Advice required from you good people

[bluestreak]

Hi everybody. Well, here we are. My wife and I, new members.

Now, don't get upset but up until 3 weeks ago we were going to buy a motorhome. But alas, DVLA got in the way of that one. After weeks of talking to them about my Epilepsy and would it effect my obtaining a C1 licence and being told "no sir of course not" we went out and placed a deposit on £36000 of motorhome. So imagine my extreme annoyance when DVLA returned my application and told me that I could not drive a 4250kg motorhome. However, I can drive a 3500kg motorhome and pull a massive trailer with it which in total weighs much more than 4250kg....go figure that because I can't.

Anyway, to the matter in hand. My good lady wife and I are off to the NEC this weekend to buy our first and probably only caravan. I am an ex HGV driver but my wife has never towed before. We have our heart set on either a Bailey Cartagena, Cardoba or similar layout twin axle from other manufacturers. So, we started to search for a suitable tow vehicle. having spent hours looking at various websites and entering vehicle and caravan details left, right and center I am returning very miss leading dis-information. So, I thought that I would ask this simple question. If you own one of the above type of van, I would really love to hear from you about your tow vehicle. My current jaguar XJ6 diesel as lovely as it is, will not cut the mustard so has to go.

Our chosen tow car will also have to double as my daily transport to and from work. So people and fellow towers. Any suggestions? We have a budget for a tow car of about £18K

Over to you and thanks in advance for your help.

 

[emmerson]

Hi Bluestreak. Three days and no reply: I'm amazed, and very sad to hear of your problems.
Anyway, here's my sixpennyworth. I am a dyed-in-the-wool 4x4 driver, and have been for over 20 years now. So, you won't be surprised if I suggest that is the only route for you to go. My heart has Land Rover stamped on it, but I do realise that there are other brands of 4x4, so probably a Nissan Patrol or Toyota Land Cruiser, diesel engines, would fit the bill, as, if I'm brutally honest, I cannot recommend later models of my favourite product. You could do as I do, however, and use a late model Range Rover Classic V8 on LPG as your towcar, and have a small modern thing for daily use.
Whatever you decide, welcome to our world, and I hope you enjoy every moment of it!

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Blue streak
A warm welcome to the forum.

We have a heavy twin axle. For me I am prejudiced. A 4x4 gives me the comfort, power and a very good weight ratio.
You need to calculate how many miles solo for work a year you will cover. Amazingly the fuel differential mpg can be a lot less than you think over 10k miles.Eg less than £500 a year in many cases.
A lot of 4x4 s in your budget will return a good mpg solo with a gentle right foot.
Check out the VW Toureg, Mitsubishi Shogun, Lexus RX400H.
For your money you should get a very low mileage model with FSH that will serve you well.
I Like the BMW x5 but rarely see a low mileage one.
Good luck and enjoy caravanning. You will meet many helpful people in you travels.

 

[Mel]

Hi, welcome to the forum. sorry t hear of your disappointment over the Motorhome. Having owned both I can honestly say we prefer the caravan by a country mile. Hope you do too even though it wasn't your first choice.
mel