Let's talk about Hondas! One of the most reliable vehicle brands on the road, Honda actually doesn't make any present-year models that are flat towable (which is part of the reason we haven't gotten around to them yet). However, they do have some older-model vehicles that are still very popular and function quite well as towed vehicles.
Before we take a deeper dive, though, we need to get a quick disclaimer out of the way:
This article series isn't designed to dive into the details of every single towable vehicle. While we may reference specific cars as examples, this series is designed to give you general guidelines and words of wisdom when it comes to entire vehicle lineups. The things we cover here will be generally true across all flat towable models of a particular make - or, at least, true in the majority of cases. However, as with any guidance we give in this area, it's very important you review the Recreational Towing section of your vehicle's Owner's Manual. That's the only way to verify that the things we discuss here are applicable to your car.
That being said, let's take a look at Honda's lineup!
The Complexity Scale
As we've done every week in this series, let's go first to our "Complexity Scale" - which is a measurement we've been using to assess how complicated a certain manufacturer's lineup is to tow.
1 on our Scale would be something like an older Jeep Wrangler that's completely plug-and-play (very, very easy), while 10 would be something like the Ford CMax (which is literally impossible to tow correctly, even though it's technically "towable").
So, where do Hondas fall? Here's where we've got them:
Overall, Hondas are pretty straightforward to tow. The one thing that bumps this up from maybe a 3 or a 4 to a 5 is the fact that most of Honda's popular towable models require pulling fuses. Now, pulling fuses in and of itself isn't terribly complicated or onerous - but it is one more thing to remember and it can be inconvenient at times.
What Additional Equipment Do I Need To Tow?
As a general rule of thumb, you're probably going to need a Towed Battery Charger Plus to tow any of Honda's lineup. In fact, the Honda CR-V was actually the reason we invented Towed Battery Charger Plus as a product! (If you want to hear the full story, our Marketing & Customer Service Manager Chris did a great video on this topic HERE.)
In addition, you may need a 12v Battery Direct Kit - this isn't universally true of Hondas, but a lot of their more popular models will need it so it's worth checking the manual/testing the outlets in your specific car to see if that's the case.
Recommended Model
Again, none of Honda's present-year lineup is flat towable (the last year any Honda was made to be flat towable was the Fit in 2020), so that does make this a bit different than other manufacturers. If you're wanting a 2023-2024 vehicle with all the bells and whistles, it's probably best to look at another brand entirely.
It is, however, hard to beat Honda's reliability and even their older vehicles tend to run well at high mileages. With that being said, we're going to go with the tried-and-true CR-V as our choice.
It's Honda's most popular towable model, yes - but it's also extremely reliable and fairly simple to tow (as long as you make sure to pick up a battery charger). All those factors make it an excellent towed vehicle, regardless of whether you're a weekend warrior or a full-timer. Just make sure to get one that's 2014 or older, as 2014 was the last year this particular car was towable.
Conclusion
Hondas are great cars in general, but they can also make for excellent towed vehicles - whether you're a solo traveler, a couple, or taking the kids/grandkids along. As long as you make sure to have some kind of charging solution (again, Towed Battery Charger Plus is perfect for this), it's hard to go wrong!
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