Audi A3 towing?

[Batman1957]

Hi everyone just got my caravan Eldiss 556 and wondered if anyone could help me, I have a Audi A3 2.0 with low profile tyres do you think this will pull this van easily as it’s a sports edition car so I don’t know if it’s possible ? Just looked at kerb weight in manual unlaiden 1450kg if that helps, it says on caravan 1450kg also so is that good or bad being same weight ?

 

[Damian]

What is the year and model of your car?

 

[Batman1957]

It’s a 61 reg Sportback Audi A3

 

[otherclive]

What’s the cars towing specification you cannot exceed that figure. A common figure for towing is that the caravan MTPLM should be 85% of the car kerbweight especially for inexperienced towers. Yours is 100%. Some do tow at or near 100% but much then depends on the tow car, driver experience and style, loading regime of car and caravan. All of which aid I’m having a stable outfit.
Also the cars towing limit relates to its ability to do a number of hill starts on a defined incline. It doesn’t relate to its suitability to tow a 7 m (or so) high sided aluminium box.
I’m amazed at the number of people who buy a caravan and then ask will it be okay. Wouldn’t it be bettter to do more research into the choices before deciding.
You could plug your figures into the outfit matching site towcar.info which may give you some information on the suitability of the match. But like all such sites it can’t be a guaranteed outcome. But I’ve used it for several different outfit matches and found it the best of the bunch.

 

[Batman1957]

I appreciate your reply but I mearly asked a question

 

[otherclive]

I appreciate your reply but I mearly asked a question

Have you tried a tow car outfit matching site, if so what was the result?

 

[Anseo]

Hi and Welcome Batman 1957 .

This site may be of help.

https://towcar.info/GB/

 

[Batman1957]

I plan to ask Audi tomorrow near my location but wasn’t expecting a hostile reply on a help line, I thought we were here to help each other , your quote I don’t understand people who buy things without doing research well I throught I had the correct vehicle but maybe I ain’t got it

 

[Batman1957]

Thanks anseo

 

[Anseo]

Thanks anseo

You are welcome Batman 1957, any questions just keep asking, there is a lot of good help to be had one here.

Cheers,
John

 

[otherclive]

Hi and Welcome Batman 1957 .

This site may be of help.

]https://towcar.info/GB/

https://towcar.info/GB/[/quote
It’s the one I recommended in my post and I’ve found it very helpful in particular it’s abilty to allow the user to input variations in parameters and see the effects. Also the user reviews of towcars can be helpful too.

 

[Damian]

Have had a look at a matching site and there are three variants of your vehicle, but for each one the result is not that good, and the site states that the van is too heavy for the car, although then goes on to give possible performance figures, which give a towing ratio of 97%.

That % figure is rather worrying as a new , or for that matter an experienced , driver as it is bordering on the situation where the van could easily become a problem .

There is also the towball limit which I believe for your car is a lowly 75Kg.

The weight figures I have are your car as 1630Kg and the van at 1507Kg

 

[Batman1957]

Thanks John I went on the calculation site and it said I was 107kg over but this is acceptable with a confident driver and I’ve drove for 30 years and had a smaller caravan before , thanks for your comments

 

[otherclive]

Have had a look at a matching site and there are three variants of your vehicle, but for each one the result is not that good, and the site states that the van is too heavy for the car, although then goes on to give possible performance figures, which give a towing ratio of 97%.

That % figure is rather worrying as a new , or for that matter an experienced , driver as it is bordering on the situation where the van could easily become a problem .

There is also the towball limit which I believe for your car is a lowly 75Kg.

The weight figures I have are your car as 1630Kg and the van at 1507Kg

The noseweight limit at 75kg is within the accepted norm of 5-7% of MTPLM isn’t it? Given the OP says the van is 1450kg. Presumably from his tally plate on the van.

 

[Batman1957]

I must admit it’s on the itchy bum scenario as to go ahead with this but if I have to I will change my beloved Audi for a stronger pulling power , but thanks for your comments guys and look forward to speaking later

 

[Hutch]

Hi Batman 1957, my kid brother wanted to start Caravanning last year, we will take away all fou, grand children, the dog, big awning etc and wanted to get a caravan that his people carrier, car would tow 1500 KG Limit.. I pointed out the problems. And suggested a trailer tent. He hasnt spoken to me since Xmas. .

