Trailer towing

nortonbrian

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2018
Location
Moody Alabama
TDI
2012 Sportwagen
I would like to tow my 650 adventure bike on a lightweight trailer with my tdi sportwagen.
Anyone done this, leave it in auto, or shift manually?
 

garreth5

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2015
Location
GA
TDI
jetta
What he said. Sports mode is also good to avoid overheating the brakes.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
S mode will likely do exactly what you'll want, if not, Tip it yourself and you'll always be in the correct gear.
 

Margarita

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Location
Las Vegas, Nevada
TDI
2014 Jetta
Vw jetta 2014

I have a 2014 Jetta diesel sedan 4 cyl. And I also have a light weight teardrop trailer....500 lbs? I need to get it weighed at a cat scale to be sure but title says 400 lbs.... I would love to tow it with my Jetta but am scared cause the manual says no towing with diesel... But I hear in Europe they do tow... What do you think?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I think you should do a search here, this topic comes up quite often. There are probably 100+ threads on it.

Short answer: you'll be able to tow that just fine.
 

Metal Man

Vendor
Joined
Sep 29, 2001
Location
Sunbury,PA 17801
TDI
1998 NB TDI, 2006 Jetta TDI, 2014 Tiguan gas, , 2019 E Golf X2
Most people in the US sure do have a fear of towing with a car. I've been doing it for years now and never had an issue. With a little education and caution it can be done safely, 500 pounds is really just about nothing to tow. My trailer weights almost that empty.
 

nicklockard

Torque Dorque
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Location
Arizona
TDI
SOLD 2010 Touareg Tdi w/factory Tow PCKG
Most people in the US sure do have a fear of towing with a car. I've been doing it for years now and never had an issue. With a little education and caution it can be done safely, 500 pounds is really just about nothing to tow. My trailer weights almost that empty.
Not so much a fear, as we've been propagandized by truck salesmen that anyone daring to think of towing even a tiny trailer with anything less than a semi-truck must have a small peni.

It's all about those high margin truck sales, nothing else, The laws of physics are no different between Europe and here. If a mid-size sedan is rated to tow 4000 lbs in Europe, it can do the same anywhere.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I have a 2014 Jetta diesel sedan 4 cyl. And I also have a light weight teardrop trailer....500 lbs? I need to get it weighed at a cat scale to be sure but title says 400 lbs.... I would love to tow it with my Jetta but am scared cause the manual says no towing with diesel... But I hear in Europe they do tow... What do you think?
I looked at some of these teardrop trailers and none of them had weights anywhere near 500 lbs. More like 1700 lbs empty. Closest I could find is this:

https://golittleguy.com/lg-mypod/

I would first get your trailer weighed or find the correct specs before you go any farther. Towing up to 1000 lbs isn't really any problem at all. Over that trailer brakes or a lot of common sense should be considered. 2000 lbs is the limit with US supplied hitches.

By all means get someone experienced to help you with initial setup and instructions and driving techniques.
 

CarlosF

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Location
Whitehorse, YT, Canada
TDI
2010 GSW TDI DSG Blue Graphite
Our teardrop weighs between 900 and 1000 lbs and our wagon tows it wonderfully, you hardly feel it back there. It rolled along behind us for over 6000 miles last year and it'll be the same this Winter except that this time we have towing springs on the rear and Tiguan springs up front. Best thing I've done so far.
I keep the speed as close to 90 kms or 55 mph as I can to get the lowest fuel consumption.
I think it's a great tow vehicle for a light trailer.
 
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