tow vehicles

Towing an RPOD with a car as small as a Ford Escape. Yep it works. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum about this. And it is of course a good question after one has invested thousands in a Ford Escape and an RPod.  I read all the posts I could find before we took our vacation and found out some really useful information.

One must have a v6. It is the only Escape that is weight rated high enough to pull an rpod.

Plan on cruising along at a brisk 60 mph.  Like one of the earlier posts mentioned. 60 mph seems to be the sweet spot.  It will pull it up to 65 and 70 but it does not get out of 2^nd gear.

Don’t use the over drive, except in areas of flat driving. That means really flat. It will work fine in cruise control mode but there will be more shifting then necessary.

My 2012 Escape has a hill assist feature which really works nice.  The cruise control is off in this mode and the transmission shifts for uphill and downhill as necessary.

When I drove up steep inclines with cruise control on, the transmission of course eventually wanted to drop down to low.  This shoots the rpm up to 4 or 5 thousand.  Although it probably would not hurt to drive in low at that high an rpm for a short period; I did not particularly like stressing the engine or the transmission that much so I would disengage the overdrive and manually keep the rpms in the 3 thousand ranges and settle for whatever speed it would go.

Keep in the right lane and get used to people passing you.  I discovered that if I maintained a steady 60 mph in the right lane I caused no problems for anyone.  So slow down and enjoy the trip.

We just finished a 5000 mile trip across country and back which included a trip through the Smokey Mountains and Ozark mountains.  No Problems.

Just slow down and enjoy the trip.

Thank all of you that replied. You confirmed to me that I DID do the right thing. The additional advice was most helpful, too. I appreciate it.

I think that all has been said that can be said about your towing concerns.  An overzealous dealer would have created a very dangerous situation.  I wonder if you asked the dealer about his liability if you had a catastrophic engine/transmission failure, or worse an accident caused by undersized brakes on your tow vehicle.  Would he would put his suggestions in writing?  I believe he would very quickly dance away from suggesting that your combo is adequate.  The engineers who design our vehicles probably are somewhat optimistic in their tow ratings.  Surpassing those ratings put you and the rest of us in great peril.  Not to mention the added stress on the tv's frame.  We have a 171 which we tow with a 2005 Chev. Tahoe with a tow rating of 7,500 lbs.  We are conservative in loading our trailer, and I recently stopped on a state of Oregon, truck scale, and was told our weight was 2800 lbs.  With the added tongue weight of, lets get crazy, 300 lbs. as we have dual LP tanks and a size 27 battery.  That would make our trailer weight of about 3100 lbs.  Well within our tow limits.  Although our gas mileage drops to about 10 mpg, I am very comfortable going up and over mountains and do not have a sway device installed.  Don't think you have to get a big tv like we have, but certainly far more than what you would be towing with now.  Be safe and upgrade your tow vehicle to something more adequate to pull your trailer.  Hope you join all of us soon and show off  your new tv and trailer.  You did the right thing.  Safe Travels.    

I think you did the right thing. I tow with a 2009 Jeep Liberty rated at 5000 lbs with a weight distribution hitch 3500 without. It has a 3.7 Liter V6 engine and I don't think I would tow my Rp173 (weighs 2300 dry) with anything less.  None of the RAV4 s in 2010 had a rating of over 1500 lbs so I don't know if it is the suspension, the frame, the brakes or all the about but Toyota did not feel confident your vehicle would tow this much so I wouldn't.  

I agree you did the right thing. I had a bad experience years ago with a Dodge Caravan and boat on trailor. Ended up ruining the transmission the second week after the sailboat's delivery on the first 600 mile trip. Stubborn me, I got the trany replaced and continued to use the TV to pull the boat but just for local trips. It lasted about 18 months then the engine failed quite spactacularly spraying oil all over the place including the car too close behind behind me on I-95.

Since then I have had several other TT / TV combinations. I also always get the full towing package from the TV dealers. I am very conservative and rarely pull anything that is more than 50% of the TV rated load. Probably too conservative. But it has given peace of mind on long distances, steep terrain,   snowy icy conditions, and not be worried when 18 wheelers roar past on an interstate.

I'm sure the Rav can pull it on flat terrain in ideal road conditions, ideal weather, no nutty drivers sharing the highway with you. But why take the risk?