towing

Be VERY careful with tongue weight and how you load your trailer. It has a big impact on the handling of the car and your trailer. Do NOT under any circumstances overload and ignore these important safety instructions.

Tongue weight is determined by the balance of the trailer. If you weigh the tongue and find it is too heavy then shift some things towards the back until it is 200#. DO NOT make the tongue too light as the trailer will fish tail.

If you want your CVT transmission to die then tow a trailer. Check on what a new one will cost. Mark here will tell you that the CVT is the best thing since indoor plumbing but do your own research. Clue - a new CVT runs $7,500 to $9,000.

Do check and see what the trailer manufacturer recommends for tongue weight. Don't go lighter than what they recommend. If you do you may end up upside down in a ditch.

alvirne- Look, you have a 2016 Subaru Outback Limited with an H6, 3.6 Boxer engine and high torque CVT transmission that was designed to tow up to 3,000 pounds. So, with all due respect to some of the other people on this forum, you really think they know more than the engineers at Subaru? There's plenty of cars out there with conventional automatic transmissions that cannot tow and are NOT rated for towing. This is not the case with the Subaru Outback, it is definitely rated for towing by the manufacturer. As for your trailer, read up on this, get advice from a place like Eckhart Trailers, or someone else local. Since your trailer is over 1,500 pounds you need coordinating electric brakes on your rig. Here's a picture of my setup and I'm towing with the 2010 Subaru Outback Limited and a 2.5 Four, no problems at all. Change your CVT transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. This is one particular case where I recommend taking the car to the dealership for this service. If there's a problem, it's all on them. Keep your service consolidated into a single point of responsibility. Good luck.

alvirne- One more thing, I wouldn't purchase a trailer with a tongue weight in excess of the tow vehicle and generally recommend not exceeding more than 70 percent of the total weight for the car. So, with a car that can pull 3,000 pounds, I would limit the total weight of everything on the trailer to around 2,100 pounds fully loaded.

If you follow Marks bad advice be sure and have a good warranty for your car! Then again if they find out you have been towing a trailer they may not honor the warranty!

Full_of_Regrets- Wow, I have to ask, why do you think it's discussed in the owner's manual and then think it would void the warranty? I don't know how you'll ever believe me, I don't work for Subaru.

Want to make a bet they will accuse people of overloading the car rather than fork out $9,000 for a new CVT? Your posts sound like they are written by a PR person, not someone giving advice Mark but maybe you have found your true calling.

Incidentally Mark, a lot of people do overload their trailers. By the time they pack everything they are way over weight and don't know it.

Full_of_Regrets- of course people are always doing things they shouldn't be doing and that includes the lack of maintenance on their vehicles. Just because I happen to like my car, doesn't mean I work for the company. You should never overload a trailer or your car. It has a deleterious effect on the engine, transmission, suspension and makes the car unsafe. If you want a more powerful rig, get a diesel engine.

I pulled an alto r1723 across Canada both ways over the mountains and also down to Florida and never had a problem will the Murano CVT and when I sold the car at 100,000 miles 9 kilometres there are no maintenance issues whatsoever with the car except for the convertible top which was a plague. That's right it was a Murano convertible.