Towing with an Impreza

[Phizinza]

This is sort of a sub thread to my other one about the Impreza.

 

Just wanting to know your stories on towing with you Impreza, weather it be a 1.8, 2.0 or 2.2 litre. Just make sure you say what year it is. And how heavy the load was.

 

Basically I want to know how heavy loads went, and if you thought it was safe or not.

[idosubaru]

this is a bad question, it's all opinion and subjective. many people tow unsafe loads and think getting from A to B without incident proves their skill, the cars capability and that it's "safe". what kind of towing you're doing makes a difference too...how often, what kind of terrain, snow, rain, mountains, what kind of trailer...all towing is not the same.

[keltik]

I realise its not an Impreza but hey you look like you could use a reply.

 

Towed EJ20 Legacy with EJ18 Legacy 5spd, on an unbraked trailer. Not Safe. Needed a new pair of daks after that one.

 

Oh and towed a 400kg Trailer (unbraked again) with an EJ18 '94 Auto Impreza. Handled very well, however braking power was shocking.

 

From my limited towing experience ive learned braking is always the biggest issue, unless your using waimaks' trailer in which case it will sway around and try to kill you.

[Phizinza]

I realize it is totally opinion and thats what I want. I can make up my own mind on the subject. And if I had enough replies maybe I'd have enough situations to figure out who was over rating and who was under rating thus giving a fairly good answer. But it looks like no one twos with these. Strange because I remember seeing more then 1 thread about towing with old gen subarus in the other subforum.

 

Cheers Keltik, I found the maximum towing without brakes rating for the Impreza is 350kg. The trailer I am thinking about towing will have brakes, no doubt about that.

 

The only think stopping the Impreza towing after it has a good brake upgrade and a good engine upgrade should be its weight I would think.

[Andyjo]

I've towed alot of trailers w/ my impreza, and i'll admit, not all of them were 'safe' loads, but if you're just going down the road.. and you don't care about your transmission, go for it

 

But.. i wouldn't suggest it... I usually trucked my small trailer back & forth to school, just have to drive slower, plan way ahead, and be prepared to see the rev's fly

[Phizinza]

Cheers Andy. I'll be using a manual 5sp with a 4.11 ratio diff and a 1.59 to 1 EA82 low range gearset. (D/R EJ gearbox FTW.) So I should be alright if I can take my time starting off. Might look into a better clutch as that will take a beating.

[Manarius]

My EJ22 Legacy (130hp) could tow - with ease - about 700lb of mulch in a trailer without brakes. That was an auto as well. Car barely even noticed the weight was there.

[montana105]

Staying within the limits of the vehicle is always your best course,this also means loading trailer properly(tongue weight %) and securely,this is just common sense with all towing.I would not exceed the limits in your OM,if you do happen to loose control or cause an accident you can be held liable for damages if it's found you exceeded the manu's limits. As I've stated about this in the past,I used to tow a 2 pod water ski trailer,the car easily pulled it,but the braking and clutching was very nerve wracking,and I keep my vehicles well maintained,I used to drive semi so I'm comfortable saying I know how to tow and drive, I just don't feel comfortable saying that a Legacy or Impreza will tow some things just because they have trailer brakes,I don't think these cars were built for that kind of hauling even if the trailer brakes take the load off the vehicle brakes. i probably haven't explained myself very well,and not to be rude as I don't know you,I just don't feel people have any idea today what towing is about,to explain myself I hope-living in a somewhat well known vacation destination I see so many idiots with Tahoes and Yukons pulling 20-30foot travel trailers hauling rump roast at 75 to 85 mph,passing me who's doing 75 in my car in a 75 mph zone.this is not safe towing and neither the vehicle nor the trailer were designed for this. Oh sorry bout the rant.

John

[Phizinza]

That's alright John.. sounds like you needed to get that off your chest.

 

I've towed in a few different cars. I've pulled a car trailer with my parents Toyota (3L turbo diesel.) I've towed 6x4 trailers with a few different cars and different loads. And a tandem 5x8.

One that I do remember well as the lack of braking power caught me by surprise was when I was towing a 6x4 with 750kg (1,650lb) behind my pretty much stock Brat. I was only going 60kmh (37mph) and I ended up foot to the floor on the brakes and only just stopped in time. With the car trailer the trailer brakes help a lot from my experience. But yes, if you do load the trailer up so there isn't enough weight, or too much weight on the draw bar your in trouble.

 

Only thing I'm really worried about is the weight of the Imp isn't going to be enough for braking for the load I wish to carry. I guess I can test this by towing something similar on a car that is similar in a safe area.