[Lajoie]

Hi everybody,

I'm thinking about doing a trip to Walt Disney (Florida), from Montréal, which is something around 2400 km (1450 miles) with my Forester 2009 towing our pop-up.

Would you re-command such a trip or would it be too much for the Forester?

Thanks

 

[philbytx]

Much depends.....

upon the tow set up that you have. i.e. GCWR, weight of pop-up, is it braked or unbraked. If it is an auto, do you have auxiliary cooling for your tranny? etc. etc.

Otherwise, if your pop-up is inside the Subaru tow rating guidelines and your vehicle is equipped to tow, have at it!

We regularly tow our motorcycle/trailer combo, which weighs in around 1100lbs. This is within the Subaru towing weight guidelines, which are a loaded car PLUS the trailer weight. Our 2005 FXSLLB is an auto, the trailer is unbraked and we never experienced any issues.

 

[James]

Last year I did a road trip from Vancouver BC, through Norther BC to the Yukon and back. It was ~5,200 km. I even drove through the Rocky Mountains, with no problems.

I do have the Secondary Transmission Cooler and Electric Trailer Brakes. The trailer is about 2200 lbs loaded.

 

[Lajoie]

Wow, what a nice trip! The forester must have worked hard through the Rocky Mountains. Whenever there is a steep hill to climb while towing, I rapidly have to shift down to 2nd speed... must have plenty of these there!

By the way, nice pop-up!

My pop-up weight about 1800 lbs when empty (from the spec.) and it has brakes too.
My auto transmission does not have a cooler (my Subaru dealer said it didn't need it), but I guess that it could be useful down there in Florida...

 

[James]

Wow, what a nice trip! The forester must have worked hard through the Rocky Mountains. Whenever there is a steep hill to climb while towing, I rapidly have to shift down to 2nd speed... must have plenty of these there!

By the way, nice pop-up!

My pop-up weight about 1800 lbs when empty (from the spec.) and it has brakes too.
My auto transmission does not have a cooler (my Subaru dealer said it didn't need it), but I guess that it could be useful down there in Florida...

I do have the second cooler, and I am not convinced that it was necessary. The Subaru comes with a Transmission cooler already. I installed a Transmission Temp Sensor a few weeks before I installed my Aux Cooler. Now the Subaru rarely gets up to "Normal Transmission Oil Temp" even when towing, but unlike the ENGINE OIL temp, the Transmission Temp being a little low is not considered detrimental to the engine.

I did have to drop into second a few times, mostly because I don't like the way the EAT (electronic Automatic Transmission) shifts when loaded going up hill in D or 3rd. The newer Foresters, like yours, have the sport shift, which would have been great. I would have set it to 3rd, through the sport shift. I was passing some RV's and Travel Trailers in the mountains.