Allen S

Hi all...Just got back from my first roadtrip with my 09 panel,2.2 auto. I towed my small teardrop with all my camping gear,myself and the girlfriend. We left surrey B.C.,drove south to central oregon...then on to reno,virginia city and lake tahoe. Then south to Yosemite....off again to San Franscisco,then north up the coast into oregon again, then back up to home. A total of 5000 kilometers....that's 3000 miles to you non canucks!! On the way we did numerous mountian passes at 7000 plus feet. The highest pass was tioga at 9945 feet....yes that's right! My little panel never missed a beat....total weight of trailer and gear including us was 1166 lbs . And after figuring out my gas, it still gave us an average of 27 mpg. Man I'm so impressed with my little rig.

mickmc

Cool- there seems to be a debate about towing, but honestly, it comes down to whether people who have actually towed or not. Most of the naysayers have never towed at all, so they are expressing preconceptions, not real world experience. I towed a loaded 4x8 trailer around 1300 miles- NC to NY and back to NC with a 5 speed HHR. Didn't do as well as you with mpg, 25-26mpg, but we were running a/c the whole time and doing 65-70, so the gas mileage was respectable and as good as I could have hoped for. The 2.2 liter was plenty to get by with, although some downshifting was necessary on I-81 through the mountains of PA. We'll be towing our Aliner Scout to the Outer Banks this summer- happily, a much shorter trip.

IgottaWoody

I always wondered..if you can 'carry' 1000bs..what difference does it make whether its inside or outside? Not..considering the trailer reactions..just from a weight standpoint...some say the clutch cant handle a trailer..but it can handle a thousand pound load inside the car..go figure...

Allen S

To tell the truth, I had no problem with the weight what so ever. Barely felt the trailer,down a little on power.. but not so much as i figured it would be. Even climbing those passes in the mountians was no problem.

IgottaWoody

I towa small trailer to pull my 800 lb bike around....no problems...used metal tape on hitch shaft to take up slop and quiet the banging around. ..put 5 to 10 psi in rear air bags to handle rough roads....