Forester Towing Suitability

Donmac · Post by **Donmac** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:02 pm

I have had several Forester's, current one an '06 XS auto, but have never towed anything other than the trailer to the local tip. I am contemplating purchasing a camper trailer either the pop top type or the fold out canvas type and would be interested to hear from anyone who has either of these and who camps/tows fairly regularly.
Mainly interested in how the vehicle handles the towing and any relevant comments/advice would be greatly appreciated.

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:26 pm

the forester are pretty good to tow with. i would suggest a heavy duty tow bar. if towing a 4x4 camper trailer or a heavy pop up i would recommend some heavy duty king springs. this will ensure the car will sit as flat as possible when towing
cheers jake

Donmac · Post by **Donmac** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 4:56 pm

Thanks Jake for the info, I will only be towing relatively light on road stuff so hopefully won't need the heavy duty springs. The car is fitted with the factory tow bar.
Cheers Donmac

FROG · Post by **FROG** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:07 pm

Donmac wrote:I have had several Forester's, current one an '06 XS auto, .

Pretty sure you will need an auto oil cooler for that model as well as the tow bar. I will check tommorow.

purp · Post by **purp** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 5:33 pm

I am also interested in what people have to say about this. I recently bought a 09 auto forester (as a family car, as our first was born 6 days ago). We have a camper trailer (the tent type) and have previously pulled it with the trusty old "L" without any trouble, but only on shorter trips and not all that loaded. I'll be getting the heavy duty tow bar (it didn't come with one) and have no really worries about the springs, but am very interested in what people think about transmission coolers!

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:18 pm

if its your normal road type top up tent the forester wont have any issues at all! unless you will be driving through mountainous areas for long periods of time i dare say you wont need a auto cooler either

revmax · Post by **revmax** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:38 pm

Have an 00 Auto Outback wich pulls my trailer around on local trips and a couple of costal runs. the trailer max weight is 750KG, I always select "Power" on the transmision so as to not load it up at low revs. No problems at all.
Now if i was to travel australia or take on the beach or dunes. I would fit an auto tranny fluid cooler as well as VLSD front and rear. BUT could buy a real 4WD for the same price would probably just buy a Toyota or Nissan. Now none of the above is going to happen so I will just leave my OB as is and go steady with a trailer on.

If I were to stay on road or hard packed roads with a trailer of max weight od 750kg the OB would be just fitted with an auto fluid cooler and driven around australia.
I believe the OB and Forrester share the same drive line.

SuBaRiNo · Post by **SuBaRiNo** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:59 pm

I towed a camper trailer around oz in my 01 gt foz. Towed fine. Trailer weighed about 1000kg I think and car fully loaded with cargo on a roof cage too. It's a pop top similar to the small jayco pop tops u see. Rear shock and springs were shagged after towing for 24 000km and the AC could not be run when climbing hills or it overheated. Incase anyone's interested we were getting 400km from the 70l tank and had to run high octane fuel or it pinged off its head.

Obviously your vehicle should tow much better than this.

Dave

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:11 pm

One thing that if often overlooked, is trailer braking. How heavy is the camper trailer?
The 06 Forester is rated to tow 720kg unbraked and 1400kg braked.

This is more important than most people think. If you are towing more than you are rated for, and have an accident, there is a very good chance that your insurance will be voided, and if you injure or kill somebody, you will be criminally liable.

I own a canvas camper trailer that I towed for the first time with the Outback and although it towed ok, I found that after a couple of stop starts through town, the brakes were starting to fade a little. I will be buying an electric brake kit for it before we take it out again. Better be safe than sorry.

Brumby Kid · Post by **Brumby Kid** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 8:13 pm

Grandparents have an 08 landcruiser, they tow a proper (large) caravan.
They have just had to put in airbags in the rear to keep it level.
Depending on the size and weight your going to be towing, keep that in mind.

Cheers Cam

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:42 pm

EJ20 or 25 in this Foz, was there two sizes in this range?

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:44 pm

purp wrote:but am very interested in what people think about transmission coolers!

