Question:
i'm new to this and camping - well ive tent camped in my younger
days but now that my children are 17 and 19 we are thinking about the
future. that is my husband and I . so we went to an rv show and i
came very close to buying a lite wt. by thor. since then ive been
trying to research and came across this web site. well maybe some of
you can help me out - im wondering if my 99 ford windstar is adequate
as the dealer says it is . i would hate to be stuck even though the wt
is 3500 lbs. i dont want to be pushing it to the limit. ive read some
horror stories on other sites . maybe i should wait -till the time is
right and buy another vehicle and trailer then. what do you think?
Answer:
Perhaps your dealer is mistaking your vehicle for an Aerostar, which is
a much more capable tow vehicle. The Windstar with the 3.0L V6 4.09 or
greater final drive gears can tow 2000 lbs - the 3.8L V6 with automatic
and trailering package can tow 3500 lbs. These ratings assume only a
driver and a tank of gas (sometimes) in the car. Any additional cargo
weight should be subtracted from that number. And by the way you should
first derate that number by 25% for a safety factor. With that said, I
think you will quickly conclude that your Windstar is not a very good
tow vehicle. Maybe a small pop-up tent trailer or utility trailer but
not much more. This industry is loaded with salespeople that will say
anything to get you to buy, in most states you have no recourse when
things go wrong because of what the salesperson said. You are doing the
right thing by trying to become an educated consumer. Two things to
take with a grain of salt when dealing with RVs in general - the spec
sheets show the unit in the absolute best light - tow ratings are on the
high side, and dry weights on RVs being on the low
