On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 12:04:01 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Hi All,

I am new to this group and last fall added a glider rating to my ASEL certificate.

I am planning to replace my car this summer and in anticipation of purchasing a glider someday, I would like to purchase a vehicle that would do a good job towing a glider. I also want it to get the best gas mileage that it can while still being a good tow vehicle. I don't want something that is marginal and will make long distance towing a stressful affair, but also don't want a vehicle that is overkill.

What is the typical range o gross weights of a single seat glider plus trailer?

Recommendations on a good tow vehicles?

Thanks for your help

Bill

You don't say where you are, but I can only comment on US anyway. I have a Janus C two-seater in a 3300lb, 35' tube trailer. Towed it with a few different vehicles, and can say that the best was a Jaguar X-type sedan and the worst was an SUV. The big trailer is prone to Von Kármán vortex shedding (look it up) and it just plays wag the dog with an SUV, making for a white knuckle ride.

In the U.S. all the car mfg. dropped their car tow ratings to push you into their more profitable light truck and SUV lines. This is really apparent when you look at European cars that have much higher tow ratings at home vs. the same car in the U.S. The exceptions a while back were Saab, Volvo and Jaguar which didn't have SUVs in their lines. The only option now is Volvo, and I would recommend you look at the S60 if that fits your needs.

The key to towing a long trailer is not the weight of the tow vehicle--it's the distance from the hitch to the rear axle and a low C.G. Also having low profile passenger car as opposed to high profile light truck tires helps control sway.

But as mentioned earlier in this thread, this can make it more difficult to get into a farm field. Personally, I would forego that, and pay the farmer to tow the glider out to the road/driveway with the tractor, and get a vehicle optimized for the road.