Camry & Solara LoungeDiscussion area for every generation of Toyota's family car, the Toyota Camry. Lexus ES250/300 owners welcome! Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance and more.
For starters, this is an outstanding forum...a great resource for information! I own a 1991 4 cyl. Camry that I love, runs great and is alot of fun. I am looking to buy a boat and I am wondering the ability of my Camry to do this. I am looking in the 1000lb range (give or take 250lbs). I know the tow capacity of a Camry is 1000-2000 lbs but I also have to pull the boat out of the water up a slick/wet ramp. I'm evisioning myself on the front page of the sunday paper with my car submerged up the stereo attenna. Anybody tow a boat with a Camry? Any advice outside of a transmission cooler?
Ive never pulled a boat wiht my camry, but i did watch a guy submerge his truck because his trailor went over the edge of the ramp lol, when i pull my boat out i just give it enough gas to spin the tires a lil bit and pull the boat right now, but let me tell you this, its a 91 ford f-150 with about 350k miles still runnning fine! Longest we've owned a ford
I'm also wondering about the same topic. I'm looking at a 97 Camry V6 AT to tow a 17' power boat. The boat/motor/trailer/gear weight will be right at the rated towing capacity of 2000lbs.
Is towing this with a Camry on a regular basis realistic? The upshot is that distances will generally be very short and terrain flat (I live less than 15 miles from the lakes where I will be using the boat).
I'd hate to buy a Camry and find it isn't up to the task. Then again, this will be my daily driver as well and I'm sure the Camry's road manners and fuel economy would be preferrable to that of a truck or SUV.
You know I keep hearing the same thing...some people say it will be fine to tow with the car and some people say they wouldn't try to do it. But it is the owners who do tow a boat that make me feel better about it, towing a 17ft boat has to be a tough job for a camry, so a 15 ft boat (a 1200, boat, motor, trailer and all) shouldn't be a problem. I had already planned on a transmission cooler and the brake pads are another good idea.
I can't imagine towing something in a FWD car. Think wet wheels get bad traction? Well front wheels in the air get's less I promise you!
Besides... Living in AL you quickly learn that every public boat launch is going to have a camry exhaust submerged by the time you get the trailer good and in the water.
I just think it's a horrible idea. My uncle burned my already dieing clutch up on my '89 Mazda B2200 at which time first gear went with it launching a ski-boat when I was 16.
If an old mazda 4c had trouble pulling a skiboat I don't see how a Camry's 4c is going to do any better.
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pgmomni I read that.
And if you read my statement, you find out I think it's a shitty idea. WTF kind of boat are you towing with a 4c Camry, a 17ft aluminum shell!?
but seriously, bad idea. Two things should be blatently obvious.
1) A Camry doesn't stop well
2) A 3c engine can PULL a boat and a trailer
That being said, how exactly is a FWD Camry going to pull the trailer out of the water
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I towed a Kawaski ZX12R about 550 lbs on small 2 wheeled trailer, that probably weighs around 200 lbs maybe with my 4cyl Camry. While it tow it allright I could definately tell it was behind me. I could maintain 70 mph fairly easily but it did kill the gas mileage horribly. Only got around 20mph on the highway. I would say you could probably tow it, buts it not gonna be the greatest idea. V6 would be much better of course.
On that same note, will a tow hitch off a 96 Camry fit a 99 Solara? It will wont it???
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Originally posted by ZXLNT While it tow it allright I could definately tell it was behind me. I could maintain 70 mph fairly easily but it did kill the gas mileage horribly. Only got around 20mph on the highway. I would say you could probably tow it, buts it not gonna be the greatest idea. V6 would be much better of course.
Thats pretty obvious. More weight and a boat behind creates more drag.
V6 will give you more power pulling, but from a gas guzzling perspective it may be the same. The v6 will prolly use less gas than the i4 pulling the thing but because it is a v6 it could very well even out.
Thanks for all the good advice and discussion in this thread.
FWIW, I decided to go with a Land Cruiser instead of the V6 Camry. Not that the Camry couldn't do the job, but at 5000lbs towing capacity the LC gives me a greater margin of error and flexibility.
What influenced my decision most was remembering that some of the lakes in the area I'd consider fishing have poorly maintained dirt roads leading to the launch ramp. Not the sort of places I'd like to take a Camry towing a 2000lb trailer.
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