IMO always get one with a tow hitch - this way you know you'll be right in pretty much any conditions and when it comes to selling (if you ever do) you can add this as a feature of the tow pack.

Plus the money to put one on is less than that to rebuild a fried auto!

If you DIY I'd put it before the line that heads in to the radiator, this allows the air to cool the hot fluid and the radiator coolant to keep the trans fluid at or nearest to optimum operating temp

Cheers

Bennie

taza · Post by **taza** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:48 pm

The 2.5 in the Forester will be fine as said. Subarino's turbo 2.0l did fine too. But I highly recommend not towing long distance with a 2.0l non turbo, although mines manual I did a 2500km trip in a week with a boat, the roof packed and the car full to the roof and upto the front seats.

I averaged 18l per 100km and got upto around 25-30l per 100km with head on wind sitting in 3rd to 4th gear, you can forget even getting upto 100km in under a few minutes. lol

The 2.5l engine pulls quite abit better than the 2.0l though so you shoud be fine. Around town and small trips is easy though.

I can't even manage to hold 110km/hr up a slight incline with just the car, that shows how gutless the 2.0l n/a is in the 1st gen Foresters

Taza

Post by **Alex** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:38 pm

It'll tow piece of piss, even with the 2.0l motor.

I don't understand all this sooking with the 2.0l, I've never towed with mine in my liberty (as it's a road cruiser) but I have no doubt it would tow a tonne easy.

Taza I think your driving style is abit funny hey

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

taza · Post by **taza** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 11:52 pm

Alex wrote:It'll tow piece of piss, even with the 2.0l motor.

I don't understand all this sooking with the 2.0l, I've never towed with mine in my liberty (as it's a road cruiser) but I have no doubt it would tow a tonne easy.

Taza I think your driving style is abit funny hey

Its fine for a city run about but with running oversized tyres and a roof basket with lights and PVC pipe rod holder makes it not very areo dynamic and struggle abit. After driving a stock standard foz the same as mine it goes much better, just my big tyres and unareoynamics makes a big difference. Plus your lib would be a few times more areo dynamic and possibly lighter than my foz.

My driving style is more normal now, I take a bit more care of the drivetrain after the engine issues... I don't redline it every gear change either

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 10:48 am

i can vouch for taza. my 1st gen N/A foz struggles when towing. i tow a trailer with 2 bikes and the car full of camping with tent, food, beer, ice etc and i had to use low range in the end to get up the road were i was camping!

taza · Post by **taza** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:47 am

thunder039 wrote:i can vouch for taza. my 1st gen N/A foz struggles when towing. i tow a trailer with 2 bikes and the car full of camping with tent, food, beer, ice etc and i had to use low range in the end to get up the road were i was camping!

I know what you mean. But for a 2.0l they aren't too bad, it has suprised me many time where is has suddenly found power especially offroad. These days you ind 2.0l engines in little hatchbacks no small wagons.

I did however tow a boat offroad in sand and do a beach launch with the car, I managed without any trouble.

thunder039 · Post by **thunder039** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:59 am

the car will tow but does require some revving if going up inclines or boggy road surface

FROG · Post by **FROG** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:07 pm

FROG wrote:Pretty sure you will need an auto oil cooler for that model as well as the tow bar. I will check tommorow.

Subaru says you should definately fit a transmission cooler to 97-08 Forester Autos

and so do I

For what they are worth why risk transmission damage ?

just my 2c

NachaLuva · Post by **NachaLuva** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:10 pm

purp wrote:I am also interested in what people have to say about this. I recently bought a 09 auto forester (as a family car, as our first was born 6 days ago). We have a camper trailer (the tent type) and have previously pulled it with the trusty old "L" without any trouble, but only on shorter trips and not all that loaded. I'll be getting the heavy duty tow bar (it didn't come with one) and have no really worries about the springs, but am very interested in what people think about transmission coolers!

Congrats purp

My Foz ('97 NA, 5MT) does struggle a bit with hills unloaded. I've only towed a few times (small trailer) & even with it empty noticed a change. Full & it was very sluggish, mind you that was very heavy, prob close to 1t. Cant imagine it would have made it to 100kmh lol