Can a Hyundai Tucson Tow a Pop-up Camper? (Explained)


Can a Hyundai Tucson Tow a Pop up Camper

Have you ever wondered if a Hyundai Tucson can tow a pop up camper? Well, look no more. We´ve got you covered.

The Hyundai Tucson isn’t a vehicle really known for the huge weights that it is able to pull. As a result, a lot of people wonder whether it is going to be able to haul their pop-up camper.

There are a lot of things that can influence whether the Hyundai Tucson is capable of pulling your Pop Up Camper. Thankfully, we are going to walk you through everything that you need to know here.

So, can a Hyundai Tucson tow a pop up camper? Yes, you can tow a pop up camper with a Hyundai Tucson if the weight of your camper do not exceed 2,500lbs. However, with a payload of around 1,000lbs, the Hyundai Tucson is not really designed for heavy towing.

There are a few pieces of information that you are going to need to have to hand to work out whether your Hyundai Tucson is capable of pulling a pop-up camper.

You will need to know a little bit about the vehicle that you have, as well as the pop-up camper that you are planning to tow. Let’s walk you through how you can get your hands on that information, shall we?

Determining the Towing Capacity of your Hyundai Tucson

As we just said, the Hyundai Tucson does not have the greatest towing capacity ever. While it is a vehicle that you can tow with, it isn’t really a towing vehicle.

So, if you are looking for a vehicle that can tow heavy loads on a regular basis, this probably isn’t the one that you want to be getting your hands on.

Although, if you already have a Hyundai Tucscon, then this probably won’t matter all that much. You will have to make do with what you have.

The towing capacity of the Hyundai Tucson will be between 1500lbs and 2,000lbs. There are some models that have gone up to 2,500lbs, but these are incredibly rare.

This is because they have to be customized at purchase, and the vast majority of people do not do this because it is a lot of extra cost for something that the vast majority of people are never going to be using.

The second piece of information that you need from your Hyundai Tucson is the payload capacity. This is going to be around 1000lbs.

Both numbers that you have here will be dependent on the model year and the trim of the vehicle that you have.

This means that you will have to do your own independent research here. However, since the Hyundai Tucson doesn’t really differ all that much when it comes to towing capacity, it shouldn’t be that difficult to find the information that you need.

Below you can find some of the best ultra lightweight small pop up campers a Hyundai Tucson can tow:

Pop up Camper ModelDry Weight (lbs.)
SylvanSportGo840
Livin’ Lite Quicksilver 8.0994
Adventure Trail TurtleBack1,300
Coachman Clipper Sport1,727
Taxa Cricket Pop Up1,753

Determining the Weight of Your Pop-Up Camper

Your next job is to work out the weight of your pop-up camper. There are a few things that you will need to do here.

The first piece of information that you need is the hitch weight of the pop-up camper. This is the amount of weight that the pop-up camper will be pushing down onto the hitch of the Hyundai Tucson. This figure is absolutely vital!

The second piece of information that you need will be the dry weight of the pop-up camper. This is how heavy the pop-up camper is. 

Both pieces of information should be easy to find. There will be a sticker somewhere on the pop-up camper that tells you everything that you need to know.

If the information is not here, then you will easily be able to find information online by searching up your trailer name and model number.

You aren’t done with the weighing of your pop-up camper quite yet, though. The dry weight of the pop-up camper is only going to cover the weight of the stock camper.

 So, anything that you have added to the pop-up camper after you have purchased it won’t be included in the dry weight.

This means that you will need to add the weight of everything extra inside of the trailer. Thankfully, it shouldn’t be that difficult to work out.

Chances are that you aren’t adding that much extra into the trailer beyond a few clothes, and this means that you can do nothing more than weigh them. 

Read also: How Much Do Pop-up Campers Weigh? (3 Small Pop Up Campers)

Will Your Hyundai Tucson Tow a Pop-Up Camper?

So, now we know the information that you need to determine whether your Hyundai Tucson can tow the pop-up trailer, we can put everything together and work it out properly.

There are a few steps to this process. However, we are going to try and go through these steps in the simplest possible way.

Although, to be honest with you, none of these steps would be that difficult to follow anyway.

Step 1: Determine the Weight Inside Your Vehicle

Remember earlier when we asked you to work out the payload capacity of your vehicle? Well, you need to know the amount of weight that you will be placing into the vehicle too.

You will need to think about the weight of the people going into the vehicle, as well as anything that you will be taking out on your camping trip.

You may need to crack out the scales to ensure that you measure everything accurately here. 

