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Honda Fit
Is anyone currently towing a Honda Fit? Current toad is a 2001 F-150… with no problems. However, the Fit is newer, better on fuel, and easier to maneuver. Not sure about a dolly or trailer… any suggestions?
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16 Replies
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Flat towing is the way to go!
Just verify via the owners manual the Fit can be towed 4 down.
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YES… flat towing is the only way we have traveled. I guess our concerns are with the low profile… lack of ground clearance of the Honda Fit.
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Yes, the Fit can be towed four down. Buy the towing kit and wiring package and install it yourself to save $400-600. I set one up and encountered no ground clearance problems.
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THANKS Ron… setting it myself is not a problem. I have not seen one in tow and some of the other forums I visited talked about the ground clearance being an issue and some motorhomes had to use a 12″ to 15″ custom drop hitch to keep the bumpers from dragging.
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Dewey,
I’m sitting here trying to get a mental image of exactly how 12 to 15″ of misalignment of the tow bar can have anything to do with ground clearance. It is not the best thing in the world to do, towing a car with the tow bar pointing uphill or downhill that much, but I cannot understand how anyone can say that impacts ground clearance.
If a car has ground clearance sufficient to be driven on the highways, how will towing it change that? It won’t.
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Dewey, the one I set up was towed behind a Class C Fleetwood Pulse. Vertical misalignment was very minor. Road clearance to the car bumpers didn’t appear excessively low. ‘Never scraped one. ‘Good little toad.
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Dewey, IMO flat towing definitely better over dollys and trailers.
Roadmaster says keep the tow bar height within 3″ difference from hitch to toad (height, or angle of tow bar) to avoid undo force on tow bar. But that still has nothing to do with ground clearance of toad.
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Okay… the angle of the tow bar may be where the problem could be. The receiver hitch (Roadmaster) for the Honda Fit is at 14″ above the roadway; the tow bar on the back of our coach is at 14″ in the parked/resting/lowered position. Therefore, the angle of the tow bar would be greater than the 3″ difference which Jerry speaks of in the road/drive position for the coach.
Ron any other info or photos on the one you set up
We appreciate the feedback… just doing some research before spending the money to set it all up.
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Dewey,
Ground clearance issue could be at the “drop hitch”. We used a 6 inch drop while towing our 1999 Range Rover behind 1999/2001 Country Coach XL 45 2 slide back in 2002. Going in and out of dips in parking lots etc, we did dragged the bottom of the drop, but not the towbar
if the Fit has tow tab height of 14 inches and your coach has receiver/tow bar height of 14 inches with full suspension compression, your total suspension travel from deflation to full extension is 7 inches. Your ride height level is somewhere in the middle of the 7 inch suspension travel. At best IMHO your tow bar would be about 31/2 inches tipped up toward the coach. If you use a 2 inch or even 3 inch drop, you won’t be dragging . On another forum you read about coach rear end dragging, did it pertain to a gas powered coach you see on the roads with 16 ft of tail overhang? That would drag everything in a big dip. Have you measured coach receiver height, at coach operational ride height. That would show you your true tow bar angle with Your Honda Fit connected
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Dewey,
If your hitch on the coach, and the attach point on the toad are both 14″, that should be good. That would make the angle of the tow bar about level, which is what you want.
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Thanks Jim… not sure what forum I was viewing but I can see where the length of the overhang could cause an issue. We have 7′ from the tag axle to the rear of the coach. A small drop may eliminate any problems with the height difference from the parked position to the road position.
Jerry at the parked position they are both at 14″… I have been lazy and not measured the exact road/drive height position of the receiver hitch/tow bar on the coach.
Jon the Honda has a 7″ ground clearance on the front bumper and a 96″ wheel base. The tow bar we use is about 36″ in length.
On occasion during regular daily driving the front bumper of the Honda will drag at a really steep angle but using caution can prevent this from happening. We try to plan every trip taking into consideration our height, weight, length, toad, etc. after all this is our home away from home and we are not sure if any of you will be there to help us get around and out of trouble… LOL… althought I know Jon and Hector are only a phone call away if needed.
THANKS for giving us support, ideas, and technical info… we do enjoy the forum!
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Just wondering why you wouldn’t consider the Honda CR-V. We have had two (an ’07 and now a ’13).
The thing we like about the CR-V is that it is AWD and has decent ground clearance. I like having the clearance if we ever encounter a ‘gator’ (truck tire carcass) in the road or any other debris. If we are able to drive over it in the coach, I don’t want it to hit the toad.
In the previous Honda (’07), I was able to miss the ‘road gator rubber’ in the coach but as I tried to miss it in the toad, the front passenger tire of the Honda caught the ‘gator’ and broke the front wheel liner (not bad, never replaced it).
We get excellent mileage out of the CR-V and it can seat five and carry a lot of cargo. Ours has Navigation which is imperative when scouting around in new area’s once we are ensconced in an RV Resort.
MM.
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Regardless of whether we are towing or not we always have to be aware of how our clearances are, not above or side to side, but below us.
Any time we have a sharp transition from the road surface such as highly crowned railroad tracks or steep approach driveways or curb cuts we have to consider if the belly of the bus will drag or if the nose or rear of the bus will drag. Over the years we have encountered many situations that were going to result in something dragging. There is one road we cross on the way to or from our daughter’s house that is crowned such that if I don’t raise the coach prior to crossing it I will drag the belly of the bus. We have encountered railroad tracks that were also crowned so much we had to raise the coach.
We have come out of mall parking lots and had a short, steep transition from the parking lot level to the road we were entering. If we did not raise the rear of the coach we would hear the grinding sound of the engine cradle or hitch dragging. The clues to these conditions are the gouge marks in the pavement and they tell me to stop until I have raised the rear of the coach, front of the coach, both ends of the coach, or made the transition at an angle to minimize the effect of the height change.
I cannot imagine a situation where a Honda Fit would drag without the bus dragging a whole lot more. With our low belly or long rear overhang we have a much greater risk on the bus.
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I could be wrong but what I understand is the that the two ends of the tow bar should be withing 3 inches of each other is not to keep the toad from dragging. It’s to prevent the toad when stopping from forcing the coaches front or rear wheels from being unloaded and reducing stopping power of the coach. With the weight of our coaches you would have to have a very large toad to put any kind of lift to the front or rear axles. I think if you had a light weight coach or a car pulling a trailer this could be a big issue.
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Greg,
That is correct, the angle or level of the tow bar just prevents any undue stress whether up or down on the hitch in a hard braking situation. Has nothing to do with ground clearance. Especially if your toad braking system is not properly adjusted, or you don’t have one at all.
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