Hey John, I have the house up for sale and moving to Toronto as soon as I can and then looking forward to getting a new XC70

Hi John:

I hadn't logged in for a while. Thanks for the birthday wishes. 49 and holding! We still fondly remember the Tofino trip as well. The kids are all growing up fast and we only have one at home in Grade 12. I keep checking to see if there are any more road trips planned. Maybe in 2011!

John:

You are the only one I've seen who's posted about towing a sizeable load. We're considering whether to spend 1500.00 for a custom tow package for our '98 XC to tow a trailer coming in about 3300#'s loaded. I don't mind not being the fastest guy up the hill, but don't want to turn the family vacation into a bad experience. Similar to your routes, some of our trips will take us through the Rockies. My mechanic is a little concerned about the transmission (especially going down the grades), but I think the electronic brake controller combined with electric brakes on the trailer should mitigate this. Additionally, we're going to install a weight distribution hitch to spread out the load.

I wanted to get your thoughts from someone who has been down this road. We've owned our '98 since 2000 and feel great about the car and don't want to needlessly pick up another car payment.

Any thoughts/advice you have would be much appreciated.

Best regards,

Joel