Towing capacity refers to the maximum weight a car can safely tow. Before you tow anything, you need to know how much your car is able to safely and legally able to tow. You can find the towing capacity in the car manual, or you can search your make and model online.
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There are many cars in the Australian car market that have a large towing capacity, with two of the strongest being the 2022 RAM 1500 and the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado, both with a towing capacity of 4,500kg.
When you’re towing, both torque and horsepower are important. However, torque can be more important because it provides initial power and acceleration from being stationary, whereas horsepower provides extra ‘oomph’ while the car is already moving.
A general rule of thumb is that you need one horsepower to tow about 12 kilograms. Therefore, if you were to tow a 1000kg caravan, your car would need about 12,000 horsepower.
The maximum towing capacity indicates the maximum weight your car can safely tow. Therefore, you are able to tow the maximum towing capacity, however it would be unsafe and illegal to tow heavier than the towing capacity.
To find your cars towing capacity, you can find it in the car’s owner manual, or you can search your make and model online.
The gross trailer mass represents the weight of a fully loaded caravan when it is hitched to a car, including added weight of accessories, luggage and passengers. To calculate the gross trailer mass, you take the maximum allowable weight of the caravan and minus the tow ball weight.
There are many cars that can tow 2000kgs, including the Skoda Superb (2000kg capacity), Volvo XC60 (2400kg capacity), Land Rover Discovery Sport (2200kg capacity), Ford S-MAX (2500 kg capacity), Kia Sorento (2000kg capacity) and Nissan X-Trail (2000kg capacity).
Vehicles are manufactured with a set towing capacity, so you cannot increase the towing capacity of a vehicle.
For towing, you want a 4x2 rear wheel drive, which is a car that has power going through the back two wheels. Many 4x2’s come in front wheel drive, which can be dangerous when towing because the power is driven by the front two wheels which can cause the car to lift or have troubles braking when towing a heavy load.
4x4s are still fine cars for towing, however 4x2 rear wheel drives have additional power and can be easier to tow.
If you exceed your cars towing capacity, it is not only illegal but it can be extremely unsafe and cause your trailer to swing and pull your car out of control, and it can also be harder for your car to stop which will wear out your breaks.
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