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Electric Tow ball
- Thread starter hairysteve
- Start date
pdk42
Active Member
You mean the springs? The shocks only deal with dynamic forces (movement of the suspension up and down). Adding extra mass to the rear of the car will actually reduce movement speed.
I wouldn't worry about that. It'll be designed to take the weight of the battery pack, luggage, passengers and - crucially - the noseweight of the trailer (which must stay within specifications). That's the main reaon the suspension is so hard.
Getting back to me original point 
, we have no mechanical mechanism to open the glove box, but we have one for the dirty back end of fitting the tow-ball, which they will charge you a £1,000 for when even Ze Germans offer this (click vid) for that price.
, we have no mechanical mechanism to open the glove box, but we have one for the dirty back end of fitting the tow-ball, which they will charge you a £1,000 for when even Ze Germans offer this (click vid) for that price.
darkNstormy
Member
Getting back to me original point
Jeez that's a pedestrian motor on that tow ball. I can fit the manual Tesla one quicker than that, which is saying something!!
I think the difference is that the Model 3 is a sporting saloon where towing is a lower priority and of interest to a minority of drivers. An X BMW is something that people would expect to have towing features built in whereas with a Model 3 it's a bonus feature not worth the cost and engineering to include. I agree it would be nice to have an automated version but I don't think it's going to be a big enough deal to add even more cost for most people in that already small market. I don't think the tow bar is even referred to on the website these days.Getting back to me original point
I guess the way to tell is is someone that's just received a M3 without a towbar checks their V5 or vin plate to see if rather than just the vehicle weights it lists the towing weights. The issue was that the cars without a factory fitted towbar didn't have towing weights approved against them, meaning that even if it was physically possible to just bolt the tow bar on, in the UK it would be illegal. It's entirely possible that they have now just type approved every car (it was a bit odd only doing the ones with fitted tow bars) meaning that you could retrofit to the car or even have a 3rd party towbar fitted as long as it was certified. Maybe even an electric folding one
pdk42
Active Member
Rustybkts
Member
Mine was built many years ago (1980's) at the engineering company I worked for. During the first lockdown I completely renovated it and shortened it to meet the local tip dimensions. Its heavily built to take rubble but only used now for garden waste and the odd building project along with collecting logs for firewood with greedy boards added to increase the depth.I have the towbar to be honest but never used it (got it freebie but that is a long story). Do you mind sharing what trailer you got? I am planning on some major pond rework this spring and it will come handy
The car does monitor the trailer lights, even LED ones keep the caravan icon blue. AP is disabled whenever the trailer lights are plugged in which is probably sensible. Westphalia tow bars are at least the best IMHO. I paid £1000 for mine.
My biggest complaint is that with all the cameras and AI this car has, it uses a caravan icon when the trailer lights are plugged in!
Honestly, I'm completely with you. for £1300 and esp on a tesla I'd really expect to see an electrically deployed tow hitch. the one you get feels like it could be an aftermarket one... and while the one in the vid may be slow, I'd much prefer that to lieing on the ground trying to fit the official one...Getting back to me original point
I'm waiting for an M3lr with a tow bar mostly to use with a bike rack but you never know...
Like you, my tow hitch is mainly for my bike carrier as no dirty MTB ever goes inside my vehicles
AndrewGR
Member
Looks plenty fast enough to me, and a huge improvement on the manual system on the M3. If you include removing and replacing the cover panel it must be at least 5 minutes faster - and that excludes time taken to wash hands and maybe also change clothes after lying in the road! Looks like the motorised ball also incorporates the cable socket in an accessible place. The Tesla arrangement with the socket facing downwards is very inaccessible and risks the cable dragging on the road.
