soonerfan

I'm no expert, but what I've gleaned from my searching and the kind advice from this forum, it is far less expensive to order the Q5 with the tow hitch from the factory. It is a "port installed" item, but about half the cost of retrofitting at a dealer....about $1600.00. Some have installed "curt hitches" for far less, and if you'll perform a search on this forum, you'll see what I am writing about. That said, my 2014 Q5 TDI is coming with the tow package from the factory/port.

mirage350

i was under the impression that the WDH (weight distribution hitches)only distributes the weight more evenly to the front wheels to prevent the back down nose up type of towing style which is dangerous. cars that do have the auto levelling suspension do not require this because the car can level itself.i know of cars (toyota landcruisers)that have the auto levelling initially had WDH applied but the onboard computer was fighting against the WDH which ended up burning out the computer. Just as an exercise i travelled without WDH and found it very light on the front end and steering, which made me very nervous, but once the car was level it changes the whole attitude of the rig.I tow with a monocoque chassis with 180kg on the ball.

mirage350

WDH = Weight Distribution Hitch
just curious , are the Q5,Q7 and touareg cars you get in the USA are they all only air suspension spec cars or do you also get the coil sprung versions as well. the 7 seat Q7 in Australia can tow 3200kg and has a tow ball weight limit of 300kg. i dont consider this excessive since that is what the factory nominate and you would think that it would be a conservative figure on there part.the 5 seat Q7 can tow 3500kg since you dont have to allow for the weight of 2 extra passengers. i,d like to see 2 x 150 kg guys sitting in the 2 rear seats.

brutus23079

Exactly right, a WDH torques the frame to move more of the load to the front wheels to increase steering control and thus safety. I can see where air suspensions and WDHs don't mix. Computers are rather finicky things. Unibodies (i.e. car-based frames) generally can't handle any twisting on their frames, so one is left with either going with a bigger tow rating vehicle, or reducing trailer tongue weight. I use a body-on-frame Nissan Frontier crew cab (6100# tow rating and 125" WB). Towing 3300ish pounds, I never felt any need a for WDH (hardly surprising). For a unibody though, self-leveling air suspension sounds like the best workaround.

And FWIW the OP, CGermany, ended up buying a Porsche Cayenne diesel with its 7716# tow rating. Opened up a lot more RVs for him vs towing with a Q5.