2013 Chevrolet reviews

Many people find it useful to tow a car behind their large motorhome, and drive the car instead of the motorhome to the grocery store or to see local attractions. But not every car can be flat towed. Read your owners manual to see if your car can be flat towed. We bought the Chevy Equinox LTZ because it can be flat towed and is a good car with the luxury interior. But every car needs some special equiptment for RV towing. First, you need a base plate designed for your make and model of car. This is permanently professionally attached to the front of your car. The tow bar attaches to this plate when you want to tow the car and easily detaches when you get to the campground. We bought the Roadmaster Sterling tow bar because it is aluminum so it does not rust and its rated capacity is heavier than the weight of our car. Next comes brakes. Some states require brakes, some do not. Canada requires brakes on all towed vehicles. Brakes on your towed vehicle, even if not required, will make your rig safer because it will come to an emergency stop several feet sooner with brakes on the towed car than with brakes only on the motorhome. But some brake systems are very inconvenient to use because they have to be installed every time you tow the car. They are a large box which is braced against the front seat with an arm that pushes on the brake pedal. It requires a lot of pressure because the power brakes on the car are off. We choose U S Gear Unified tow brake. It installed permanently, well hidden, never in your way. Its secret ingredient is that it activates the car's power brakes! Power brakes on a car are powered by the vacuum in the manifold of the engine when the engine is running. This brake system mounts a small vacuum pump under the hood, which turns on whenever the brake lights on the motorhome come on. With the car's power brakes working, all that is needed is a small cable pulling down on the brake pedal. The pull on that cable is proportionate to how fast the motorhome is slowing down. It works great! Finally, there is wiring. A single electric cable connects the 7 wire outlet that is standard on every motorhome to a new plug on the front of the car. Using diodes to keep the car's battery separate from the motorhone's battery, these wires are run to operate the car's running lights, turn signals, and brake lights including the vacuum pump under the hood. On most cars, when the ignition is off, the steering column is locked, it will not turn. This has to be unlocked so the car can turn to follow the motorhome. Your owners manual will tell you what has to be done for your make and model of car. On most cars, you have to turn on the ignition switch. But that will run down the car's battery in a few hours, so you are instructed to pull a certain fuse. The tech who installed our system made this task very simple. He installed a small switch near the fuse box. We just turn off this switch instead of going in to the fuse box, finding the right fuse and pulling it. With all these modifications, our Equinox LTZ is perfectly equipped for easy towing, and a good luxury car for driving when we arrive at our destination. Show less