The life of a car in our family is not an easy one. We live in the mountains of Southern California at 5300 feet and drive daily into the grind of life that begins in San Bernardino. Yes, that San Bernardino. But as life moves on, so do the miles required to earn a living.
My wife works at location that allows her transportation to collect any number of door dings that I no longer track. Keeping the hitch in the receiver is holding off contact with the rear end, so far. As much as "we" have enjoyed life with Audi's, five of them over the years, we have moved on.
I have now settled into that faze of life that allows me to consider cars as "appliances'". By them, use them. I have toys, more than my fair share according to my family. But the recent additions have both been positive. At the end of last year I was alerted to the availability of an all-wheeled drive German car that a friend swore he would buy if he had the funds. No, he did not have the cash. The seller was offering it up to his "on the hill" friends at a no haggle price and it was suggested I take a look. Glad I did. Turned out to be a 2005 BMW X3 3.0i. These were the second owners, from 7000 miles, of the second bimmer in their house hold. The car had service records and with 112,000 showing, it presented as an honest driver. The car has 121,500 miles today and I have sourced a second set of rims for the snow tires that will go on in November. If you have not driven one of these yet, you might want to give it a try. I understand that anything later than 2005 have the expensive to service transmissions and the 5 speed cars are out there but are thin on the ground.
This was my wife's DD until, my 2005 Honda Element meet it's demise. While towing our son's Go Kart to an event. Everyone and thing survived, but now we needed something to tow the Kart.
So, yes. A BMW X3 3.0i can tow, a kart. The "kit" is available. The job to install the kit rated a 10 out of 10 in terms of the pain in the a.. factor. So, yes. I went looking for a my DD replacement.
As timing and luck sometimes intersect, I found a one owner 2005 Toyota Highlander Limited, 92,000 miles, that was offered to me at the trade in price. Now the rub on this car as I have come to find out is, at 90,000 miles these things really should have a new timing belt, water pump, all wheel drive service, fresh fluids...... But it only cost $150ish dollars for the "Curt" hitch and wiring kit for the trailer. The time required to install the parts was way less than an hour as the car was built with the trailer package. Keeping the receiver in the hitch is keeping the back end safe, for my wife when she parks at work.
Because, the Highlander has heated seats. And now the BMW is my DD!
