Caravan Club TOTY Awards...kerbweight confusion!

[otherclive]

Looking at the CC TOTY awards summary I am sure that some people could be led into buying a car that is too light for the van. In the Summary pages there are at least three outfits where the van max weight is well in excess of the 85%. Only if you reead the small footnotes and understand what they mean does it become clear that the car has been ballasted to achieve the 85% rule. I really applaud PC's approach which is to specify the kerbewight with a driver allowance ( but what about fuel load?) but it would be even better if PC made sure it defined the KW every time it quotes it. In the last issue not all vehicles with a KW quoted had the defintion next to the figures.

Other Clive

 

[RogerL]

Virtually all car manufacturers use the EC definition of kerbweight nowadays and the revised Towing Code will also use that definition when it's published.

The EC definition of kerbweight includes a 75kg allowance for driver and loose tools and 90% fuel - the UK C&U kerbweight definition excludes the driver but includes 100% fuel - the difference is about 70kg, varying slightly dependent on the fuel tank size.

The CC TCOY competition has a selection of caravans which are ballasted to 85% in order to make comparisons.

Personally, I'd like to see cars tested with a caravan at 100% - a better test than best case.

The 85% is a UK-only recommendation for newcomers, despite the fact that new drivers with a B only licence can tow up to 100%. Other countries don't use 85% as a recommendation.

 

[otherclive]

Virtually all car manufacturers use the EC definition of kerbweight nowadays and the revised Towing Code will also use that definition when it's published.

The EC definition of kerbweight includes a 75kg allowance for driver and loose tools and 90% fuel - the UK C&U kerbweight definition excludes the driver but includes 100% fuel - the difference is about 70kg, varying slightly dependent on the fuel tank size.

The CC TCOY competition has a selection of caravans which are ballasted to 85% in order to make comparisons.

Personally, I'd like to see cars tested with a caravan at 100% - a better test than best case.

The 85% is a UK-only recommendation for newcomers, despite the fact that new drivers with a B only licence can tow up to 100%. Other countries don't use 85% as a recommendation.

It would give more confidence if car manufacturers actually confirmed their defintion of kerbweight as Subaru kerbweights are the ex works car with no allowance for a driver and fuel.

 

[Guest]

One problem is that there are so many options available on cars that it is unlikely that any 2 will have the same kerbweight. Realistically all the manufacturer can do, is what many currently do, and give the weight of the lightest. The only true way to know what you actually have, is to weigh your own car.

Some of the caravan Press, (I won't name names) have in the past used towcars that are way too light for the outfit concerned. The excuse has been that as the caravan is being tested it is not loaded and so the MIRO can be used as a weight. I also accept that in certain cases the correct towcar may not be available on the 'day'. However, it does give misleading comments regarding the actual towing characteristics of the van under test, and to my mind should be highlighted clearly that the towing characteristics of the tested van, in these circumstances, are not actually known.

 

[RogerL]

The kerbweight of the individual car, with it's exact factory-fitted options, should be shown on the EC Certificate of Conformity. On recent cars, it's shown on the V5.

 

[Guest]

On my V5 it shows the max permissible mass, which is not the same as on the car plate. This number may be misaligned and actually be the 'mass in service' but again it is 50 kg less than the weight from the weighbridge, and yes, I did fit a towbar but that is not that heavy.

I still feel the only accurate measurement is to weigh the car itself.

 

[Lutz]

The towbar, including any additional electrical wiring harnesses that may need to be fitted, can amount to up to 40kg.

 

[GeorgeB]

On your V5 the mass in service weight is the individual vehicles actual weight as it came off the end of the production line, the weigh bridges used to weigh each vehicle have to be regulary calibrated (as an absolute minimum every 6 months) by EU directive, so you can be assured that the weight printed is the actual weight of the vehicle, this takes into acount all of the optional extras factory fitted to the vehicle.