towing with a VXR8?

[JakeR]

Chaps,

anyone here know if one can get a detachable towbar for the VXR8? Still trying to decide on the new motor, but I have to be able to tow with it...

cheers

JakeR

eta just spotted a similar thread on the Monaro... didnt look too hopeful... anyone know if VXR8 is any better?

Edited by JakeR on Wednesday 10th October 21:28

[Magic919]

Erm, nope.

[JakeR]

ar5es. Thats that off the list then...

[tim the pool man]

WTF is going on with towing in England? These cars make ideal torquey tow cars and you see plenty of them towing big boats, caravans, race cars and general trailers here. Sounds like someone needs their arse kicking...

[motomk]

Pretty sure a HSV Clubbie R8 can tow 1600kg braked and 750kg unbraked, so I don't see why a VXR8 can't.
An Automatic VE commodore can tow up to 2100kg according to the Holden website, not sure which model that is. The manual can tow up to 1600kg.
Right at the bottom of this page are the tow packages.
www.holden.com.au/www-holden/action/modelaccessories?modelid=4005

motomk

[greens vauxhall]

I am sure it has nothing to do with capablilty, more to do with legalities with lights, front and rear and type approval for the bar, + electrics into canbus can be fun!!

[tzh]

Oops Promised my loved one my new toy would be ace for towing the boat. Canbus eh? Take it thats a bitch to wire up then? Is that the same for Monaro's?

Edited by tzh on Thursday 11th October 20:38

[monkfish1]

greens vauxhall said:

I am sure it has nothing to do with capablilty, more to do with legalities with lights, front and rear and type approval for the bar, + electrics into canbus can be fun!!

Wot he said!

Just legalities, car is fine. The ute is excellent at towing, but that is legal because its a commercial!

Of course, you could order up a genuine towbar and fit it to your Monaro/VXR8 and all will be dandy, till you have a major crumple and your insurance company find out.

[V2RAC]

OK guys whats canbus?

[greens vauxhall]

Its how the cars electronics are wired up now, its no longer as simple as connecting a wire to a battery etc etcto get something to work. Everything is controlled via seperate ecu's and they are all interconnected, if you add something, you have to 'tell' the car that you have added it so that it can determine when to turn it on and off etc etc. That over simplifies it a little, but it basically means that connecting anything electronically runs a risk of causing the car to potential react badly, and would be a 'outside of warranty' issue if anything broke as a result, ecm cost lots if you burn them out!!!

[stu harris]

In type approving the Monaro and VXR8 we had to delete the towing test because neither car has the facility to change headlight beam level from inside the car. If we had Xenons , Self levelling suspension or internal headlight then we could have towed.

Otherwise the car tows fine.....

Stu

[phrich]

Hi Stu,

Is VX showing interest in the HSV estates/station wagons?

Rich

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V2RAC said:

OK guys whats canbus?

Think USB but for cars (but without the plug n play). Info is sent over a internal car network rather than voltage signals over separate wires. so for example using canbus you need only a few wires to operate all the dashboard gauges and lights but previously each individual signal would need it's own wire.

the idea was to simplify stuff and reduce weight - unfortunately, each manufacturer went ultra protective and implement their own encoding. Makes it very difficlt to impossible to move one thing from another.