MazdaSpeed3 Towing Hitch

[goldwing2000]

I'll see what I can get for ya.

Hi Goldwing2000,

Since you have the hitch out of your car could you do a simple tape measure? Please measure the distance between the two sets of holes. The first set of mounting holes is the top vertical ones (attach to the frame) and they should be 34.25 inches apart. The second set is the horizontal mounting holes (attach to the bumper crossbar) and they should be 23.5 inches apart. The top of the 1 1/4 receiver should be about 3.5+ inches lower than the horizontal mounting holes.

If these are close then it would work.

Thanks

Peter

 

[WTF MATE]

I don't know about towing but the maximum capacity for the vehicle is 600lbs that means you really shouldn't even put four full size adults in it. I would be very wary to try to tow anything with this car. That and you have to look at not just the engine but your putting a bigger strain on the breaks and suspension also, well just my two cents but I wouldn't do it.

 

[goldwing2000]

That must suck for you 'Speed guys. The difference between my curb weight and my GVWR is almost 1,000lbs.

 

[pmeilakjr]

Hitch measurements

Hi Goldwing2000, Any chance you could open that garage and get them measurements soon. Really want to get that hitch.

Thanks

Peter

I'll see what I can get for ya.

 

[pmeilakjr]

Hitch Dimensions

Hi Goldwing2000,

No need to measure - Curt Manufacturing sent me the blue prints to their hitch and it looks like it will fit without any issues. I will order it and let everyone know how the install goes with pictures.

Thanks for the offer.

Peter

I'll see what I can get for ya.

 

[goldwing2000]

Cool. Glad they could help you. I'm having some mobility issues, so I haven't been out to the garage much.
I was going to suggest calling a manufacturer.
I actually got mine from Hidden Hitch but they were the only people making them at that point. Nice to know people have options, now.

 

[NEIL]

Hey all, New to this forum but not Mazdas..
I am building an old trailer into a little tear drop for my RX7 to tow tires tools etc... and have a place to sack out on long race weekends. I looked into the towing thing with our Speed3 as we will be at Laguna Seca cheering on Andrew Caddell in the MX5 pro cup in a couple weeks.
Anyway... the "official" word is no trailer and I couldn't get a straight answer why, since the CX7 is allowed to tow light trailers, but the spd 6&3 are not... sooooo

I've surmised, that Mazda is worried about the yahoo that doesn't understand load and heat and the need to cool the Turbo down after a hard run... I know that with a good synthetic oil (redline is my choice) and some water wetter in the coolant and a synthetic trans oil the speed 3 should be fine with a light load and moderate driving.. (However tranaxles are not the best for towing anyway.)
Will I do it yet and risk my warranty... NOPE... I'll wait a couple years before doing that... dang... would be nice to have that tear drop at Laguna, too. Ain't driving the track car that far unless I get to race it, so tenting it is this year.

Drive smart.
Neil

 

[itsjustmatt]

I owned a Mazda 3 for 3 years. In Summer of '05 Katrina hit, and of course desperate times are cause for desperate measures. I had 1 day to design, construct, test and use a trailer hitch. With 2 people in the backseat I towed 1700 lbs on a borrowed 4x8' trailer 700 miles to MS. At times I forgot the trailer was behind me. I got 30 MPG as opposed to 31 MPG. It was very little load on the car.

I now own a Speed 3. I intend to tow things with it too. I think if you load the trailer correctly (60% in front of axle, 40% behind), don't accelerate or brake
too hard too often, and don't try to tow 5000 .lbs through the mountains, you can safely tow with most cars.

As far as heat goes, your major concerns are with the tranny (less of a problem with a stick) and the brakes (don't tow 5000 .lbs through the mountains). I am not worried about the turbo, it was designed to handle sustained high power.

 

[2003pro5]

Towing

I took this when I went to spain its a Renault just dont know the model.

 

[M3_Zoom]

Yeah, most manuals from cars say not to tow anything. That's because the dealership will not install a hitch on a car, only suvs and trucks. I went through this at Saturn, Nissan, and Mazda. They just don't want to cover someone if the car gets hurt because someone doesn't know what they are doing when they tow something. Cars can tow...now a motorcycle and a jet ski is nothing. You won't even know that they are behind you. I don't think you should pull anything more then that though...

If you pull into a dealer and they notice you have a hitch on your turbo'd MS3, I hope your just having routine service. If it's powertrain, suspension or brake warranty service, you can kiss your warranty bye bye. It's in the manual for more reasons than they just don't want to install a hitch on your car. Sure his theory of having the same weight as a few passenger sounds fine, but the physics of pulling a trailer regardless of how light it is, does strain the engine in a different manner. I can load up my Suburban with 7 adults and climb a hill with really no change or feeling of load on it however, I can take my same Suburban completely empty and just attach my utility trailer with my boys dirt bikes and climb the same hill and the load on the engine is different. A light trailer with a jet ski more than likely will not harm anything BUT for warranty sake, I would not recommend it.

