Caravan Club Towcar Awards re Skoda Fabia

[trickydicky]

I see that the Skoda Fabia 1.6TDI has won an award in the CC tests.Well Ive got a 1.9TDI estate and it pulls my Sprite Alpine( MIRO 999kgs) a treat. Small is beautiful and economical.Its big brother the Skoda Superb is the overall champion as well.
Cheers Richard

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Skodas are no joke anymore

 

[xtrailman]

I see that the Skoda Fabia 1.6TDI has won an award in the CC tests.Well Ive got a 1.9TDI estate and it pulls my Sprite Alpine( MIRO 999kgs) a treat. Small is beautiful and economical.Its big brother the Skoda Superb is the overall champion as well.
Cheers Richard

All the cars tested are ballasted to 85% of kerb weight, so the test results are meaningless.

Why they insist on testing via price groups i don't know, it would be nice to know which car was the best, for example towing say a 1300kg van, through to 1700kg, in steps of 100kg.

As it is the fabia was ballasted with 1036kg, and they where only two vans in the below £16k bracket.

The superb was ballast to 1340kg but came top. while in the same price group the outlander was asked to tow 1492kg, but came second, now how can you judge one is better than the other?

 

[forestgump]

yes santafee is a good to car put in its price range but put it in a group of big 4x4 its not so good./its all a load offcr/p.

 

[trickydicky]

Hello Ray,
I think that it is a reasonably fair way for each car to be compared when its pulling 85% of its kerb weight. It would be meaningless if one was at say 70% and another at 90%.
When comparing the Skoda to the Outlander,it is cheaper to buy,more powerful,more mpg solo,lower road tax,lower insurance,bigger boot,and in my opinion better looking. I think the Outlander looks like its come from the film Jaws.However if the van was 1500kgs,then you would perhaps discount the Skoda. Its all about "horses for courses" so everyone will have different opinions on this.
Really these competitions are to give the general public some info when making choices,buying new or secondhand.If you were looking for a car that was 1 or 7 years old,then the same name keeps coming up. Sk.......
Cheers Richard

 

[xtrailman]

Hello Ray,
I think that it is a reasonably fair way for each car to be compared when its pulling 85% of its kerb weight. It would be meaningless if one was at say 70% and another at 90%.
When comparing the Skoda to the Outlander,it is cheaper to buy,more powerful,more mpg solo,lower road tax,lower insurance,bigger boot,and in my opinion better looking. I think the Outlander looks like its come from the film Jaws.However if the van was 1500kgs,then you would perhaps discount the Skoda. Its all about "horses for courses" so everyone will have different opinions on this.
Really these competitions are to give the general public some info when making choices,buying new or secondhand.If you were looking for a car that was 1 or 7 years old,then the same name keeps coming up. Sk.......
Cheers Richard

If the title wasn't TCOTY then perhaps i could agree, but the title suggests to me that THIS is the best tow car of those tested, which i don't think it is.
How the car looks or how much it costs, for me has no bearing on judging the best tow car.

Which from those tested is probably the RR sport?

 

[NigelHutson]

Which is why it would have been a mockery if the Discovery 4 hadn't won the Practical Caravan/What Car?/Camping and Caravanning Club TCOY award. It was so much better than the rest with the exception of the Range Rover Sport, but taking all things into account, the Discovery was a better vehicle.

 

[Lutz]

Hello Ray,
I think that it is a reasonably fair way for each car to be compared when its pulling 85% of its kerb weight. It would be meaningless if one was at say 70% and another at 90%.

I disagree with you there Tricky Dicky. A car that tows quite well at 85% may be a real pig at 100% or whatever the manufacturer's limit is. One shouldn't forget that not everyone abides by the 85% recommendation and those that don't would like to know how the car handles when towing at the limit. I think towcars should be tested at 100%, if permitted. A good tower at that weight ratio can only be even better at 85%.

 

[JonnyG]

"Towcar of the Year" Ever seen those TV adverts where they harp on about 9 out of ten people asked,preferred bla bla bla. Then you see the small print and it based on only a survey of say 100 people.or 250 people?

Towcar of the year is based on models tested that year, what was that 50 cars in total, I recall seeing ONE Mercedes[which won its class] and not a single BM in the list! So OK names mean nothing but 50 cars in total. many extremely good cars missing from the test,and the title of "tow car of the year" is very miss leading. Should be "heres the best tow car in each of the category as defined by us based on the small group of cars we tested"
I then bet not one person will be towing at 85% "ideal weight" as per test.and at the end of the day the test is only good for compairing cars towing at 85%. might even find people who buy based on these finding, finding themselves having to leave half of their camping kit at home [boot space too small] or having a top box, which in theory again could upset all those wonderfully scientific findings by those wonderful judges..!
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