The Slate is a Coupe Utility Vehicle (CUV)

[AZFox]

What informs your expectations of this "Coupe Utility Vehicle," and do you think your expectations will be met?

The Truck will suit my needs wonderfully. I have other ways to go off-road, haul heavier loads, and go places that require more range.

On other side of the light-duty coin are low cost-of-ownership and improvements as an around-town Daily Driver.

For day-to-day driving I'm anticipating there will be significant Fun Factor. 🙂

 

[Daemoch]

I just loaded my 14' trailer with a commercial fridge and brought it home to fix up a couple hours ago.
Tomorrow I'll be hauling 2 very large very dirty basement dressers to the dump.
I'm currently gutting several rooms and have something like 40 bags of plaster and lathe and insulation to dispose of.
I just pulled down 30' of wall in my basement due to recent flooding we had out here which is also going to the dump.
Next weekend I need to go pickup a load of fire wood to split.
This is just 7 days.

ATM I'm pulling all this with a 2008 Mercedes Benz C300 (3.0 v6, auto, 2WD - Curtis hitch rated for 1k on this vehicle). It would be nice to not bother with a trailer or have something a little more suited to the job.

 

[Daemoch]

That says what the hitch Is rated to, not what the car is rated to. All class 1 hitches are 200/2k rated, because that's the definition of a Class 1 hitch and there is nothing lower. See the Miata hitch for further evidence of this. Heck, the Civic hitch even requires cutting sheet metal, which I'm sure Honda does not approve of either.

The aftermarket Slate hitches will have the same 200/2k hitch rating regardless of what the manufacturer tow rating is. Regardless of the hitch rating, exceeding the manufacturer vehicle rating is entirely at the owner's risk.

No. I see where you think thats how all this works, but that's not how any of it works. With enough math and an actual vehicle to use you can get all this info for yourself for any vehicle setup.

Heres a link to Curt's explanation on how hitch specs work.
Keep in mind they have liability insurance too and can't claim things they cant substantiate.

If thats not good enough, I'm including a pdf of the actual J2807 from 2016. Its a tad out of date, but good enough for this and not behind a paywall. Now anyone here can go rate their own vehicle like its 2016. Youre all welcome. lol

Keep in mind that getting a vehicle government certified isn't free and pretty pointless if you arent going to sell an OEM tow option. However, in other countries its sometimes required to list ANY vehicles with load specs for towing....which is why you get EU/Asian/Aussie cars with tow ratings but calculated to their specific regulation standards, and so different from the US numbers. The car may be physically identical, its just the formula that changes.

And finally, I'm the guy with the civic and the 1k lb tow limit. It's not some abstract combination we all just decided to use. Unfortunately the civic got wrecked a few months ago when some lady hit it while it was parked next to my house. I carried insurance on it, full coverage with every bell and whistle and no deductible. That included trailer and tow insurance; so even Erie thinks civics that never got trailer certified can tow trailers safely. Statefarm, AllState, and Progressive also all offered tow and trailer insurance on a 2000 Civic.

Just because Honda didn't want to pay the DOT testing people to tow-test to certify a car that they A) never designed a tow setup for, because they B) never intended to offer a tow package for it, doesn't mean it CAN'T... it only says:

....and after 25 years I dont think a warranty matters any more. Also note that no where does it say it can't, only that it "wasn't designed to" and that it "can void your warranty"....meaning it may be able to and that it may not void the warranty. Technically it would be on Honda to prove that any modifications caused any issues; not on you to prove they didn't. You can thank all the lawsuits in the 70s and 80s involving aftermarket stereos, car alarms, and remote starters for that.

Edit: The hitch was bolt on; nothing was cut. I did it myself. I was an ASE certified mechanic back in the 1990s and definitely know my way around a Garage.

 

[sodamo]

I just loaded my 14' trailer with a commercial fridge and brought it home to fix up a couple hours ago.
Tomorrow I'll be hauling 2 very large very dirty basement dressers to the dump.
I'm currently gutting several rooms and have something like 40 bags of plaster and lathe and insulation to dispose of.
I just pulled down 30' of wall in my basement due to recent flooding we had out here which is also going to the dump.
Next weekend I need to go pickup a load of fire wood to split.
This is just 7 days.

ATM I'm pulling all this with a 2008 Mercedes Benz C300 (3.0 v6, auto, 2WD - Curtis hitch rated for 1k on this vehicle). It would be nice to not bother with a trailer or have something a little more suited to the job.

Requirements change.
When building my house, my GMC double cab Sierra with 8 foot bed was so handy when I bought a skid of 3/4” cabinet plywood, several trips of 4x12 and 4x8 sheetrock, 2 pallets of ceramic tile, etc, but boy did I hate parking in Walmart lot.
My Slate will likely carry non of that but will definitely be parking at Walmart.