 

[M3_Zoom]

I owned a Mazda 3 for 3 years. In Summer of '05 Katrina hit, and of course desperate times are cause for desperate measures. I had 1 day to design, construct, test and use a trailer hitch. With 2 people in the backseat I towed 1700 lbs on a borrowed 4x8' trailer 700 miles to MS. At times I forgot the trailer was behind me. I got 30 MPG as opposed to 31 MPG. It was very little load on the car.

I now own a Speed 3. I intend to tow things with it too. I think if you load the trailer correctly (60% in front of axle, 40% behind), don't accelerate or brake
too hard too often, and don't try to tow 5000 .lbs through the mountains, you can safely tow with most cars.

As far as heat goes, your major concerns are with the tranny (less of a problem with a stick) and the brakes (don't tow 5000 .lbs through the mountains). I am not worried about the turbo, it was designed to handle sustained high power.

Unless you know your dealer VERY well, you will loose your warranty for pulling anything with your turbo'd MS3; powertrain, suspension, brakes etc. The days of being able to do anything with your car then running it into the dealer without fear of loosing your warranty when something breaks, is over. They sell cars now-a-days by offering large warranties and they also look to void them just as fast in order to put the money back in there pockets. I'm just looking out for you, so you may want to run it by your dealer before you make a bad choice. If you don't care about a warranty then do what you need to do.

 

[NEIL]

Unless you know your dealer VERY well, you will loose your warranty for pulling anything with your turbo'd MS3; powertrain, suspension, brakes etc. The days of being able to do anything with your car then running it into the dealer without fear of loosing your warranty when something breaks, is over. They sell cars now-a-days by offering large warranties and they also look to void them just as fast in order to put the money back in there pockets. I'm just looking out for you, so you may want to run it by your dealer before you make a bad choice. If you don't care about a warranty then do what you need to do.

Heck I AM a dealer (pts Mgr) and I know my regional rep VERY well... I have decided to wait to put one on my car as I know the warranty would be voided... I suspect that the transaxle will not like the shock loading from a trailer. For my rare use of a VERY light trailer, I expect no problems but not worth the argument, for now.
Use to be One preferred a Manual tranny to tow, now it seems most makes want us to use the Automatics.

 

[pmeilakjr]

Speed 3 Hitch - Installed!

Hi All,

Well if there was any question as to if a Mazda 3 hitch would fit on a SPEED 3 - the answer is YES! It fit so good that you can hardly notice it. I don't plan on towing anything - it is for a bike rack. If you try to put a rack on top - good luck opening the hatch. This is the best solution and it looks great.

The hitch I used was a Curt #11384 because it has a nice HD plate - the other brands (Reese, Draw Tite, Hidden Hitch) all made by the same company "Cequent" didn't look as sturdy and didn't offer a lifetime warranty. Actually the Reese brand did - but I figure it was same as the others - different finish.

Attached are some pictures of the car, hitch and rack. It took about an hour to install because I took my time and had to take some pictures during the process. Install is straight forward - you will need to trim part of the inner plastic fascia to have access to the holes on the receiver - but you don't need that part and you can't see it unless you look under the car. I used car ramps to make the install easier but you could do it without them. I also used some locktite on the bolts - just for safety sake.









Now its time to hit them trails - the weather has been perfect here in So Cal!

 

[GNsPR5]

I just ordered one from www.trailerhitches.com

Pairing that with a Thule 917 T2 bike carrier should be sweet.

I'll take pics of the install and finish. Thanks for showing how easy this was...

 

[gr3y]

My parent's owned an old Saab 9000 Turbo, they went to Sweden to buy it, the hitch came stock. Used to tow a camper and go camping when I was a kid. God knows how much that thing weighed. If I remembered correctly, took about half a day's worth of driving to get to the state park or wherever we camped too. I think the only thing it damaged was the clutch life. Although we did tow it a lot.

 

[Mike V]

I learned my lesson that towing is more than just a weight thing. You would think that towing a few hundred pounds would the same as putting a few people in your car but you must consider wind drag too. That plays more of a toll than you'd think. I was pulling an empty 6 x 12 enclosed trailer with a Dodge Ram that I had. Thinking it was equivalent to having a load in the bed, I towed in overdrive. Yikes, transmissions aren't cheap. Haha.

On the other hand, towing a few hundred pounds on a flat trailer most likely will not cause any ill effects. Please let us know how it turns out!

 

[GNsPR5]

The most weight on the trailer hitch and bike carrier will be around 70lbs. with 2 mountain bikes or much less with a single MTB or a single or 2 roadies. Already talked to my service manager. He said no problem. He also mentioned that bolt on hitches do not void warranty automatically. Only unless of course it is found as the source of your problem when you bring it in for work. And that would be a structural problem.

Now if you go towing large trailers or campers, I'm sure that is a different story...

 

[newspeed3]

You're nuts,it's a sport compact.I'm gonna be sick now.

 

[assman]

I want to get a hidden hitch as well to cary my mountain bike.

 

[Infantrylowlife]

ing about getting a hitch too cuz i need to have my bike with me at the base