lex990

I am going to pull my boat with my scion. My trailer is set up so I only have about 60lb tongue weight. It is a 16' blazer sport boat with 90 horse evinrude etec on it. check it out at my car domain site www.cardomain.com/id/lex990. I see escorts and tempos and other little cars around here pulling boats bigger than mine, so I really don't think a waverunner would be problem.

TJandBOXCARWILLIE

^^^ I was going to say something here about the frames, weight, engine size, brakes...all being different from the xB...but why bother? Those who tow, do so, and take the risk yourself.

Max2k

Stupidity...hurting...brain.

501scionxb

aint no way in hell im towing anything with my xb and besides it looks very ugly with a hitch on it.

Blue_Ra

I just got home from an 11 day trip with my 2006 xB and DA SHOO Teardrop trailer.

Some comments:

I originally had the Teardrop built for towing with my MINI Cooper and towed it about 5,500 miles. When I had it built MINI-USA was not recommending that anything be towed so I had it built as light as I could. Latter MINI-USA did establish a tow rating of 1,430# and DA SHOO is about 675# loaded to travel.

This trip was 2,600 miles under tow - I added a few more miles unhitched. Total MPG for the entire trip was 32.5 at speeds of 55 to 60 using cruise control. Any long grade of 6% will require shifting into 4th and speed will drop to around 50 mpg. Grades of 8% may require a shift into 3rd if they are long and speed will drop to around 40. In all of the climbs that I did I never heated up and it was climbing and running great when I toped out at 9,910' in the Cedar Breaks Nat. Mon. I never exceeded 4,000 RPM in any gear at any time to the best of my knowledge. On a nice flat smooth pavement without cruise crontrol set I found that my speed would creep up to 70 mph with ease - however, it is much slower to accelerate.

Most Teardrops will weigh 900-1300# and I would NOT suggest that they be towed with an xB. The TAB (sometimes called a Teardrop) is also above that weight.

I'm sure the DO NOT tow group will repeat their warnings and I want to thank them in advance for caringabout me and my xB.

For those that do tow, or may wish to, I hope this information is useful.

xBHAWK

Blue_Ra

953,906 bytes and 1280x960 pixels is also a Massive PIC!

Thanks for sharing.

George

I agree. Posting huge pictures is a bit silly when the actual image seen on a typical browser screen is 800x600. It kind of screams "I bought this kewl camera but I didn't bother to learn how to use it!"

It is more considerate of readers to turn down the resolution on the camera or to use a photo editor to reduce the photo size when the intent is to post to the web.

Not everyone has the luxury of a fast connection.

Shogun

It fits perfectly in my browser on my screen and I am on a university connection so speeds are faaaaaaasssst.

I plan on getting a tC but I have not ruled out the xB. Some day down the line I may want a jetski, they are so fun.

Just because someone can buy a jetski doesn't mean they can buy a cheap truck also. A used jetski for a grand or two, add insurance on it, now you want to add another few grand for a truck (that may need to be rebuilt for towing) and the insurance for that too. It comes out to alot more.

It always makes me wonder how come a riding lawn mower with 15hp can tow a 19' boat easily around a house to hook up to a car. I know launching a boat is harder because it is wet and at an angle. Though boating is fun.

I am not a boating enthusiast, I am just a guy who likes to boat.

George

Some day you will have to pay for your own computer, and you might find yourself not so well connected...

Your school must have some biiig monitors to display that image without scrolling.

The garden tractor uses wonderful things called "gears" to move large heavy objects with limited power. Given sufficient gears you can move anything, albeit slowly.

Shogun

Well actually I had/have a summer job that paid for my own computer (and plenty of my own expenses) that I built myself. I have a good enough video card that displays 1280x1024 nicely. Don't assume that because I am young I don't have to do things myself. There is a reason why it does not say I own a Scion under my name. The car, the insurance, the gas will all be payed by me 100%. That is the only way I can get it because my parents can not afford it.

Yes I know what gears are but no need to talk down to me. A simple, high gearing will allow much more torque but with much lower top speed (therefore it can only move slowly).

George

You were the one who said:

If you already understood, then why were you wondering?

It is nice that you can pay for your own car and computer. I get a chuckle out of assertions of "I paid for it myself" on luxury goods when Mom and Dad are paying for many of the mundane expenses. Teens and post-teens seem to be particularly sensitive about this sort of thing.

You did a bit of "talking down" yourself concerning your nifty computer and fast school connection. Doesn't feel as good the other way, does it?

Shogun

I guess it stems from you missing the smiley sticking his tongue out. That usually signifies joking seeing as how my computer was a budget computer and that there are very few people with 56k anymore. If I wanted to talk tough I would have said how awesome my computer it, which it isn't. It is just MUCH more cost effective to build your own.

FYI, after I get my tC (or xB to save money), the only thing my parents will pay for is school, and I will still have a ton of student loans. Not everyone can work year round. I have been working the past 7 summers full-time. I know about working hard.

As for the other thing, it did not cross my mind gearing. I know about gears, it just did not strike me as being what does it.

Anyways, a few people are/have towed with no consequences. The people saying not to do it have not towed anything, or at least they did not say they did, so it is hard to to know what happens.

Of course, it is always best to stay on the safe side, but we need to find the people who tow and check thier transmissions and frames after a few pulls. That will be the only way to settle this.

vintage42

It comes down to details and common sense. What are the towing conditions? Yes, the xB can tow a jet ski. Yes, it is harder on the car. What will happen is up to you.

Will you occasionally tow it to the lake 30 minutes away over level ground? Will you take it easy and keep the RPMs over 3000? Should be able to do this for years.

Will you take it on long trips, on the Interstate, across mountains, in summer, cruising fast, floored in 5th gear or overdrive? You could soon have problems with engine cooling, valves, automatic transmission, and brakes.

I towed an enclosed 5x8 U-Haul for 600 miles with a VW Beetle having 75 air-cooled HP. It seemed to do it fine at the time. But afterward the engine ran a little rough - because the heat had burned a valve.

NEMESIS_XA

I don't see why you can't tow a jet ski with the Xb I towed my brothers neon with my XA and had no problems barely even knew it was back there.

vintage42

I think Scion has been hiding the true capabiity of our cars ;-)

hotbox05

um yeah that was a pretty dumb thing to do. u better hope it lasts

hotbox05

the engines/trans are probably way more capable. the weak elongated echo chassis not so much.

George

That "weak elongaged echo chassis" is capable of taking loads from the tie-down eyes equalling the weight of the car (car tied down on transporter, panic braking situation) without damage. Since most hitches are attached to the same hardpoints on the chassis I doubt that any reaonable trailer will overstress the chassis.

If you drive the thing flat out and slip the clutch all the time you can screw up the car without any trailer. If you drive cautiously and are careful to not ask too much of the engine, clutch, and transmission you could tow a half-ton without any ill effects.

George