Does Anyone Flat-Tow a Car Behind Their Taco?

Odd question I know but let me explain. You see I have a modified VW Thing which I'd like to flat-tow behind my new Tacoma as I've found it's more fun to tow it to the places where I like to play with it at then it is drive it to those places. I'm going to have the car weighed before I tow it on any long trips but I'm estimating that it weighs ~4,000 LBS. I've flat-towed it a couple of hundred miles with my Silverado and it 'feels' heavy but that truck handles the weight fine.

I guess my questions are will the Tacoma's brakes be up to the task of stopping that much weight or is that a bad idea. Most of my trips require driving in the mountains and over highway passes such as the Cajon Pass (~4,600') here in So.Cal. The car uses a simple tow bar and since it's wheels-down there is next to no tongue weight. When I've flat-towed it with my Silverado it tracks very well and at speed in my larger truck I hardly know it's back there. However in a couple of months I'll be taking a much longer trip (1,500 miles round-trip) and am just curious if the Tacoma, flat-towing the car and loaded with gear for a week-long trip will be too much for my new truck.

Here's a pic of the car in question. Thanks in advance for any advice for this newbie (to this forum but not to towing and hauling).

 

Why though? Usually the point of flat towing a car is when you have a rv/motorhome/large truck and need a smaller car to go to places after the truck is parked. I see no point in towing 2 vehicles that are about the same size and can do the same things.

 

I'll admit that it does sound unconventional but there are off-road trails I take the Thing on which I don't want to take my Taco on. Knowing that if I mess-up and scrape some paint or break something on a car which spends most of it's time parked is an easier pill for me to swallow then damaging my brand-new truck. Now a few years from now...you might have a point!

 

I see. If I was trying to keep my truck nice, I wouldn't tow with it unless it was necessary. Why not get a 1st or 2nd gen to beat up on? They ride nice enough for road trips

 

Your Taco should tow it just fine. Stopping/braking is a little concerning especially if going down steep grades and mountain passes. I tow a 3500 lb boat/trailer (trailer has no brakes) and lets just say it doesn’t stop on a dime. 4000lbs or more and you are going to know you have a load when you hit the brakes. Even though within the law I’d be hesitant to tow that without brakes.

 

I'm just damn impressed that (T)hing weighs a full 4000 lbs.

 

That makes two of us! To be fair I've never weighed it, however the next time I go to the Steel Yard I'm going to have it weighed there (they have a truck scale). It feels really heavy when I tow it (flat tow or trailer); I'm not sure if it's just drag from the driveline and/or the big tires or if it's just a heavy car. The braking issue concerns me and may be what keeps me from towing the Thing on long trips with my Taco. After I know what it weighs I'm going to tow it someplace local with my Taco and see how it does.

 

can you do a test tow just to get the feel of it? just around the block or down the road to see how she stops it? sweet VW Thing by the way!

 

I’d be less concerned with the weight and more concerned with the unpredictable nature of the VW flat tow. You’ve got a learning curve situation on your hands.

 

Thanks for the feed back! Fortunately I have been flat-towing VW Dune Buggy's (Manx's) for the past 18 years without any problems. So far I've got about 300 flat-towed miles on the Thing behind my Crew Cab Silverado with a 5.3 and it actually tows beautifully, I've just never towed it with as small a vehicle as a Tacoma. My original plan was to replace my Silverado with my Tacoma but I'm holding-off on doing that, at least until I know how the Tacoma will do towing the Thing and a couple of trailers I own. I'm waiting until my Taco gets more than 1,000 miles on it until I hook-up to it.