 

[Batman1957]

Nice one E H that’s funny , my mates got a quasi (Nissan) and I said surely that’s big enough to pull a caravan and he said it may look big but is only a 1600 engine so it’s crap at towing and not legal

 

[Brasso530]

It's not the engine power that you need to look at first,it's the legal towing capacity and the kerb weight.I started with a 1600 zafira,thought nice size car should be able to tow a bit?only towed 1050kg! Changed it for a 12 plate 1.7 diesel,still could only tow 1300kg.Both had decent ish kerb weights of around 1550kg.This was OK as my van is only 1253kg loaded.
You need to check your v5 for towing capacity and work from there.Its a minefield I know.hope this helps.

 

[Batman1957]

Thanks basso530 but all my mates are pulling with 2-2 freelanders but there for old men I’m only a young 61 year old lol

 

[Hutch]

Batman , change to a nice Sante Fe, or an old Sorento, Forget the Free landers, rough and under powered.
In comming. :woohoo: :woohoo:

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Batman,

I'm a little late coming to your thread, but most of whats needed to be said has been said.

Even though some of the replies may have seems a little hard, please don't think they're against you, it's just that we have seen many requests and some of the proposed car and caravan combinations are bordering on the dangerous, and clearly have not been thought through.

Matching a car and caravan is an important step in taking up caravanning. and when you think about it, you're asking your daily runabout to suddenly start towing a trailer that is usually physically bigger than the car and often weighs almost as much. This is going to put a lot of extra strain on the car, so its important to make sure the car and caravan are in tip top mechanical condition.

The driver has the biggest influence on how an outfit will handle, follow the good loading guidelines, and gen up on the speed limits that apply to caravans. There is nothing that guarantees an outfit will be safe, but you can usually improve the margins by taking your time, and especially thinking about defensive driving.

Good matching involves weight ratios, but it also requires a number of equally important other considerations. Some have legal implications, and some are more just for convenience. It can be daunting prospect for the novice caravanner, but the reality is most driver can manages it all with a bit of forethought and preparation. There are towing courses that can help to build confidence, and they touch on many other aspects of towing and especially caravanning.

Back to the forum. - Collectively the forum has masses of experience, and there are some well qualified people who can answer a range of technical questions, but please bear in mind we are not mind readers, and we can't see you, or your car or caravan so we have to rely on whats been written in the posting. We have no idea of who you are, what qualifications or experiences you have or how capable you are of undertaking anything.

Please keep reading and asking - just remember the fool is the person who does not ask the question.

 

[otherclive]

Batman , change to a nice Sante Fe, or an old Sorento, Forget the Free landers, rough and under powered.
In comming. :woohoo: :woohoo:

Land Rover Freelander underpowered. How can that be? My Mk 1 Sorento has 138bhp as did my Disco Mk2 and I wasn’t aware that either had a power deficiency that affected their towing ability. My son has a FL2 2,0 HSE 158 HP and that’s a superb car to drive and I would be happy to hitch that up to any caravan that I’ve owned or aspire to own. The 2.2 Freelander has 190 HP about 4 bhp or so less than some “well liked “ Korean tugs

 

[otherclive]

I must admit it’s on the itchy bum scenario as to go ahead with this but if I have to I will change my beloved Audi for a stronger pulling power , but thanks for your comments guys and look forward to speaking later

I think that your Audi has more than enough pulling power it’s as Prof John has explained its all the other factors that go towards making a safe and stabke outfit. But getting the combination of weights right is a key attribute. And on the information that you have provided your outfit looks very marginal and not well matched.

 

[Batman1957]

Thanks for your comments, i will look into the matter of a bigger vehicle as I don’t want to be on the border of just right as to say,I thought of taking a course to get used to reversing and generally getting back into the know of caravaning as it’s 15 years since I last had one, but I would never not ask the question before embarking on a journey as my family is a precious cargo thanks again

 

[otherclive]

Thanks for your comments, i will look into the matter of a bigger vehicle as I don’t want to be on the border of just right as to say,I thought of taking a course to get used to reversing and generally getting back into the know of caravaning as it’s 15 years since I last had one, but I would never not ask the question before embarking on a journey as my family is a precious cargo thanks again

Sorry if my first reply may have been a bit blunt but I had been chasing around Leicestershire all day, just cancelled our trip to Europe and to make matters worse Leicester Forest East services didn’t even have a curry on. Unbelievable. Those services still reminded me of the mid 1960s when we used to roll up on our Nortons etc
Good luck with your deliberations.