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Just thought I would put my experience out there for others to read if they are planning to tow with a civic.

The short version is - I had no problems, handling was fine, uphill was slow, fuel economy dropped from 38MPG to 25MPG.

Long version and Details:

I have a 2012 Civic sedan EX trim level (for all wheel disk brakes) and a manual transmission (probably would not want to abuse an auto tranny). The manual does state that the car can tow up to 1000 lbs (In Canada, not sure about USA)

I am towing a small Chalet LTW trailer (990 lbs but I have it a bit more stripped down to reduce weight)

So far I have towed it around BC and Alberta for about 800 Km, some hills in the mountains. The Chalet is equip with surge brakes, if I need to come to a quick stop I can, not as short as with no trailer but not bad either.

I monitored the temperature of the engine via a bluetooth ODB, without the trailer the temperature reached 87 deg C and with the trailer was up to 90, but usually around 88. The external temperature was around 15. I think I would really have to push this on a hot day up a hill for engine temperature to be a problem.

I drove fairly conservatively, keeping it around 95km/h on the highway. It really powers out even on small hills in 5th, I found myself downshifting quite a bit. May tend to run the engine at a bit higher RPM (3500) and keep it in 4th unless I am on a very flat road. It can reach 110km/h on a flat stretch in 5th, but you pay for speed in fuel consumption. I like to find a slow moving trucker and stay about 200ft behind them, that way people don't typically cut in front and spray the car with rocks.

On highway driving I typically get about 38MPG. Towing the trailer it dropped to 25MPG (about 9.4l/100km). The speed greatly effects fuel economy with the added wind drag of the trailer. The Chalet folds down fairly flat but it still increases the surface area and therefore wind drag. Still the fuel economy is as good as the most fuel efficient truck that isn't towing a trailer!

Acceleration on a flat road wasn't as bad as I suspected, not pushing it (max rpm 4000) I kept up with accelerating traffic. Acceleration was probably decreased by about 30% (makes sense given the mass of the vehicle ~2765 and the mass of the trailer ~900)

The class II hitch I picked up from etrailer.com as well as the necessary wiring. Installed the hitch and wiring myself with no issues.

I only plan to drive in spring/summer, don't want the trailer out on an icy road.

So it can be done, just drive careful and go slow.

 
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The only suggestion I'm going to throw out there is don't under rev the car with a trailer attached. Keep the RPMS up slightly higher than you would normal driving to keep the engine from working too hard.

 
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Old post, but I thought I would add to it as I had a 2003 Civic LX 5 Speed and I towed a 4'x 6' enclosed trailer with it and I actually towed my old 5' x 8' a couple of times with it ( But only in town). I towed the 4'x 6' to Pittsburg last year with a 2 of us in the car. I have a 2005 Civic Si-G now and I going to be pulling the 4' x 6' with it. I haven't had any issues as of to date, I do however run a Light Weight Distribution hitch set-up that required the stock Class II receiver to be cut off of the hitch and a Class III receiver welded on in it's place which isn't in use in the pictures.