Methods to Determine Vehicle Trailer Towing Capacity
Question:
I have two clients wanting to tow their two horses to a horse show. Both have vehicles I’m concerned about. 1. A 2010? Cayenne pulling a two horse fully loaded. Trailer is roughly 3,000lbs plus cargo coming in at 2,400 lbs plus hay, feed, and misc tack and equipment. 1. Depending on the hitch 6,000-7500 can it tow this safely? I’m worried that the cayenne doesn’t weigh enough itself, doesn’t have a wide enough wheel base, and even though is a v8, it doesn’t have a “ max tow package” like a truck would nor the suspension to hold the weight the tongue will put on the rear axle. Am I missing something? Isn’t actually as safe as they say it is? I figure it’s fine to haul a straight line but if anything goes wrong, they blow a tire, have to break fast, swerve hopefully not!, etc that they have a properly functioning and safe vehicle in which to recover from or avoid certain accidents and not fishtail ending up flipping and killing animals and/or people. 2. Same question 2002 suburban pulling a three horse with same load as above.
asked by: Laura M
Expert Reply:
The vehicle owner's manual is the best resource for checking capacities such as acceptable towing weight. The other place to find this information is the door jamb plate on the driver's side. Checking with a dealership using the vehicle's VIN is another way.
The owner's manual for the 2010 Porsche Cayenne advises to check this door jamb plate and shows how to deduct the weight of passengers and cargo in the vehicle since this weight naturally reduces the towing capacity. This is important since there are MANY variants of this vehicle with different transmissions and so different capacities. Page 356 of the online manual provides specific towing capacities based on the vehicle version and the nature of the trailer. The maximum possible gross trailer weight is 6493-lbs or 6790-lbs. The bottom line is this premium vehicle is not an ideal choice for towing a 6000-lb horse trailer.
For the Suburban the same door jamb sticker should be checked since the online manual I found does not indicate towing capacities. Find the GCWR (gross combined weight rating, the most the vehicle and trailer together can weigh) and from this subtract the GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating, the most the vehicle itself can weigh). The difference between the two is towing capacity. Since there are Suburban 1500s, 2500s, 3500s it is important to check the specific vehicle for its capacities. Towing capacity for a 2002 Suburban ranges from 8100 to 12000-lbs depending on equipment, passenger weight and cargo weight.
