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VW's Super Cool Hidden Trailer Hitch

…is not for Americans, since we can't stop suing each other

By Rain Noe - December 18, 2018

in Cars

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This year I bought a car, an all-wheel-drive Volkswagen Golf Alltrack. It's capable around the farm and has decent storage capacity; I've carried 10-foot-long PVC pipes in it with the hatch shut, and below I'm getting rid of an eight-foot children's slide left on the property by a previous tenant.

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Still, it's no substitute for a pickup truck. I'd really value having an open bed that I could toss animal cages, runaway geese or firewood into. So I've been looking into buying a trailer. Alas, I have been misled by watching European videos of the Golf Alltrack (a/k/a Sportwagen). While the Euro-market Alltrack is rated for a towing capacity of 2,000 pounds, the American version--which is mechanically identical--has a tow rating of 0.

Yes, zero. Why? Flipping through the manual, I've learned that in litigious America, VW has decided that Alltracks towing things opens them up to some kind of liability. So they've decreed that if you fit a trailer hitch to your Alltrack in the 'States, it automatically voids the freaking warranty. No towing in America.

This is really disappointing. Particularly since Euro-market Alltracks/Sportwagens have this super-cool integrated hidden trailer hitch that pops out when you need it:

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Why can't we have nice things?

o

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Glen Oomen

5 years ago

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Sigh, European models... Maybe the hitch comes with a manual transmission? Probably has the auto-stop/start to cut emissions when you're idling too. And probably has the more important headlight leveling knob where we have the kind-of-useless instrument cluster brightness knob. Sigh.

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Gregory Cook

4 years ago

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It's frustrating. I've got a 2020 Crosstrek and would much rather be rolling in the Alltrack. The crosstrek and the Alltrack are practically identical dimensions. and the Alltrack beats the pants off the CT in terms of power. And towing was instrumental to leaving my pickup truck behind. Ah well. Back to my CVT, I guess.

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Juan Cano

5 years ago

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Wonder if you could get it from a European junkyard and have a local mechanic hack it into your car. Probably overkill. Super cool though.

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