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Kathy, I too just went thru the shopping process for tow bar and baseplate for my Ford Fusion. I settled on the Blue Ox Aventa LX motorhome mounted tow bar with removable tabs and Blue Ox baseplate. With the tabs removed you can hardly see the base plate. It has a real clean look. The tow bar is a little over kill for my Fusion. It is rated at 10,000 lbs. but if I change to a heaver tow car, I am covered. The Aventa is heavier than the aluminum ones, but you should not need to remove in very often. It folds up out of the way when not towing. I paid $600 and am very happy with it . Some sell for more, some cheaper. It has self aligning arms which means it will still be easy to hook up even on uneven ground. All you have to do is get close, and pull the arms out to connect. I agree with Tom and Brett, the coach mounted tow bar is the way to go. Also you will need a brake system for your tow car. There are many of these to choose from also. I went with the RVI brake. It is very light and easy to install, and works well. Don't forget the lights on the tow car. Good luck.

Update on preparing my Fusion to flat tow. Dealer told me there would be no drain on the battery, with switch in acc position, so I experimented in my garage.Turned switch to on, put shifter in neutral, turned switch back to acc. Checked battery voltage at 12.85 Came back 4 hours later to a dead battery.So much for no drain. So I thought I would see if leaving the switch off would work. My steering wheel does not lock so don't see the need to have switch on. Well I found out that you cannot remove the key with the shifter in neutral, and the shifter light stayed on. There was not as much drain but still enough that I don't want to take a chance. So I guess my next step is to run a charge line to the Fusion battery. Am I correct in thinking to use the charge line from the hot pin on my 7 way thru the umbilical cord to the 6 way receptical on the Fusion, then a line from the center pin of the 6 way ,directly to the positive post on the battery with a 30 amp breaker before battery? Should I use 8 or 10 G wire? With all the trouble some Fusion owners have had, I hope this is worth all the hassle. Thank for the help.

I have just purchased a 2012 Fusion to flat tow. I have not installed the baseplate yet, so I have no towing information. I did call FOMOCO because of all the problems some have had with transmissions. This is what they said (for FWD 2.5 I-4 or 3.0 only-- FWD with 3.5 can not be flat towed): First the dealer has to lower the transmission fluid to a specific mark on the dip stick. Done. He told me no fuses need to be pulled as in the older models.Great! Start engine, run for 5 minutes,shift from park to drive, then to reverse before shifting back to neutral, Key in acc, before towing in morning and every 6 hours. Also no drain on battery as all electrical shuts off after about 10 minutes. This is the only reason I purchased the Fusion over the Cruze. Hopefully they have the details worked out on the 2012. I will find out soon. Anyone towing a 2012 now?

Thanks for the reply. I just had a dealer call me today about the 2011 Cruz. He said he just got a sevice notice from Chevy saying that the 2011 and 2012 cruz will not be approved for 4 wheel down towing. He said they are sending addendems for the owners manuals.Must of had to many transmission claims. Not sure what this means for people who have these cars, but I may have to rethink my options.Hope you don't have any problems with yours.

I have been looking for a tow car to pull 4 wheels down. So far I have narrowed it down to a Chevy Cruze and a Ford Fusion. After reading some of the problems with the Ford, I am leaning more to the Cruze. Has anyone towed this car, and what are the procedures? Thanks

I have a tow dolly with surge brakes (plunger) that I tow a Chrysler Sebring 3000#. It works very well. It is capable of backing up by inserting the safety pin into a different slot to take the pressure off, however it is next to impossible to back a tow dolly any distance whether it has electric or surge brakes, so do not consider that when making your decision. I also have a 16' trailer that I pull with a pick up that has electric brakes. You will have to add a brake controller to use electric brakes, but one advantage is that you can adjust how much braking force you want. Low force for light loads, high force for heaver loads. A few states do not require brakes on tow cars, but for your own safety and less wear on tow vehicle, you should have them. When going down a steep grade, even a lighter car such as your mini will give you quite a push and over use of brakes-- get them over heated and prone to failure. Have a safe trip.

Hello, I too was looking for a small portable grill that would be big enough to cook several steaks at a time, but small enough to fit in my motorhome compartment. I looked at the Weber 220 and it looked like a fine grill, but at the price of $200 and then purchasing the stand for another $50 made it a little pricy. I ended up with the Coleman Paul Jr Designs. Very similar to the Weber, but has the stand built in for $144 from Amazon. This in a classy looking grill and with 2 burners, heats up to 400 in about 2 minutes. Great for searing then turn down on low. I am very pleased with it and it fit perfect in my storage space.