UHaul will not let you tow anything larger than a Tic Tac with a Ford Explorer, just so you know. You can have the most stable, well-equipped Eddie Bauer V8 and they'll just tell you some story about lawsuits over tires or something. Apparently only Ford Explorers flip on bad tires. Gotta love lawyers.
If your folks don't follow, Do a one way trip in a U Haul cargo van or small truck and tow the smart behind it. You'll save on gas. Or, if possible, tow a small trailer behind the SUV and drive the smart.
Oh, and I don't know if you'll get 17mpg hauling stuff... maybe 13-14 in a bigger truck, more if it's a diesel.
If you get a trailer, make darn sure not to pull into somewhere you need to back up... if you have no experience driving a trailer, you'll probably turn the wrong direction, panic and bend something. Backing up... always straight back, then turn when you go forward. The whole left-is-right thing is confusing as hell.
rent a trailer, that will be the best deal...and if considering a trailer for your smart....look at the Thule, 60 pounds lighter, greater payload, and galvanized.
Do a highway trip on a weekend visit home or somewhere...
UHaul will not let you tow anything larger than a Tic Tac with a Ford Explorer, just so you know. You can have the most stable, well-equipped Eddie Bauer V8 and they'll just tell you some story about lawsuits over tires or something. Apparently only Ford Explorers flip on bad tires. Gotta love lawyers.
If your folks don't follow, Do a one way trip in a U Haul cargo van or small truck and tow the smart behind it. You'll save on gas. Or, if possible, tow a small trailer behind the SUV and drive the smart.
Oh, and I don't know if you'll get 17mpg hauling stuff... maybe 13-14 in a bigger truck, more if it's a diesel.
If you get a trailer, make darn sure not to pull into somewhere you need to back up... if you have no experience driving a trailer, you'll probably turn the wrong direction, panic and bend something. Backing up... always straight back, then turn when you go forward. The whole left-is-right thing is confusing as hell.
I drive more than the average person perhaps, but I see a lot of SUV's flipped over on the freeway, and the majority of them are Ford Explorers. I realize that my own view is no scientific study, but this is what I have seen. One 10 day trip to Alaska and back on my bike I saw four different Explorers rolled into the medians with two of them being fatalities.
The long stretch of highway I take to work is notorious for rollovers and fatalities from no seatbelt use, but most accidents such as these occur from tire failure. It is extra hot here and people don't check their tire pressure enough and the result is horrific. I can't say I blame U-Haul one bit, because I would venture that when these tragedies occur, they get sued like everyone else...Ford, the tires companies, everyone. I think a lot of people that rent trailers from them often don't know how to drive with a trailer compounding the problems. Everybody has to watch out for CYA reasons.
I was just on my way back from a trip to Colorado on my motorbike, and just as I was thinking how amazing it was to have not encountered any accidents the entire trip, there was one flipped and rolled off the road into the trees in Show Low, Arizona. My GF would love to have one, but I won't get one.
SHOW LOW - Police are investigating a single-vehicle accident on U.S. 60 that left an elderly ffice:smarttags" />lace>Tempelace> woman dead. fficeffice" />>>
The accident occurred Monday afternoon slightly before 2 p.m. near the south entrance of Summer Pines.
Police say the woman, estimated to be in her mid-60s, was heading northbound on U.S. 60 when her Ford Explorer left the roadway and hit a cluster of trees. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. She was the only occupant of the vehicle.
Police are still investigating the scene, trying to determine what caused the woman to leave the roadway. Her name has not been released, as next-of-kin has not been contacted yet.
The Independent and wmicentral.com will have more details as they become available.
>> Turns out she was not elderly...early 60's is not old.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 07-20-2008 at 05:31 PM.
I lived in France for about a total of 3 years, and everybody over there had one of these type of trailers. They come in all shapes and sizes, and anything can pull them.
I have always been of the philosphy that it makes no sense to get crappy mileage in a big truck all year round for the few times you ever really need to haul something. Even when I delivered furniture for Dad's used furniture business, I always used a car and a trailer rather than a truck. Well, in Europe, nobody drives a pickup. Where they are the majority of vehicles here in Tucson it seems, in Europe they make up less than 1% of all vehicles I imagine. In the village of 800 people that I lived in, there was one Toyota pickup, and it never moved.
You could get one of these down at the auto parts store or the local version of Wal-Mart for cheap, and you just had to get another license plate printed (at the same store) to match your cars plate. You didn;t even have to register them. It was great.
When I go on a Tent Trailer trip, I always am pleased to know that I am I gettting 27 mpg pulling my trailer. I do better than most pickups and SUV's pulling nothing.
I might get one of these little Thule jobs to pull behind my smart when I get it. It will do a lot of carrying and complete the Euro look of the car.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 07-21-2008 at 01:37 AM.
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2009 Smart Passion Cabrio
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