 

[Daemoch]

Requirements change.
When building my house, my GMC double cab Sierra with 8 foot bed was so handy when I bought a skid of 3/4” cabinet plywood, several trips of 4x12 and 4x8 sheetrock, 2 pallets of ceramic tile, etc, but boy did I hate parking in Walmart lot.
My Slate will likely carry non of that but will definitely be parking at Walmart.

When I got a big load of stuff a while back I had Lowes deliver it ....via 18 wheeler and a fork lift. No way am I buying anything to do that kind of work! IIRC, delivery was free since I'm close enough or the total was high enough.

 

[Driven5]

Heres a link to Curt's explanation on how hitch specs work.
Keep in mind they have liability insurance too and can't claim things they cant substantiate.

That's a link to how HITCH ratings work, just as I stated. The only point of confusion might have been the class vs hitch rating. Yes the individual hitch rating can be lower than the class rating, like the common 350/3.5k on Class III hitches. I don't think I've ever seen that done on a Class I hitch though, but I could be wrong on that one point. The actual relevant Curt article is this:

Curt - What's my towing capacity?

Can I Tow a Trailer with My Car?

Yes, many cars can tow a trailer, as long as they have the right towing equipment and tow rating. Automobile towing capacities are rated by the manufacturer. Full-size sedans and other larger cars are often rated for some level of towing, while compact and sub-compact cars may not be.
To learn if your car can tow a trailer, refer to the owner's manual. Whether your car is rated to tow a trailer or not, CURT likely offers a custom receiver hitch for your make and model, even if it is only used for attaching a bike rack or cargo carrier.

This is their liability CYA for all of the people clueless enough to assume that assume hitch rating = tow rating.

If thats not good enough, I'm including a pdf of the actual J2807 from 2016. Its a tad out of date, but good enough for this and not behind a paywall. Now anyone here can go rate their own vehicle like its 2016. Youre all welcome. lol

Even for people that happen to live near Davis Dam, good luck getting the structural test data for section 4.2.

However, in other countries its sometimes required to list ANY vehicles with load specs for towing....which is why you get EU/Asian/Aussie cars with tow ratings but calculated to their specific regulation standards, and so different from the US numbers. The car may be physically identical, its just the formula that changes.

Their regulation standards are based on the usage limitations in their country, which can be very different than ours. Conflating them is a mistake, and using them as a point of comparison for US towing is little more than mental gymnastics to justify poor practices.
.

I carried insurance on it, full coverage with every bell and whistle and no deductible. That included trailer and tow insurance; so even Erie thinks civics that never got trailer certified can tow trailers safely. Statefarm, AllState, and Progressive also all offered tow and trailer insurance on a 2000 Civic.

That's not how any auto insurance I've known works. Yes, they insured your car and they insured your trailer. That doesn't mean they would cover that car towing that trailer. I own a 5000+ lb travel trailer and a Subaru Forester in addition to my F150. There is nothing in the insurance that says I am only allowed to tow it with the F150, but that doesn't mean I'd be covered if I hitched it up to the Forester.

I've also never heard of 'tow' insurance for insuring the approved towing of a trailer, which is covered under normal vehicle and/or trailer policies, it's for covering the cost of getting a car towed in the event of a breakdown... In other words, it's roadside assistance. Might want to recheck this with your provider.

Just because Honda didn't want to pay the DOT testing people to tow-test to certify a car that they A) never designed a tow setup for, because they B) never intended to offer a tow package for it, doesn't mean it CAN'T... it only says:

....and after 25 years I dont think a warranty matters any more. Also note that no where does it say it can't, only that it "wasn't designed to" and that it "can void your warranty"....meaning it may be able to and that it may not void the warranty. Technically it would be on Honda to prove that any modifications caused any issues; not on you to prove they didn't.

The previous gen Tundra CAN tow 30x (300k vs 10k) it's manufacturer rated towing capacity... Which provides zero meaningful information or context for actual towing discussions. What something "can" tow is totally irrelevant to any of these conversations. It's like using that a car "can" go 150mph, and is allowed to in other countries, as justification for doing so here. The statement "Your vehicle is not designed to tow a trailer" not only meets the burden of proof to deny warranty coverage on the engine, transmission, driveline, suspension, brakes, and chassis, but is also the statement that can just as easily used by insurance to deny claims and make the driver personally financially liable for anything that happens while towing.

Everybody has their own risk tolerance, so you do you, but using the Civic as some kind of argument about the Slate rated towing capacity is nothing but a twisted rationalization.

 

[KevinRS]

And finally, I'm the guy with the civic and the 1k lb tow limit.

This is where I was talking about comparing a Slate's 1k tow rating to a civic's non-rating. Most likely, if you really want to, you could tow 2k with a Slate as easily as you towed 1k with a civic. I'm not recommending it, just saying people will probably do it. Somewhere there was a complaint that a Slate could only tow what a civic did, but that's comparing a "rating" to a "did it despite not being rated"
On vehicles being rated in other countries, you also can't count on the vehicle actually being identical. It may be sold with the same name, but have some structural or other changes required for that country's regulations, that happen to put it into a towing class.