Legacy RS

I'm thinking of adding a horrible, ugly towbar to my Legacy for pulling my ski boat around come summer time, but I've heard horror stories about clutches being very fragile in scoobs in general (I'm told my clutch is about 3 years old ish).

Do any of you use your subarus for towing stuff, and has it ever caused you a problem/or have you heard any similar things?

Hopefully I'm worrying over nothing here but don't want to risk knackering it and I have noticed in the past that if you slip the clutch for even a little longer than pulling away on a hill it really stinks!!

Nowucme

I'd be really interested to know if anyone uses a MY01/02 Impreza for towing a horse trailer (with horse in obviously!).....

Jolly Green Monster 2

I use my 96 Impreza Turbo for towing about 500kg trailer and have had no problems... the clutch judder is slightly worse but I think this is the weight making the juddering motion worse rather than the pressure on the clutch and it juddering worse.

I have had no problems at all, but only done about 1000miles towing.

I drive like I have miss daisy in the back when towing though.
I feel that if the clutch is up to full chat pull aways I give it when not towing then towing sensibly is no worse if anything better for it.. Car is still running original clutch as far as I can tell from receipts and service history with 95,000miles on the clock...

It might wear your clutch quicker than if you drive slow normally but I doubt it will be the case or if it will be noticably.

You them have the what towbar to fit decision...

I went for a non-subaru one which is not removable and is a third of the price.. my dealer even suggested it.. so rumours of damage to car when non-subaru bars are used I think it bullsh*t.
Mine was just inspected for MOT and all was fine.

Jolly Green Monster 2

PS: would be interested to know the tow limits for the Subaru's..
anyone?

mattstant

i have towbar for small sailing dinghy no probs so far

John Moore

I used my MY98 impreza turbo with ppp to tow a dive boat
a 5.8m RIB with twin 70hp engines all up weight 1200kg
Max for impreza is 1250kg.
The car towed it no problem on power as you might expect however when manouvering or reversing it does put great strain on clutch
I did have to replace the clutch at 40,000 with new Helix clutch also had to replace Flywheel due to microcracks and "Blueing" due to overheating. This was the only way to stop clutch judder.
I have now changed the car for a new ukSTI and will not be fitting a tow bar.
My advice would be if weight of trailer is not to great (I would suggest under 750kg) then should not be to bad unless you are doing lots of close manouvering, reversing or pulling up slipways any more than this I would advise against doing it,from my experience

Legacy RS

Hmmm, that's the thing really, although the boat is relatively small (16' with 75 horse outboard) the slipway is fairly steep and most of it is just manuevering rather than steady driving (it's about a 400 yard drive from boat park to nearest slip!)

That's the sort of thing I was worried about. Perhaps I should stick to the ugly & embarrassing but expendable (brown) saab for this duty and put up with the extra insurance........

Tiggs

i tow my motorbikes on a trailer on my MY01 wagon- no bother and the bar is detachable- you wouldnt know it was there when it aint!

Great~taste~Bloke

p1 won't tow! why?

graham pritchard

I have to admit to towing a 17 foot caravan behind my 98 Impreza Turbowagon - gross weight 1250kg. No problem whatsoever. Have towed for 15 years and never had such power spare- she'll hit 90 no problem, but will cruise across Europe all day at 70/75 mph.
Only drawback is fuel at 15/16 mpg, but my Volvo V70 T5 was no better.
Dont worry they are more than capable!!!o

Jonathan Witts

Hi Guys

I tow a jetski behind my Lgegacy B4. Its a three seater 130bhp nutter ski so quiet heavey, all in around guess 320Kg with trailer.

Only issue with clutch is smell i get when trying to haul ski up steep slope especialy if gravel is across slip way.

The good news is if there is gravel across slip way i can still haul out with cars when other 2 wheel drives get stuck solid !!!

I do enjoy still having great performance even with the trailer on !

Yours

Jon

Legacy RS

Thanks everyone for your comments!

It's that smell that gets to me, if I have to slip the clutch much for any reason it really reeks and the smell scares me into thinking the clutch is just going to be knackered in seconds. If it's nothing too much to worry about then I'll probably go ahead with it!

