Cars and trucks can fuck off, and most pick-up truck owners are fooling themselves by buying into a lifestyle they don’t actually live, but I still would not recommend towing any significant distance with a Golf. You can tow with a hatchback, but it’s not really that safe and your speed is very limited, making you a huge annoying moving obstacle for the rest of us cursed to live in this world designed for cars.
Why is it not safe? If the manufacturer rates the Golf for towing 2000 kg, it is capable of doing so safely.
Speeds while towing in Europe are lower. 100 km/h is the maximum, but many trailers are only rated for 80 km/h and some countries also have lower speed limits for towing in general.
You are therefore traveling the same speed as trucks (up to 90 km/h) and buses (up to 100 km/h). Buses and trucks have mandatory speed limiters since a couple of decades and therefore never drive faster than those speeds.
There are more differences between European and American towing setups. You can look at my other reply, if you want. ;)
![[image] Since many people seem to believe you can't tow with cars, here's roughly what dutch people end up doing on vacation.](https://feddit.de/pictrs/image/ea1db421-ccea-4e3d-af37-aec9b3e62de4.jpeg){kind=link}
Cars and trucks can fuck off, and most pick-up truck owners are fooling themselves by buying into a lifestyle they don’t actually live, but I still would not recommend towing any significant distance with a Golf. You can tow with a hatchback, but it’s not really that safe and your speed is very limited, making you a huge annoying moving obstacle for the rest of us cursed to live in this world designed for cars.
My neighbour tows his caravan with a Mini and my brother tows gliders with a Suzuki Swift.
Golfs are plenty strong.
Why is it not safe? If the manufacturer rates the Golf for towing 2000 kg, it is capable of doing so safely.
Speeds while towing in Europe are lower. 100 km/h is the maximum, but many trailers are only rated for 80 km/h and some countries also have lower speed limits for towing in general.
You are therefore traveling the same speed as trucks (up to 90 km/h) and buses (up to 100 km/h). Buses and trucks have mandatory speed limiters since a couple of decades and therefore never drive faster than those speeds.
There are more differences between European and American towing setups. You can look at my other reply, if you want. ;)
Funny though, that European regulatory bodies consider it safe, and they are actually stricter than their American counterparts.