New here and looking for our first small camper. My husband and daughter do not believe I can pull anything with a Kia Sportage. Does anyone else have a Sportage and what type trailer do you pull with it? I would love to find a Sun Ray or a T@B. Please guide me in the correct direction. I like the outside kitchen hatches and a bathroom isn't a big deal as I will mostly be at Parks with bath houses to start out. Thank you - JO
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I have towed ~1200lb plus several hundred pounds of passenger and gear with a very small car (98hp, 2400lb curb weight) thousands of miles without trailer brakes. But it was manual transmission and I equipped the car with extra helper suspension in the rear to cope with the weight. It also requires much more attentive driving to do safely when pulling 50% or more of the vehicle weight... Gotta treat the setup with respect or you will put yourself and others at risk whenever the situation on the road becomes less than ideal.
You did not specify the model year. A general answer I got when searching online was "The 2024 and 2025 Kia Sportage models have a maximum towing capacity of 2,500 pounds when equipped with trailer brakes. Without trailer brakes, the towing capacity is reduced to 1,653 pounds"
That is not just trailer weight on paper.. that is trailer weight plus all the stuff you load onto it. Also loading stuff in the car would lower that too. The suspension and brakes have to deal with all of it to keep you in control, so It all has an effect. -
Jo,
My suggestion is to get a trailer frame from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool and build a lightweight "foamie" camper yourself. Check out the works by Lucy on YouTube. Her pages are called "The L Wood by Lucy." Also search YouTube for build-logs of foam trailers covered with "poor man's fiberglass," PMF for short. This video might be what you're looking for: "Affordable Adventure" Budget-Friendly FOAM Trailers There are many others, too! Just "jump down the rabbit hole" of self builds, take notes, then make it a family project. "Instructables" is another source of build logs as well as our "sister site" "Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers" (tnttt.com). Depending on how fancy you get, you can probably build one for around $2000 or so and it weigh around 1000 lbs. This is a "new" thread, so expect a LOT of responses and (un)wanted advice!
Mainly, have fun and be creative!
DJComment
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Apologies, I was probably too serious to start out... The Kia Sportage seems to have a reasonable amount of capability. But I'd suggest keeping the trailer size/weight low as it only helps make towing less nerve wracking.
It looks like a SunRay 109 Sport starts out at 1320lb so that would probably be a good starting point to look into. It would give you a good amount of wiggle room for additional items.
T@Bs seem to be heavier, so would be in the trailer brake range to begin with.
In my opinion, the tendancy for alot of the new stuff to lean towards offroad/overlanding style is a disservice to the average camper. The large tires and tall ground clearance only makes the trailer much taller and a big sail in the wind, leading to much more strain/wear on your vehicle and MPG loss.Comment
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Do you need an indoor bathroom? The T@G’s are pretty lightweight and have the kitchen in the back.Comment
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For 2021 year: https://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/model...specifications
It shows up to 2000lb with trailer brakes. Without, up to 1653lb.
Trailer brakes come in a few different flavors.
Traditional trailer brakes are electrically operated. A brake controller is installed in the tow vehicle. Electric current is passed throught the trailer power connector (probably the round 7-pin connector in this case) to activate brakes on the trailer axle hubs. Each type of controller can apply the brakes differently. Some may add braking force based on how much pedal you press. Others may just add more force as the braking time increases. And the most basic may just add a set amount of braking whenever the brake lights are activated. This generally seems less than ideal to me, so I've never been particularly interested to pull something that needed brakes. However I have heard of folks being "saved" by electric trailer brakes when their tow vehicle lost braking traction in wet or snowy conditions, but the weight over the trailer tires maintained traction and the trailer brakes were able to slow the whole rig down.
It seems alot of boat trailers are now coming with "surge brakes" which add a hydraulic brake cylinder to the trailer tongue (eliminating the need for a brake controller). As you brake the vehicle, this puts pressure on the tongue, which then adds proportional braking force to the trailer brakes. I have experienced towing one for about 8 hours. It is more passive (can only add up to a certain % of your vehicle's braking force), but In my opinion, It provides more precise assisted braking and feels much more natural to the driver. However, a big caveot is you must get out of the vehicle and disable the system every time you want to back up the trailer when not on a rearward rolling grade. Otherwise the rearward push of the vehicle will activate the brakes. A secondary issue is with less grippy conditions (wet or snow covered roads): Since surge brakes only respond to force on the tongue, if your tow vehicle loses braking traction it will proportionally reduce engagement of the surge brakes. I don't know if any camper brands are adopting surge brakes yet. Maybe??
So you can see it is a give and take situation.. weigh your options. Most often electric brakes will be the only option. But look into how different brake controllers operate and choose what is right for you.
It would be super neat if a company comes up with a system that auto-diables surge brakes if the reverse lights are activated. Maybe someone already has? I'd be 100% for surge brakes if that were the case!Comment
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