Mercedes Benz 2005 E320 CDI Tow Vehicle?

[HoverLover]

Hi All,

After speaking with Andy Thompson from Can-Am RV, well he convinced me I had the best tow vehicle available. He said I could tow any Airstream as long as it didn't have slide outs with his WD hitch installed. Of course same for the trailer and brake controller.

My E320 is a joy to drive cross country and would love to have a 25' Airstream in tow.

Your thoughts and expertise is appreciated.

Best regards,

George

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by HoverLover

Hi All,

After speaking with Andy Thompson from Can-Am RV, well he convinced me I had the best tow vehicle available. He said I could tow any Airstream as long as it didn't have slide outs with his WD hitch installed. Of course same for the trailer and brake controller.

My E320 is a joy to drive cross country and would love to have a 25' Airstream in tow.

Your thoughts and expertise is appreciated.

Best regards,

George

Not sure what year you have? I have owned 3- E320's over the years and being it is a sedan, I would not have tried towing an AS or any trailer for that matter.
Not sure what your trying to accomplish? If the question is, "could the E320 "tow", answer is likely it can "move" a 25' AS trailer....safely tow is another question. Why not get a vehicle designed for the purpose?

[dkottum]

Pickup trucks were designed for hauling loads in the bed, work well for towing a fifth wheel, and are an improvisation for bumper pull trailers. This sedan is much closer to what a more ideal bumper pull tow vehicle would be. Full independent suspension, rigid unibody construction, light unsprung weight, low center of gravity to resist rollover, over a ton less weight in itself making it's turbo-diesel engine and brakes substantial.

If you need to haul heavy loads in your vehicle and tow your Airstream, the picture is different. If you can carry your stuff in the Airstream, I would use it only if set up properly for towing.

Andrew Thomson has set up thousands of similar vehicles successfully, it's not a hitch-and-go proposition. Have Can-Am set it up properly.

Don't come to this forum thin-skinned and towing with a modern sedan, van, SUV or light duty pickup. You'll get lots of flack but you can navigate through it and learn some things.

[FCStreamer]

Originally Posted by dkottum

Don't come to this forum thin-skinned and towing with a modern sedan, van, SUV or light duty pickup. You'll get lots of flack but you can navigate through it and learn some things.

Solid advice right here.

[rostam]

Doug, with all due respect, you cannot preach one thing and practice the exact opposite. If sedan TVs are that great (and pickup TVs are that bad), surely you would have setup your Jetta TDI to pull your 25, and not go with 4 different pickups over the years.

[bono]

OP, I hope you will move forward with this setup. In Europe there are only sedans / station wagons towing trailers. Some small cars with small engines, towing some big trailers. Many people from the Netherlands going south, crossing Alps - going slow, but who cares. You should not race with the trailer anyway.

Good luck!

[PeterKV]

Some people say you have to have a F350 to pull a 20' trailer, some people say you can pull a 30' trailer with a Fiat 500, shoot I pulled a 2 axle shasta trailer all over the west coast for years with a 1960 Studebaker wagon, at the end of the day, you as the driver are responsible for your vehicle and anything attached. Drive what is comfortable for you, not what someone on the internet decides is best for you.

[Belegedhel]

OP--You have stumbled onto probably the most divisive topic on the Forums with your first post (welcome to the Forums, by the way)!

Anyway, if you are looking for reassurance that your E320 is a good choice, don't expect more than half of the respondants to agree, leaving you about where you started. These threads usually devolve into name calling and moderator intervention...but its fun to watch...

Good luck with your tow vehicle--maybe you can forge a new path with the E320 and report back in a year or so with your new-found sedan-towing expertise and a list of lessons learned.

[PKI]

Andy pulls good size ASs with an XJ. CanAm has a history of using sedans and minivans to tow their trailers. They have set up a significant number of customer rigs through the years. So they are certainly the right folks for setting up the type of rig you are considering.

If the car is leased, I would not use it as a tow vehicle unless you intend to purchase it at the end of the lease. If the car is under warranty, I would verify the warranty would not be voided if the car was used for towing. Edit - 2005 so likely not an issue. My apology for mentioning, but maybe a help to others with a newer vehicle.

Safety is important to most RV folks. Towing is not the same as driving a car. It requires constant attentive driving skills and focus. The travel style of the individual is also related. The safety is different for folks who travel at 50 mph than it is for folks who travel 75-80 mph.

Might be worth your time to read the tow vehicle threads, the tire threads, and the hitch threads to expand your knowledge of towing and give your bank account time to grow a bit.

