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Sonesta

Hi Kevin,

Welcome to the forum and I am sure, like myself, you will find all the tips and advice you are offered and learn from fellow motorhomers on here a great help.

We like you also have an Auto Trail Cheyenne an 840S model, which we bought last September and are very pleased with it and so I thought you might be interested to know that we also tow a Smart car and how we find it?

With our previous motorhome; a Swift Kontiki we used a Brian James Bantam Trailer for our Smart and we towed it as far as Morocco and encountered no legality problems whatsoever and we now (due to a lower towing weight on the Auto Trail) use a brakeable Chris Cox A Frame and believe it or not my hubby (he does all the driving) prefers towing on the A Frame and finds it so much easier to hitch up and unhitch etc plus you have no storage problems to worry about as it simply folds up and fits in the Smart boot. Both towing methods we found to be excellent though and whichever means you opt for is a personal choice and only you can decide which method suits you best - but from our experience of using both types I can honestly say they have both been very positive ones and we have encountered no problems with either.

The Brian James Trailers are first class, quality and purposely designed to carry a Smart car and he is such a nice guy to deal with and the Chris Cox A Frames are excellently made too and again he also offers a first class quality service. Therefore, either of those two companies I am personally happy to recommend to you if you are looking for a supplier?

I have very little knowledge of all the legal and technical ins and outs of an A Frame versus a Trailer and so cannot speak with any insight on such matters but I do know this subject often comes up on the forum and a lot of members voice their opinions in that department but I thought you might just like to hear from someone who has the same motorhome as you and who has used both a trailer and an A Frame and is happy to give you their personal opinions of both?

As for the Smart I am sure you will love this remarkable little car and my hubby drives it everyday as it is our second car and he is a real Smart car enthusiast now. Very Happy

Our married daughter has just bought one too as she has to travel a fair distance to work each day and the money she is saving on petrol and running costs is amazing PLUS they are so easy to park too! We want to go one one of those Smart rallies where you drive from London to Brighton etc and meet up with fellow Smart enthuisisasts but so far we just haven't had the time but one day maybe?

Anyway, I hope my findings are of some interest to you and I really wouldn't worry too much about towing one as up to now I have never heard of an incident where anyone has ever been taken to court over this issue but I may be wrong .......... however, I am sure if there has ever been a case we would have heard about it by now on the forum.

Good luck and happy towing!

Sue

soundman

Sonesta

Hi there,

Some of these reports regarding damaged gearboxes are worrying to say the least but I must confess we were of the impression that damage could only occur in this way if the car were left in gear by mistake! Obviously if the driver makes a boo boo like this then damage will occur but of course that has nothing to do with the A Frame itself and is purely down to a huge and costly oversight on the drivers behalf!

Anyway, I just wondered if anyone on the forum who actually tows or has towed a Smart car or any other car for that matter on an A Frame has personally encountered any problems with their vehicles' gearbox due to any other reason other than leaving their car in gear? I would be really interested to hear from people who this has actually happened to and not replies from people have only been told about such a situation from somebody else as this is purely hearsay and so does not carry much weight with me and I much prefer to hear first hand accounts based on personal experiences. I know hundreds of motorhomers tow using an A Frame and many are members of MHF so I am sure if the damage to the gearbox problem that keeps rearing its head is a frequent occurence then there will be plenty of members on the forum who will no doubt be able to relay their own personal experiences to us of what actually happened in their case?

Sue

javea03730

Hi Sue,

In response to your reply today I must hold my hands up and say that when I joined the forum last year I was one of the guys saying NO! you can't tow a Smart on an A frame because the manual says you can't.

I have no joined the Smart A framers and am taking the A frame out to Spain when I go in late September to fit the mountings to the car which is kept out there. The Smart owners club in America talked to Getrag who apparently make the gearbox and they said there was no reason why it could not be towed and this, coupled with the many reports on this forum about satisfactory towing of the Smart has encouraged me to go down the same track.

On gearbox problems, well my Smart used to be parked at Alicante airport when we were flying so that we could just ring the parking people when we arrived and they would pick us up in a few minutes and we would be on our way. However, despite the fact that I had fitted a solar charger, one time the park phoned me in the UK to say that the car would not start so they put jump leads on and it started but would not go into any gear at all. It had to be recovered to Mercedes in Alicante on a breakdown truck and it took them a week to sort out, never really got an explanation that I could understand, difficult to translate technical Spanish into technical English but it seemed as though the battery had given up the ghost which had upset the gearbox electronics. Cost about £500 to put right but would have been a lot more in the UK.

So, they do go wrong sometimes even when not being towed so I am not going to worry about it, just make sure it is in Neutral!

Apparently 'Scooty' has arrived today.

Regards,

Mike

Sonesta

Hiya Mike,

Oh thanks for the info and was pleased to hear the actual Smart car gearbox manufacturers themselves are claiming it should not be a problem to tow on an A Frame and I guess they should know? Lol Very Happy

I bet many people considering using an A Frame will be relieved by this news and it will put a lot of people's minds at rest now I am sure?

Sorry to hear you had a problem with your gearbox though Mike but good to know it was nothing to do with towing and like you say it was a lot cheaper to put right out in Spain than it would have been here in the UK so I suppose every cloud has a silver lining doesn't it? Very Happy

Oh glad to hear "Scooty" has arrived and I really hope your wife is as pleased with hers as I am mine and please let me know what she thinks to it as I will be dying to know?

Happy towing and thanks again - your information was most welcome. Very Happy

Sue

Bubblehead

Hi

Following my earlier post I feel I need to clarify that Im not pro Aframes or trailers, I just dont want to trash my Smart. Lots of very good advice about gearbox issues though. Ours is a new style smart and has a 1000cc Mitsubushi engine, has this got the same gear box and are the diffrent types of gearbox in the smart essentialy the same bar how they change gear.

If there were no problems why are Smart so against towing them on an A Frame?

If there wasnt an issue I would buy an A Frame as it would be easier and a dam site cheaper.

Andy

javea03730

Hi Andy,

I am no expert on Smart gearboxes, mine is a 2001 model and I definitely know that it is basically a normal type of box but with electronically controlled gear shifts. This is why Getrag said it was ok to tow it.

Don't know about the new Smart but would have thought that it was the same principle, as I am a member of the Smart Club I will ask the question of the very knowledge people on that forum and let you know.

Being a convert from the NO you can't tow to YES I am going to I am reasonably sure that any gearbox problems have arisen as a result of the owner forgetting to make sure that the gearbox is in neutral, Smarty wouldn't like to be towed in forward or reverse gear!

Regards,

Mike

javea03730

Hi Andy,

Haven't got the answer about the new Smart gearbox yet but I have found out something which we should all bear in mind.

It is essential that the gear position is shown as "N". Under no circumstances put it in "O" as apparently in this case as soon as the car reaches a certain pre determined speed it will operate the clutch automatically which connects the gearbox to the engine and BANG!

I leave something nearly every day!!

Regards,

Mike

DJP