I need a toad. Since my RV is a gasser and prob close to my gvwr I am not sure what to get. Thought about a smart car but I need room for a wife and a standard poodle. I don’t mind a trailer but that would just add extra weight. What do you guys do for a car?

We have had a number of them. Toyota, Renault, Suzuki Samari, Geo Tracker, Suzuki Grand Vitara and now a Jeep liberty diesel. There were more but slip my mind. The first two were stick shifts. All the others were 4 wheel drive with a transfer case that had a neutral.

The first 5 were all under 2500 pounds.

Almost all standard shifts are towable, but check the owners manual. It will tell you. Also check the FMCA web site. Every year they list the towable new cars. Don't know if they have a history section or not.

My first toad was on a tow dolly. Not bad for point A to point B but a pita for numerous stops and frequent excursions. Sold the tow dolly and got the 71 VW bus.

Other than having to make a custom towbar attachment, it has been great. Fairly light, holds a lot, easy to tow and connect/disconnect and lots of comments everywhere we go. Not a great ride by today's standards but good for short trips.

Now I am the guy that bought Steves' dolly. Tow a Miata with it, not the lightest car around 3K but works for me. Yes it can be a pain to take the car on and off but really Steve not that awful.

Because it is towed rear wheels up I hate having to tie off the steering wheel, have to figure something better that what I do now.

I tow with a gasser too, Nose hardly knows the Miata is on the back and I lose very little gas mileage.

When I could not get a pull thru site, it took me at least 5 minutes to remove safety chains, unstrap the tires, slide out the ramps, get the car off the dolly, slide ramps back in, unhitch the dolly, move it out of the way every time I backed into a parking spot. Reverse when I had to leave.

I can unhitch/hitch up the VW in 30 seconds...

Saturn 4 speed automatic, chevy cavalier 4 speed automatic. light weight, cheap, well made, dependable. My Regal doesn't know anything is back there.

J

We're planning on a couple of bicycles, but you'd need a pretty big basket for the poodle...

Steve, now I know you are getting up there in age, but you may have forgotten, this dolly has a rocker system, pull the pin on the tongue, rock the ramps down, drive the car on and it automatically rights itself raising the ramps, replace the tongue pin and install the wheel clamp webbings. I agree it does take 5 minutes or so. Come spring in Minnesnowta we will sit down, have some beer and reintroduce you to your "EX" tow dolly, it still loves you!

Yes, I had forgotten the tilt ramp feature. However, when I loaded/unloaded the Prius on the ramps, the front end of the car would drag on the front end of the tilted ramps. I had to put some 2x8 boards under the rear end of the ramps so they wouldn't tilt up so far to hit the car front on the way up and down. Not a big deal but took more playing. Also when loading the car on the dolly I had to be sure the car was exactly centered on the ramps. Didn't always get it right the first time. With the hold down straps over the tires, I often had to retighten them after a few miles.

With the towbar on the VW, I can be off by 6 inches side to side or front to back and the bars will still hook up with one pin. Really easy. Works every time. Two pins, two safety chain hooks, one electrical plug and good to go. Once the car is free, no need to unhitch the dolly and push out of the way. Just fold up the tow bar arms and done. Perfect for lazy guys like me!

As I said, if I went one stop from point A to B, no big deal. On long trips with multiple stops it got tedious lining up the car, strapping it down, and jockeying the dolly each time, it was a nuisance. Just depends on the intended use.

Only downside to the towbar is the need for the sturdy tow bracket baseplate on the toad. Not just any car can be towed like on the dolly. I had to spend some time and more money designing and installing the towplate on the 50 year old VW since no one makes one for the old car. Finding someplace solid to tie to is challenging on some toads.

In my case it was an easier decision since my neighbor gave me the $400 towbar for free. With that and my ability to engineer and build the VW tow plate myself it was both convenient and cheap. A willing buyer for the tow dolly completed the decision process! Win-win!

Have toad, will pull

We are towing a 2002 VW New Beetle TDI. That little bugger gets 50mpg on its own. Love diesel
Our 70 lbs Kuvasz can ride on the backseat or fold down rear hatchback.

Seen Honda CRV and Ford Flex are popular too. VW Jetta TDI (got a Sportwagen one, manual, but it got a push button start, so we do not tow it (yet)).

I think the older cars make great toads, a 1960 Ford Falcon 3 on the tree, would be great, tow it 4 down, or on a trailer or dolly! If they could be found without to much rust a Manual transmission Chevy Vega or Chevette. The Vega could also be used to keep the bugs away they love to burn a bunch of oil!

Duane, Vega's didn't run long enough to rust! The GMC learn about coated aluminum was pretty good for the first 10,000 miles. In that era a lady in our carpool had a VW diesel sedan. A local station had a long offer for a $10 grocery coupon for every $50 of fuel, by the time she had room in the tank the offer was over. I would guess the group weight was 650, probably half the cc engine displacement! No sound reduction weight was used, not sure the radio really had a speaker. My nomination for an old toad.

Ditto that! The VW diesel Rabbit was a great little econo car. My dad had two of them, 50 mpg and ran 300,000 miles.

I ran Pintos back then. Cast iron engines that ran forever. I had three of them that I ran doing field service on IBM "computer" equipment, 600 miles a week. (Keypunch, sorters, and duplicators for IBM 5081 cards. Remember those?) Rusted out like all the others at the time, but cheap and reliable. Long gone now.

Funny, am partial to American cars, when I used to buy new cars, always bought them except once a Renault. Now I own a Miata, Mercedes, bought them used, tells me those last longer in better shape. Should say I do have a Cadillac SUV to pull the boat.

Tim, I did have a Vaga, before it burnt more oil than gas, around 20k. Was a pretty good car, good mileage and surprisingly comfortable. 1971/5 gas went up to over a buck a gallon long lines at the filling station, Nixon changed the speed limit to 55. Experts said all the gas/crude oil in the world would be used up by 2018!!!

Remember flying into Canada and bought AV gas for a $1.20 American, was floored!!! It was sold by Canadian gallon, so a bit more, but sure was shocked!!

I have had a few good toads. 1983 Toyota ST 4cyl. rwd 5 speed 22R engine. PS,PB, and a/c. 2600 curb weight. My 1991 BMW 318 2600 curb weight but new enough to have driver air bag.
my 1974 VW that has no power anything including power. Only 1700 curb weight. My newest toad I have not set up yet is a 2009 Honda CRV. Heavy than others but does have AWD and can be towed 4 down with 5spd auto and seams to be a nice car.