Step 2: Work Out the Available Payload Capacity of the Hyundai Tucson

Now that you know the weight inside of your vehicle, you will be able to work out the available payload capacity.

This means that you need to take the payload capacity of your vehicle. From that, subtract the amount of weight that you are carrying inside of your vehicle.

You now have the available payload capacity.

Step 3: Determine Whether Your Vehicle Can Have the Pop-Up Camper Hitched Up to It

From the payload capacity, you will need to subtract the hitch weight.

If the number is negative, then you will not be able to tow the pop-up camper without removing some weight from the vehicle.

It isn’t worth taking the risk either. If you do take the risk, then there is a chance that the Hyundai Tucson will be pushed a little bit too close to the ground. This can cause it to scrape along the floor. This can ruin the vehicle.

Step 4: Determine Whether the Hyundai Tucson Can Pull the Trailer

The final step is the simplest one.

By now, you should know the total weight of your trailer (the dry weight, plus anything that you add into the pop-up camper)

Subtract this number from the maximum towing capacity of the Hyundai Tucson.

If the number is negative, then you will need to reduce the weight of the trailer somehow. If the number is in the positive, then fantastic!

It means that you are easily going to be able to pull the pop-up camper with your vehicle. 

We do suggest that you try and reduce the weight of your pop-up camper, if the number is positive only by the smallest of amounts (we are talking 50lbs to 100lbs here).

This is because if you add anything into that pop-up trailer later on and forget to remove it, then you will have pushed the Hyundai Tucson beyond its weight limit. This is just going to be asking for trouble.

CRAZY TINY Popup Travel Trailer RV! Gotta see to believe! >> Check out the video below:

Is the Hyundai Tucson a Good Tow Vehicle?

It is OK for light loads.

The Hyundai Tucson is not really designed for heavy towing. You can probably already tell this from the lower towing capacity for the vehicle in comparison to other options on the market.

It is going to be fine for towing your smaller pop-up campers, and maybe for hauling a trailer filled with trash to the dump, but that is about it. You won’t be pulling horse trailers, snowplows, or anything like that.

We like to think of the Hyundai Tucson as more of a ‘general purpose’ towing vehicle. This means something that has been built for a family that wants to tow every so often, but not every single day.

Don’t get us wrong, though. While the Hyundai Tucson is not a brilliant towing vehicle, it is a good vehicle overall.

If you do run into any issues with it, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to source the spare parts that you need either. As we said, it is a good, well-rounded, vehicle.

How Can You Upgrade the Towing Capacity of the Hyundai Tucson?

To be honest, while there is a lot that you can do to increase the towing capacity of the Hyundai Tucson, it is not really worth the time and money spent on upgrading the vehicle. You would have to change:

  • The engine
  • The wheel axels
  • Braking system
  • The suspension

At this point, you may as well get an actual towing vehicle.

The one suggestion that we can make, however, is that you get your hands on a weight distribution hitch. This effectively reduces the hitch weight.

This means that less weight will be coming off of the payload calculation, and this means that you will be able to store more items in your vehicle while on the road i.e., you will be able to reduce the weight of the trailer by moving some things into your vehicle.

Beyond this, there isn’t really much that you can do that would have any worth. Just buy the best weight distribution hitch that you can afford, and you should be fine while out there on the road.

It will certainly make it a bit easier for you to be able to pull a pop-up camper.

Can You Take the Pop-Up Camper Off-Road?

The Hyundai Tucson isn’t really designed for driving off-road anyway. At the most, you will be able to take your pop-up camper on a flat piece of dry land.

Once the land gets a little bit muddy or rocky, then you will probably have a far greater problem driving it off-road. Therefore, try to stay on road as much as you possibly can.

Conclusion 

So, there you have it. Chances are that your Hyundai Tucson may be able to tow your pop-up camper. It is unlikely that you will be able to tow anything heavier than this, though.

This is because the Hyundai Tucson isn’t really built for anything too extreme in the way of towing. It is mostly a vehicle that has been designed for commuters.

This means that when you are doing your math to work out whether your vehicle can tow the trailer, you do need to make sure that you do not have a lot of ‘play’ in the numbers.

You need to be pretty accurate with your calculations. 

References

https://www.andymohrhyundai.com/hyundai-tucson-towing-capacity-bloomington-in.html

Mike Gilmour

Hi, I'm Mike, co-founder, and editor of RV and Playa. My passion is traveling (with my RV) and enjoying the day at the beach (Playa)! Well, I originally created this blog as a way to share what I've learned by experimenting with the RV lifestyle, and I want to help others develop in life through new skills and opportunities.

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