mx5cartalk.com

Well I never
https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/detail ... AD-5874543

Think that's the first time I've seen an MX5 being sold complete with a trailer for it or another car to tow, ie as opposed to a track car & trailer.

Thats interesting- Mazda actually saying towing is possible up to X kg and a legal tow bar? I wonder if one of our forum guys can see what the owner manual says.

Wow , ugliest interior colour combination ever...

rascal wrote:Wow , ugliest interior colour combination ever...

Oh i dunno, the prosthetic leg orange tan leather interior on the NC was pretty ghastly!

rascal wrote:Wow , ugliest interior colour combination ever...

Looks WAAAY better than combining the Nappa leather option with it.

Well....it’s one way of being able to take a couple of suitcases with you.

Mr Morlock wrote:Thats interesting- Mazda actually saying towing is possible up to X kg and a legal tow bar? I wonder if one of our forum guys can see what the owner manual says.

The ND2 manual states "Your Mazda is not designed for towing. Never tow a trailer with your Mazda." That's page 3-46 under the "Towing Caravans and Trailers" section. I guess that means you can tow a Caravan - just not a trailer.

I'm not sure what shocks me more, the fact he's trying to sell his car with trailer attached or the price.

Why wouldn't an MX5 be capable of towing a small trailer safely assuming sensible weight limits
? (Not that I would want to, but people for whom it was an only car might.)
The upholstery is not my preferred colour but you see a lot of imported cars with that colour.

It will be no tow because the engineers will recognise shortcomings somewhere in the vehicle where towing may affect safety or lead to failure of components. I would not consider towing anything where that( no tow) is stated by a maker and I reckon any insurance claim would be denied. Going further- modern vehicles have towing capacities and ball weights defined as well and insurers will check claims and even evaluate what extra weight a van may be carrying. In the old days I don't think anyone had much idea what was legal- we just did it

rvlovell wrote:I'm not sure what shocks me more, the fact he's trying to sell his car with trailer attached or the price.

I thought the same.

Dear buyers,

I have priced this car a hole $3K lower than new price with 12K on the odo. I have been towing a trailer when I shouldn't have. So you will need to replace the clutch sooner than anticipated. Enjoy.

From, the seller...

...

I also note the seller has in the description that the towball attaches with two bolts. Pretty sure than is a no-no for legislation, they need to attach with four bolts, two side side to chassis rail.

Think he means the tongue. Towball is threaded so only uses a nut. The whole tongue can usually be removed by 2 bolts (nuts are usually fixed). Towbar frame requires 4 nuts/bolts.

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You guys have read the ad all wrong;
He is selling a Trailer. The trailer has an ND attached. Thus the photos highlighting the former.
He probably couldn't find a Trailer Category on the website so he put it under Mazda.

Mr Morlock wrote:It will be no tow because the engineers will recognise shortcomings somewhere in the vehicle where towing may affect safety or lead to failure of components. I would not consider towing anything where that( no tow) is stated by a maker and I reckon any insurance claim would be denied. Going further- modern vehicles have towing capacities and ball weights defined as well and insurers will check claims and even evaluate what extra weight a van may be carrying. In the old days I don't think anyone had much idea what was legal- we just did it

It may not necessarily have been that the car is physcially incapable of towing safely, it may well have been more a cost cutting measure in that Mazda felt that it wasn't worth the effort/money to go through the testing and approval procedures to have a model certified for towing when there would be an incredibly small number of buyers towing with it anyway.

I personally wouldn't tow with one, since regardless of it's physical capacity to do so, it would likely be terrible at pulling anything more than some wheeled luggage bags.

I've towed with my partner's 626 wagon, which is rated to 450 unbraked, and 900 braked.
the 250kg box trailer was fine, but the 500kg braked dual axle (before loading) was pretty crap to pull (trailer often wanted to try and pull the car around, and the clutch had to work a lot harder from a stanting start), despite being well below the maximum.
and that was on a car far longer than an MX5, and with about 300/400kg more weight to it.



For the cost of owning, and maintaining, a trailer for an MX5 for the few times a year you need it, you'd be better off to just rent a ute or van a couple of times a year.