Travel safe. Pat

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by PKI

Andy pulls good size ASs with an XJ. CanAm has a history of using sedans and minivans to tow their trailers. They have set up a significant number of customer rigs through the years. So they are certainly the right folks for setting up the type of rig you are considering.

If the car is leased, I would not use it as a tow vehicle unless you intend to purchase it at the end of the lease. If the car is under warranty, I would verify the warranty would not be voided if the car was used for towing. Edit - 2005 so likely not an issue. My apology for mentioning, but maybe a help to others with a newer vehicle.

Safety is important to most RV folks. Towing is not the same as driving a car. It requires constant attentive driving skills and focus. The travel style of the individual is also related. The safety is different for folks who travel at 50 mph than it is for folks who travel 75-80 mph.

Might be worth your time to read the tow vehicle threads, the tire threads, and the hitch threads to expand your knowledge of towing and give your bank account time to grow a bit.

Travel safe. Pat

And don't forget the battery threads, brake threads, and get yourself an awning wheel for the front door! LoL

[Adam Geuss]

Originally Posted by HoverLover

Hi All,

After speaking with Andy Thompson from Can-Am RV, well he convinced me I had the best tow vehicle available. He said I could tow any Airstream as long as it didn't have slide outs with his WD hitch installed. Of course same for the trailer and brake controller.

My E320 is a joy to drive cross country and would love to have a 25' Airstream in tow.

Your thoughts and expertise is appreciated.

Best regards,

George

Welcome to this "forum" and the beginning of a great travel experience. This said I wonder if you really meant to tow with a MB E320 or a M320?? If you are really speaking about an E320 then my opinion is your source of information is surely talking about a 1200 Kilo European trailer and not an Airstream. Having driven several MB's and BMW's in Europe I can say with confidence I would never tow an Airstream with a European "sedan" of the quality/design type we speak. These vehicles are simply not designed nor suited for the task. GREAT vehicles but not for towing. The M series MB might be acceptable if the weight of the AS is within it's towing design limits of the TV. You may not need a 3/4ton truck to tow an Airstream (depending on size) but the typical European sedan, regardless of engine size, is just not recommended......be me anyway. Seek more advice herein and good luck.

[andreasduess]

I've seen Andy tow with his Jaguar. It's an incredibly controlled drive, ample power, short stopping distances. If he sets it up for you, I'd have zero hesitation.

We towed a 34' for three years with a minivan, and had a great experience.

[dkottum]

A look at the photos and the video of Andy explaining a sway control system on the Can-Am home page ought to give anyone an idea of the thought, testing, and experience they have setting up combinations all kinds.

http://www.canamrv.ca

[DC Bruce]

No doubt Andy can "set up" something that will work acceptably and maybe even safely. What he can't do is tell you whether you are exceeding the duty cycle design limits of your engine and transmission. The fact that he tows empty Airstreams all over the place with sedans and minivans doesn't prove much. Your Airstream will have food, water, propane and clothes inside. If your plans are limited to the occasional weekend, two-week vacation etc. it will probably work fine. But if you plan to be camping months at a time, you might want to heavy up a bit.
By "duty cycle" I mean the percent of operating time and the percent of maximum output the engine/transmission is generating. For example, in the early 1980s VW came out with a small, light Diesel engine to power its new "Golf/Rabbit" car. It developed 50 hp, mostly by spinning at a higher rpm than was typical of diesels at the time. Pushing the Golf, which weighed less than a ton, it had a light duty cycle. Some sailboat manufacturers, seeing a small, light engine with a high output, got the bright idea of installing these as auxiliaries on 40-ft. sailboats displacing 10 tons. While this worked fine initially, these engines failed over time because they were not designed for the high duty cycle they encountered in this application.

[andreasduess]

Originally Posted by DC Bruce

No doubt Andy can "set up" something that will work acceptably and maybe even safely. What he can't do is tell you whether you are exceeding the duty cycle design limits of your engine and transmission. The fact that he tows empty Airstreams all over the place with sedans and minivans doesn't prove much.

Andy and family are avid Airstreamers and use their setups for their own frequent, and far-flung, travels.

Additionally, they have set up vehicles for thousands of satisfied users.

Please don't belittle what you don't understand.

[switz]

We doubt we would modify my wife's 2009 E320 CDI to tow since we are using my 2007 ML320 CDI to tow our 2015 23D International Serenity that weighs 6,068 pounds camping ready after all of our modifications. The ML is about broken at 151,000+ miles. We use a HEnsleyArrow hitch between the ML and the trailer.