I have a 2008 SS/TC and know that the max. recommended towing capacity is 1000lbs. I want to tow a small, 18-20 ft inboard/outboard boat. My wife and I have not purchased the boat yet but will plan on doing so late this year when the boat show comes to town. I would like some input as to whether we should even consider towing the boat with the Cobalt. Also, she has a 2007 Honda Civic Si which also shows, depending on where you look it up, the towing capacity of it to be 1000lbs. (I found one Honda site that showed NA for towing cap.) Any input would be appreciated.

 

The SS/TC has more power... & TORQUE! So I could see that being the thing to tow the boat. But I would also kinda cringe when I see a 18-20 foot boat hooked up to a SS/TC. :/

 

dont take my word for it but with an ss i think pulling a smaller boat is possible. ive seen some guy pull a 14 ft boat with a base civic and the ss is much more powerful along with stiffer suspension that could possibly take the tongue weight of a boat

 

I don't think you're supposed to tow at all with the TC... where did it say that? I'd check your manual if you still have it.

 

I found the towing specs. on the Chevrolet website. I don't have my owners manual with me because I am at my office but I will look in it later when I go to my car.

I agree towing a boat with an SS is sort of weird but I have no other vehicle to tow with other then a Caddy XLR Roadster and NO way will my wife allow a trailer hitch on that!!!

 

It says "towing not recommended" in my SS manual.

 

Take video when your trying to launch the boat

 

Yeah, the clutch/transmission isn't really setup to take that kind of extra load, so they advise not towing on the SS models. I'd bet you could probably get away with it once or twice, I doubt highly you could pull a boat that size out of the water...

 

i was going to do the same thing and they told me not to do it since our transmission wont last too long something with cooling the trans or something like that it was a while back but yea id say no or to be 100% sure go to chevy service department see what they tell you

 

It's not a cooling issue with a manual trans, that's for automatics. It's a clutch holding the extra weight in this case. An 18-20ft boat with trailer could easily be 4-5000lbs, so you're asking the clutch to hold 250-300% of the weight it's designed to handle. That's no small strain.

 

The owners manual does not reccommend towing at all with an ss/tc. Towing something light like a small trailer holding a set of track wheels/tires and tools to an auto-x or whatever would probably be fine. But a boat like your thinking of will make the trans very unhappy very quickly. I wouldn't reccommend it. The load that towing would put on it would not be good for it at all. Also, like rallyracer stated above, your trans would give you the f-u when you try to pull it up the ramp.

 

If you get into an accident towing that, you're totally screwed. Like seriously in trouble, because you may not get covered by your insurance, and you can get whacked with all sorts of bad legal issues. 18-20 ft boat is not light.

Let's ignore the fact that you might have enough power (although you may skyrocket the EGTs and destroy the motor going uphill), the back section of the car is paper thin. Where exactly are you gonna be able to put a good class 2 hitch (not that I would ever try towing a boat on a class 2 hitch).

Don't do this unless you get another tow vehicle. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Neither vehicle is adequate.

 

Seriously, you have an XLR, SS/TC, Civic Si, and are getting an 18-20 ft boat. Go out and get yourself an old 1/2 ton pickup and be done with it. You can get a mid-90s Silverado for less than $5k...

 

To all that replied, I thank you. Everyone's input was worth asking the question. I am not going to try and tow the boat with the the Cobalt or the Honda Si. I am probably going to get a cheap pickup and use that as suggested by Illini. I was trying to get away without buying another vehicle but that looks like what I will have to do. My other option is to sell the Cobalt, as my wife doesn't want to part with her Si and she will NEVER let go of the XLR. Besides I still owe way too much money on it!! :-) The Cobalt is paid for so I can sell it and get a pretty good SUV as I am not crazy about pickups. I'm not a big SUV person either but in this case I have to bite the bullet.

Thanks again to all of you. Oh I called U-hual and they said the samething. I should not try pulling a 4-5k lb. boat with a car that weighs less then the boat and trailer.

 

duhhhhh