living space and convenience. I don't think we are to that point yet. I think we will keep touring.

One more point to add to the discussion -- we did talk about what we would do if we "settled in for a month or so" and the answer seems to be just rent a car locally if we want. The way we see it, it would take a lot of rentals to equal the cost of a toad and towing equipment, never mind the hassle.

We also don't have to pay to store and insure the toad, find parking for it in campgrounds, etc.

The Views & Navions (in my research) are 3500 series chassis; 5k# towing while all the rest are 2500 series with 3500# towing capacity. I want the 5k# so I can haul, on small trailer occasionally my 29 Ford Pickup for Events & touring in it. 29 is 2.2k#'s, the trailer is just under 2k#'s so looking for the View or Navion. Dave

DaveBeadles said:

The Views & Navions (in my research) are 3500 series chassis; 5k# towing while all the rest are 2500 series with 3500# towing capacity. I want the 5k# so I can haul, on small trailer occasionally my 29 Ford Pickup for Events & touring in it. 29 is 2.2k#'s, the trailer is just under 2k#'s so looking for the View or Navion. Dave

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Dave, the vehicle being discussed here is a 2013 3500 dually Sprinter van with 5k towing capacity.

George, the social with all the B's and no toads was a good answer to the dilemma. We for a very short time considered a toad when we had our Navion, but soon realized the hassle, cost and the fact that we could pretty much go and park where we needed to settled that. We've seen about 2 class B's towing over the years, (one was a RoadTrek 190P Chevy), and wonder what are the owners thinking....they're wasting one of the greatest virtues of a class B.

"... they're wasting one of the greatest virtues of a class B."

Absolutely! We had an ERA and now an Itasca Reyo (25' class A) and have never considered trailing anything. Although we're older (66), we did get a couple of bikes which give us a range of about 20 miles round trip - perhaps not for everyone.

Parking has never been a problem. We usually take up two spaces in parking lots by parking at a slight diagonal or pulling ahead a bit (e.g. Walmart).

It continues to amaze me how RVers make thing unnecessarily complicated. I've watched big rigs with toads "setup" their site - takes forever. I just pull in and plug in and I'm done.

Seems to me there is no correct answer as TO TOW or NOT TO TOW. Live and let live would be my input. We have a 2012 ERA and sometimes we tow the Mini, and sometimes we don't!

The wife and I did over 14,500 miles with our '13 ERA (170A) this summer towing a 6x12 enclosed trailer with our 800 lb cruiser in it. Our gas mileage dropped from over 18mpg to just under 16mpg when pulling the trailer. The ERA had no problems, tranny or otherwise, pulling the trailer, and we did the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, etc., so lots of mountainous terrain and changes of altitude. I'm sure with a TOAD it would be quite a bit less, but, like has been said, no need for a car when you have a class B--that's the whole point, at least for us.