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The tow rating is always a balancing act. Ideally trailers would be rated in combination of drag and weight. Weight only matters going uphill, downhill and accelerating or braking. When cruising, the total drag is what matters as well. Both have an impact. Total drag impacts the transmission quit a bit. So a 4000lb enclosed camper might be harder on the transmission than a 5500lb car trailer.
A slightly higher ball mount might have helped a bit to get the trailer more level. It might feel more stable too as the trailer's rear axle would have more weight.
The tow rating is always a balancing act. Ideally trailers would be rated in combination of drag and weight. Weight only matters going uphill, downhill and accelerating or braking. When cruising, the total drag is what matters as well. Both have an impact. Total drag impacts the transmission quit a bit. So a 4000lb enclosed camper might be harder on the transmission than a 5500lb car trailer.
A slightly higher ball mount might have helped a bit to get the trailer more level. It might feel more stable too as the trailer's rear axle would have more weight.
Excellent observations motoguy128, I am very comfortable that the Q5 TDI is more than capable of towing the Airstream RV that I have purchased. Some interesting reading here... Can-Am RV :: HH 38-1
and in the rest of the "Hitch Hints" referenced on the CanAm RV site. Watch the videos too. Very interesting.
So we picked up the Airstream on Tuesday and towed it from London, ON to Orilllia, ON via secondary roads. After the first half hour we were pretty much getting the hang of towing this 28' rig and I gotta say, I was expecting it to tow nicely but it towed even better than I expected.
We traveled 328kM (204mi) at about 85-90kph (52-55mph) and it seemed tow best in 5th, 6th and 7th gears selected manually for the most part. We achieved a fuel economy of 12.6L/100kM (22.4mpg uk or 18.7mpg us).
Ready to hit the road at Can-Am RV in London Ontario.
Eaz-Lift Weight Distributing Hitch with 1000lb bars. Also has 2 Husky Sway Control Kits. The Factory hitch has been significantly reinforced too.
So we picked up the Airstream on Tuesday and towed it from London, ON to Orilllia, ON via secondary roads. After the first half hour we were pretty much getting the hang of towing this 28' rig and I gotta say, I was expecting it to tow nicely but it towed even better than I expected.
We traveled 328kM (204mi) at about 85-90kph (52-55mph) and it seemed tow best in 5th, 6th and 7th gears selected manually for the most part. We achieved a fuel economy of 12.6L/100kM (22.4mpg uk or 18.7mpg us).
[/I]Eaz-Lift Weight Distributing Hitch with 1000lb bars. Also has 2 Husky Sway Control Kits. The Factory hitch has been significantly reinforced too.
Wow, that would not be fun towing in a strong wind. Short wheel base on the Q5 with something that big will be scary.
Wow, that would not be fun towing in a strong wind. Short wheel base on the Q5 with something that big will be scary.
We had minimal wind on the way home but we did have many tractor trailers pass us in the oncoming lanes and we experienced no deflection (never mind sway) at all. Keep in mind the profile of the trailer, a taller, more square trailer would be a handful but the AS presents very little drag in any direction. Also, the trailer hitch is set up correctly on a vehicle with small overhangs and the weight spread correctly over all 4 axles. Granted, it remains to be seen what it will perform like on a prairie highway in a high wind but I am confident that the AS will track much better than a similar size square trailer hanging off the back of a P/U.
Towing to Ottawa today and back on Sunday and looking forward to it.
I read that in Europe, the Q5 is rated to tow more than the USA.
Just did another 400 mile tow in a uhaul RT trailer with 2 bikes so about 2,300 lbs. A bit more traffic during this tow netted me roughly 23.2 mpg.
Looking into buying a much lighter Kendon trailer.
I am pretty sure the tow rating in Germany for a Q5 is 2 metric tons, which is 4400 lbs the same as here. The hitch is different than the US hitch as they don't use square receivers there.
I could be wrong on the actual weights, but that is what I read in an SQ5 review for the European market with the diesel engine.
I have 2013 Q5 with the 2.0T. I towed a 16ft boat (~2000 lbs.) from Toronto to Florida(2500 km) and had to stop on average every 400 km for gas. On the way back without boat I averaged 700 km between fill ups.
09-15-2015, 07:06 AM
