Towing with a 3

[grandpapy]

Hello Everyone,
In about 4 weeks i'm moving home from college and i'm renting a uhaul trailer to tow all my stuff back. i figure i should be in the ball park of 1500lbs, but i'll be going to truck stop to make sure i'm not over my toungue and weight limit of 2000. I'll be towing this from seattle to socal and i'm wondering if i need to increase the oil weight for the tow. I have a 95 grand cherokee that i usually do all my towing with, but that's in socal. For that vehicle the manual recomends going from 10-30 to 20-50 when towing heavy loads. I'm wondering if i need to do somthing similar on the mazda 3. I was thinking of going to a 10-30 or a 10-40 for the trip down. Does anyone know if there is a good recomended weight for towing with the 3?

by the way i have the 2.3L 5 door hatch. pretty much stock and just put in a brand new clutch about 2 months ago.

 

[eg6motion]

Hello Everyone,
In about 4 weeks i'm moving home from college and i'm renting a uhaul trailer to tow all my stuff back. i figure i should be in the ball park of 1500lbs, but i'll be going to truck stop to make sure i'm not over my toungue and weight limit of 2000. I'll be towing this from seattle to socal and i'm wondering if i need to increase the oil weight for the tow. I have a 95 grand cherokee that i usually do all my towing with, but that's in socal. For that vehicle the manual recomends going from 10-30 to 20-50 when towing heavy loads. I'm wondering if i need to do somthing similar on the mazda 3. I was thinking of going to a 10-30 or a 10-40 for the trip down. Does anyone know if there is a good recomended weight for towing with the 3?

by the way i have the 2.3L 5 door hatch. pretty much stock and just put in a brand new clutch about 2 months ago.

Well, it's not made to tow anything, so I'd say rent a uhaul truck and tow the 3.

 

[xsists]

Check out the Mazda 3 picture thread. There is a guy from Canada that tows with his 3.

 

[eg6motion]

Check out the Mazda 3 picture thread. There is a guy from Canada that tows with his 3.

some people are silly enough to do it, but 1500lbs? that's asking for trouble, that's like towing a small camper or a couple ATV's. A far cry from a small application like a motorcycle or a bike rack. You are essentially towin half your vehicle weight with something that isn't meant to tow...good luck, hope it's a short drive and not windy.

 

[xsists]

That guy was towing 2 bikes. In the US manual it says no towing but in every other country the manual has limits for towing. Mazda USA just didn't want to be liable for any warranty work due to towing..

 

[djltoronto]

some people are silly enough to do it, but 1500lbs? that's asking for trouble, that's like towing a small camper or a couple ATV's. A far cry from a small application like a motorcycle or a bike rack. You are essentially towin half your vehicle weight with something that isn't meant to tow...good luck, hope it's a short drive and not windy.

Why do you say that?

What part of my Mazda 3 do you think will fail first?

When I tow, I don't load the transmission up much at all (accelerate slowly)
Since I am not accelerating quickly, there is also a low and gentle load on the engine. Once up to speed, the only thing the engine and tranny have to overcome is friction and wind resistance. When I encounter hills... rather than floor it to maintain my usual (10 over), I just let it slow down. Sure the car can easily maintain 80 mph(130 kph) up a hill in 4th gear while towing, but I chose not to, being more gentle on the drive train.

I Have 185,000 kms on my 3 now, what damage/wear do you think towing will cause.
I don't tow with it regularly, but I have towed just under 1500 pounds on all day long 1400 km road trips.

 

[djltoronto]

That guy was towing 2 bikes. In the US manual it says no towing but in every other country the manual has limits for towing. Mazda USA just didn't want to be liable for any warranty work due to towing..

right...


I'm well out of warranty anyway. (bolt)

 

[Glenn3s]

Hi all,

Like XSISTS notes, other countries' manuals and web sites give towing info for the 3. In fact, for my '04 and others I've seen, the body has hitch-mount holes from the factory.

I tow a Coleman Taos popup with electric brakes, about 1300 pounds, and have put around 18000 miles on the pair in the last three years, including in the Rockies with passes around 10000 feet (heck, we were camped at 8650 back in September) and through West Virginia. The one thing to do, as has been said, is keep the RPM at a reasonable range and don't be afraid to downshift.

The only change I made was to change both engine and transaxle oils to full synthetic, using the factory spec'd weights for both.

Glenn

 

[grandpapy]

well I just got back from towing my uhual closed trailer with my stuff from my apartment. I drove from seattle washington to southern orange county with no problems. The mazda did extremely well with plenty of power and stopping capability. I was towing about 1300lbs. The car was completely stable and powered through the mountains with no problem. Since i have the 2.3L with the manual trans, i just shifted the gears and keept the car in it's power band on the mountain sections around 3800-4500 rpms. As glenn3s says, if it slowed down, i didn't mash it, I just let it do it's thing and then it got back up to speed when it flattened out. Now that i know she can handle it, i'll be taken my popup trailer out and not have to worry about long distances.