Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I have a trailer hitch on my 06 A4, and plan on towing a small Canadian Tire do it youself trailer with the max of 2 dirt bikes on it. BMW mechanic friend of mine suggested I change the differential oil. My car has less than 70,000km and I wanted to wait to 100,000km to do that oil change along with Tranny oil too. As they are both very expensive!

I use my car for daily driving and do 25,000+ km a year. Don't race it but sometimes drive twisty backroads. My expectations out of my car is to hope it lasts to 230,000km (I change engine oil with synthetic every 5,000km or so) without major bills just brakes and other minor maintenance pieces on the car.

I like audi for the quality and craftmanship, and know they can be endurance cars if taken care of properly.

Do you guys think towing dirt bikes will be hard on the car at all? It's a 2.0T and I plan on driving it respectfully. Thought about chipping it for the extra load plus the extra fun factor for when I'm not towing. Just my thought anyways. Let me know what you guys think.

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I too am very interested in this.

I have a 2004 B6 1.8TQ. ~ 62k.

BTW...how much did the hitch cost you and where did you go to hook it up? Do you have any pics that you can post?

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

Towing with an A4?? Seriously.

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I went to Welcome to

Minutes away from my house. Which is part of the reason I went there. Seemed to have done a good job with it, hitch doesn't stick out or anything stays fairly hidden under the bumper. Haven't done any long distance towing with it. Max tow I'll be doing is 2 hours 150-180km distance to the various dirt bike tracks around.

It cost me about $600, half of that was for the hitch the other half was all labour for the wiring. So if you are comfortable with wiring your car then you could save half or more.

I regret having to pay that much for it a little bit because deep down I know I could have totally gone out and bought a used van for $2000 and had it for a hauler of all sorts of things. I just don't have the driveway space for that though, so it wasn't an option. I plan on keeping the car till it blows up.

I'll try and get picks soon, PM your email I can send them to you.

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I've met a guy who tows with his 2002 STI, he tells me he gets looks and honks while he's driving down the road with a dirtbike hooked up to the back of his STI. I have not got anything like that so far.

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I tow with my 2000 Jetta VR6... Like you I just don't have the driveway for another van or truck. I have been towing with it for a few years now, the most ambitious trip was towing my Harley from Ottawa to Nova Scotia. The car has 200K on it, and this year I had to replace the rear shocks (I'm sure as a result of the towing), otherwise I take care of the car (synthetic, regular oil changes etc).

Power is not a problem, but I'm sure I go through breaks faster. I also try and load all the weight over the axil of the trailer so there is not too much weight pushing down on the back of the car.

I'll hold off on hitching our 03 Avant, as it is our "nice car"

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

I've been searching for a hitch for some time. I just received my A4 Avant on Friday. I need it for my bicycle carrier, not to tow anything heavy. I just dislike roof carriers.
Do you have photos of your hitch?

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

Just in case anyone searches for this - I'll post my towing experiences...

This Fall - I put a hitch on and bought a used Canadian Tire, single-bike motorcyle trailer. I put my 350lb Suzuki DR650 on it and promptly drove it 10+ hrs to the Catskills for a weekend dirtbike-fest. Frankly - the whole rig couldn't have weighed more than having three heavy passengers in the car and I never ever felt the presence of the trailer - accellerating or braking. Can't imagine why you would ever hesitate to tow a light load with an A4.

RK

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

You are safe towing up to 600kg. After that the problem is with the differential and the gear box. They come apart as the sprockets brake into small pieces.
The engine will take towing up to 3 tons no problem.

Re: Do you tow anything with your A4?
 

Thule T2 hitch mount bike rack on A4 Avant?

Pictures of my hitch at the link above.