tow vehicles?

Any v6, add a transmission oil cooler for serious terrain.

In general, I agree.......
Long/low/heavy/long wheelbase are good traits.
Thus I bought a 1998 Legacy GT wagon new....
Biggest thing I towed with that car....ASK-21 (Cobra trailer?) a couple hundred miles at speed.....fine until I was cut off among semis on a major highway....

Look back in the '60's....9 passenger wagons (4000lbs or so) at high speed......heavy, long wheelbase, lots a torque....

I'm looking at a gmc canyon with the 2.8l diesel. Or the chevy colorado counterpart with same engine.
Thoughts?

There's three considerations that are important. 1) ability to stop well. 2) stability at highway speed 3) frame strength. All of these factors drive you away from a small car. Get a midsize car for towing a glider. My current tow vehicle is a Toyota Highlander which is perfect. Having gone through a few smallish tow vehicles over the years, I've learned the hard way.

In particular, you should understand that tow ratings are not valid for glider trailers. Pound for pound, glider trailers are much tougher on vehicle frames than a utility trailer or boat trailer. The length of the glider trailer causes a great deal of inertial loading -- both vertical and horizontal. Think in terms of 100% derating or more. After a few thousand miles towing with a Mazda CX5 that was nominally rated for trailer weight, I ended up with a broken frame to be repaired.

On Sunday, 10 May 2020 17:25:28 UTC-6, Stephen Coan wrote:
What do you think is the best tow vehicle for a single place glass sailplane? What is the smallest vehicle one can safely tow with?

FWIW I towed a Grob 103 "concrete swan" about 2000 miles behind a light long-bed pickup truck (2L 4-cyl Mitsubishi). Scared the crap out of myself with one fishtailing incident but otherwise ok. Like they say, don't look in the mirror, it doesn't help and will only scare you. One good piece of advice was that you should try and use a vehicle with a short rear overhang - long wheelbase, short overhang is better. Obviously a long bed truck has a long overhang...

In particular, you should understand that tow ratings are not valid for glider trailers. Pound for pound, glider trailers are much tougher on vehicle frames than a utility trailer or boat trailer. The length of the glider trailer causes a great deal of inertial loading -- both vertical and horizontal. Think in terms of 100% derating or more. After a few thousand miles towing with a Mazda CX5 that was nominally rated for trailer weight, I ended up with a broken frame to be repaired.

Steve,
I do believe your negative experience with the Mazda CX5, no one can question the facts, BUT my experience is totally opposite and I would reccomend this model to anyone (Mazda CX5 Sport model 2014 purchased in 2013), 2 liter, manual gear): seven years of towing a Cobra 1984 trailer, thousands miles across the US (Phoenix, AZ - Seminole, FL - Baltimore, MD - Julian, PA - Ionia, MI - Chicago (several times) - Elmira, NY - Ionia, MI - Chicago to Seminole 3x back and forth...) Never ever had any issue, no swaying, impressive low fuel consumption, roomy, never got me too tired. Wishing to buy the same model when the time comes.
Must depend on the combination of more factors: Divine Providence, glider type, trailer make, right tires, load distribution, hitch mounting, driving style etc.