[Gamoto]

Saw this 330i in Virginia last Saturday. I would guess that this is the only
330i with a tow package. Gotta love it !!!!!

[DLE]

Haha. I sometimes see small cars pull big boats around here. It's hilarious.

[Romanian nightmare]

Actually most BMW's are able to pull quite a bit. If you travel in Europe, you see them pull all kinds of trailers and campers....but here in the great US of A, we need our big SUVs for that....

[JS82]

Originally Posted by Romanian nightmare

Actually most BMW's are able to pull quite a bit. If you travel in Europe, you see them pull all kinds of trailers and campers....but here in the great US of A, we need our big SUVs for that....

+1

Nothing unusual, I've seen quite a few cars with trailer hitches in Germany.

[shockin330i]

actually I do believe bmw offers the tow hitch

[MKR_DmD]

I have a tow hitch on my 335i. Pulls my motorcycle without any problems

[SS e93]

Its not so much how much the car is capable of towing, its the stability involved. This can get swirly pretty quickly if you are towing something that weighs close to the amount of the car itself.

[alexckma]

that's not true. Go to Europe for a while and look around

[bufasion]

It's a £640 option on UK 3ers: "Towbar, fully electric (S03AC) 3AC Towbar, detachable, incl. trailer stability control, with electric unlocking via a switch in the luggage compartment. If the towbar is not needed, it can be folded away mechanically......" Go to any EU BMW website and see for yourself.

[SD ///M4]

On our European Delivery trip in May we saw lots of trailers and small campers being towed by all sorts of vehicles. We even saw a 5er pulling a double horse trailer.

[E90SLAM]

Even Top Gear towed a caravan with a KIA Sorato 1.5 Diesel.

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by shockin330i

actually I do believe bmw offers the tow hitch

Not on US spec cars -- only in Europe and most of the rest of the world...sigh.

They do not rate US spec cars for towing, and I was told by a couple different sources that installing a hitch (even the BMW-approved Euro hitch) would void the powertrain warranty on a US car.

I guess they want you to buy an X-whatever.

[ABerry]

Originally Posted by icyhot e92

Its not so much how much the car is capable of towing, its the stability involved. This can get swirly pretty quickly if you are towing something that weighs close to the amount of the car itself.

agreed... plus brakes and strain on the tranny is what I would worry about

[DLE]

That's true. It's call we all have freakin SUV's and trucks.

[Wires]

Originally Posted by chromisdesigns

Not on US spec cars -- only in Europe and most of the rest of the world...sigh.

They do not rate US spec cars for towing, and I was told by a couple different sources that installing a hitch (even the BMW-approved Euro hitch) would void the powertrain warranty on a US car.

I guess they want you to buy an X-whatever.

Keep in mind most European guys won't be hooking on a 26+' boat or a giant camper behind them. But if it was offered in the US, you'd see a picture of the above in the "pictures from Walmart" emails.

Just 'cause you can, doesn't mean you should!

[Saintor]

In the aftermarket world, it is easy to get for 4-500$.

I would have one if I had the space to store a trailer.

[CirrusSR22]

I've been towing with my E36 318ti for many years. I keep it under the 1,400 lbs. total / 165 lbs. tounge limits and it's a total breeze. The notion that pulling 1,500 lbs. or less will cause this "huge strain" on your engine or transmission is just stupid. Those who say it does, have clearly never done it. My car only has 210,000 miles now, so maybe it'll feel the effects closer to 300,000 ?

It's not until I get over 1,000 lbs. can you even tell there's ANY extra weight under acceleration. That's with a 1.9 liter @ 138 HP. I can't even imagine how insignificant that would be with a 6 cylinder.

My primary trailer now. Aluma AE58. 790 lbs empty and nearly 50% more volume than a Suburban. In fact when loads are too large for my father's Suburban, I bring in my trailer and laugh. I've done three loads this summer already that a Suburban couldn't handle.

The trailer goes in the back of my two car garage, turned sideways. And I can still get two car in there with the trailer. Nearly zero maintenance, nearly zero repair costs, a lifetime registration sticker for $80, and no insurance costs. Buying a trailer over a truck was a no brainer for me.

[fluidkaos]

I once had to tow my other car with my 335i. Mind you that wasn't on a tow hitch, but with a strap, but even at 2800lbs, I didn't notice the extra weight back there. So long as you aren't towing a Yacht or a six horse trailer these cars are fully capable of towing small trailers. Heck, my dad towed his 12' bass boat behind his Camry for years with no issues.

[chromisdesigns]

Originally Posted by CirrusSR22

I've been towing with my E36 318ti for many years. I keep it under the 1,400 lbs. total / 165 lbs. tounge limits and it's a total breeze. The notion that pulling 1,500 lbs. or less will cause this "huge strain" on your engine or transmission is just stupid. Those who say it does, have clearly never done it. My car only has 210,000 miles now, so maybe it'll feel the effects closer to 300,000 ?

It's not until I get over 1,000 lbs. can you even tell there's ANY extra weight under acceleration. That's with a 1.9 liter @ 138 HP. I can't even imagine how insignificant that would be with a 6 cylinder.

My primary trailer now. Aluma AE58. 790 lbs empty and nearly 50% more volume than a Suburban. In fact when loads are too large for my father's Suburban, I bring in my trailer and laugh. I've done three loads this summer already that a Suburban couldn't handle.

The trailer goes in the back of my two car garage, turned sideways. And I can still get two car in there with the trailer. Nearly zero maintenance, nearly zero repair costs, a lifetime registration sticker for $80, and no insurance costs. Buying a trailer over a truck was a no brainer for me

Of course the cars are capable -- it's the same car they sell rated for towing in Europe. It's just stupid BMWNA marketing policy.

I used to go to see races at Summit Point, and there was an E36 M3 club racer who pulled a tire and tool trailer to the track, changed to his race tires, when he was done racing, he put the street tires back on and drove home. The race committee did make him remove the hitch drawbar for the track!

I thought it looked pretty cool.