TBMeech

You shouldnt have any probs towing trailers etc with scoobs, I've also towed 2 racing motorbikes, circa 160-170kg each + trailers + spare wheels, spares etc, prob 500kg in total in my MY99 STI-V

Christmas

Go for it, if your clutch does go, and lets face it 95k is good going, just put an AP or a helix clutch in, rather than a subaru.

Legacy RS

It's tempting! The clutch in it must have about 30K miles on it maybe so it should be in fairly good shape I hope!

I'm pretty good at doing my own work but how much of a job is a clutch change on these things in case it comes to that, or what sort of money is a garage likely to charge for changing it? I just want to try and plan for worst case in advance seeing as I'm usually fairly brassed!

Aside from money the other horrible prospect would be being left with no scoob & no boat in the middle of summer! Aaiieee!

Iain Young

The Legacy Outback won the Caravan Club towcar of the year award last year, so they can't be that bad

Chip

Have to agree with Graham here. I towed a 800Kg caravan with no problems at all. Only drawback was fuel consumption.

Chip.

Legacy RS

As the comments keep coming I'm getting closer to being convinced.....

Here's my other pride & joy that it will have to lug around.....

Scar

Towing issue BIG PROBLEMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

I struggle to get under 5 secs 0-60 with the caravan on the back. Probably need to invest in larger turbo or more mods

any ideas!!!!!!!!!!

96 uk turbo

Mick

iTrader: (1)

I seem to recall reading somewhere that Impreza and Legacy are both good for 1500 kg towing weight. Check with dealer for confirmation.

I had a towbar on my Legacy when I bought it. I have never used it myself but it was 80k when I bought it with the original clutch. Had clutch replaced at ~ 100k

Mick

Harry_Boy

Understand the bugeye WRX will only manage 1200kg. Forester will do 1800.

Active

On the EEC Certificate of conformity 2002 WRX it states:
Maximum mass of trailer (braked) 1200 kgs (unbraked) 500 kgs
Max load on towbar 75 kgs.
Hope this helps.
Bob

sempers

What's a helix clutch? - I'm up for a replacement. A bit concerned that fitting an uprated clutch; I'd rather the clutch slipped / broke than just about any other part of the drivetrain

I tow a 49er sailing dinghy with mine - about 120kg boat, plus trailer - under 250 kilos I guess. Don't anticipate any problems, other than the trailer wheels going supersonic

- Mark.

John Moore

Mark
A helix clutch is manufactured by Helix and is slightly better than standard but is not going to do damage to the drivetrain.
Did you fix the tow bar OK no more problems?

sempers

I've not got around to getting under it and looking at that final link - almost there. I ought to get it done (weekend, when it's light!), but I've not got any long trips for a bit - reckon it's fairly well anchored already.

Thanks.
- Mark.

Nick Cook

Have done quite a bit of research into towing with an Impreza Turbo - my girlfiend's got a horse/box (1250kg all in) which we need to lug about about 4 times a year. General response from Subaru Dealers, AA, towing specialist etc etc is that it shoudlbe ok.

You need to identify the maximum Gross Train Weight ~ the biggest 4 digit number on the VIN plate. Load your car as you normally would couple up the trailer + boat and take it all to a weighbridge. If the total weight of the "train" ( car & load + trailer & load ) is less than the Gross Train Weight ~ you are legal; if it is more then you have a problem.

Hope this helps.

Nick

Legacy RS

Appreciate the comments definitely but to be honest it won't be anything like the legal limit, as I say my primary concern here is the combination of fairly steep slipway & clutch!

Thanks for the input nonetheless!

chris p1

Does anyone know why you cannot use the p1 for towing,i've just got a westfield and it would be nice to tow it to the track to keep the miles down plus if it rains i'm covered
Chris.

Tiggs

the subaru removeable is no better than an aftermarket removeable but is loads more expensive- only buy it if you have more money than sense

pslewis

the subaru removeable is no better than an aftermarket removeable but is loads more expensive- only buy it if you have more money than sense
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What BOLLOX

If you want class it costs - if you are happy with second best then take it ............. personally, I DEMAND the best!!

The Subaru one is lockable TOO!!!!!!

Pete