Advice Volvo XC60 AWD manual

[Bazzel33]

Hello


We have traded our single axle 1380 kg (Laden weight) for an Elddis Avante 840 which is 1725kg (laden) twin Axle

Our 2016 Volvo XC60 AWD manual r-design towed our single axle easily.

But according to what we have seen online the new van is 93% tow capacity.

Does anyone tow twin Axles with an XC60? How do you find it? What MPG do you get?

Don't really want to get a new car.

We got about 30-32mpg towing our single.

Partner is a HGV driver so we are not worried about the towing.

Just concerned about the Volvo's ability to tow the larger caravan and the mpg.

Looking forward to hearing others experiences and opinions

 

[GaryB]

I towed a twin axle with a V90 for three years, it was excellent. People get hung up over towing a twin axle but in my experience it was far steadier than the single axle’s previously and now. First was with a 2018 D4 that returned 27mpg and then a 2022 B4 petrol that returned 24mpg. Caravan was a 2018 Swift Sprite Quattro EB, factory MTPLM 1624kgs but up plated to 1800kgs.

 

[otherclive]

Given your experience with towing and partners experience 93% isn’t unrealistic. So many other things contribute to a safe towing outcome. You need to ensure the XC60 maximum towing limit covers your new caravan. I would just try the XC60 with the new caravan and see how you feel it deals with it.

 

[GaryB]

Obviously the XC60 is different to my V90’s BUT one thing I noticed is that with the nose weight at 100kgs (car limit was 110kgs), the rear end was noticeably sagging.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Obviously the XC60 is different to my V90’s BUT one thing I noticed is that with the nose weight at 100kgs (car limit was 110kgs), the rear end was noticeably sagging.

It is inevitable that when you a couple a trailer its nose load is going to mainly add to the load carried by the cars rear axle. You will need to check your cars specifications, but some cars have a reduced boot load when towing to allow for the effect of trailers noseload.

If as you describe the car noticeably sagging with the addition of your large caravans nose load, you have to consider the possibility the caravans nose load in conjunction with whatever you may have in the car may be exceeding the limit set by the car manufacturer. Or there could be a fault or damage to your cars suspension.

Extra care needs to be used when determining the nose load of twin axle caravans because each axle's suspension interacts far more than a single axle and if you have to lift the caravans nose to hitch it it could be applying considerably more than the load indicated by commercial nose load gauges.

Do you really need such a large nose load? with 100kg nose load using the EU 4% suggests your caravan should be 2500KG!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello


We have traded our single axle 1380 kg (Laden weight) for an Elddis Avante 840 which is 1725kg (laden) twin Axle

Our 2016 Volvo XC60 AWD manual r-design towed our single axle easily.

But according to what we have seen online the new van is 93% tow capacity.

Does anyone tow twin Axles with an XC60? How do you find it? What MPG do you get?

Don't really want to get a new car.

We got about 30-32mpg towing our single.

Partner is a HGV driver so we are not worried about the towing.

Just concerned about the Volvo's ability to tow the larger caravan and the mpg.

Looking forward to hearing others experiences and opinions

The UK caravan industries guidance suggests an experienced caravanner should not exceed 100% of the tow vehicles kerbweight, This is purely advisory and has no basis in law, but if your figures are correct then you are well within the scope of the advice.

Technically the car will tow any trailer up to a the weight limit set by the car manufacture, but as caravans are so big its sensible to keep the caravans size and weight as small as possible.

 

[RogerL]

Do you really need such a large nose load? with 100kg nose load using the EU 4% suggests your caravan should be 2500KG!

The EU/UK 4% isn't a suggestion , it's a minimum - all Type Approved towcars must have a maximum noseweight limit of at least 4% of the maximum towing weight or 25 kg whichever is the greater.

The 5-7% "recommendation" was only introduced to replace the old 10% recommendation when the weight of UK caravans increased with no increase in the 100 kg hitch limit which meant they couldn't legally get up to 10%.

Stick with the guidance that noseweight should be as heavy as possible but without exceeding any limits of the car or trailer - especially as most caravanners "complain" about excessive noseweight!