F A O Mr David Motton, editor of pc.

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

David, a few weeks ago one of my fellow caravanners (lol) posted a message on to mr practical caravan (yourself) about the towcars that you and your magazine test drive . Alot of people on pc forum agreed with lol and myself with the point that we need more affordable towcars on the tow test and some second hand tow cars info or test drives would be a great help.

It wasnt a shock to see in this months mag that the tow test is a range rover tdv8 vogue price £61,295 and other alternatives are lexus rx 400h se £40,288 , merc m-class ml420 cdi £50,435 , vw touareg v10 tdi £54,770. Although we do like reading about these cars most of us in the real world would only be able to dream about them.

Its hard enough these days getting a mortgage when the average wage is only £15,000.

So please would you consider doing tow test on more affordable cars, estates, mpv's and 4 x 4's, and some used cars etc.

thanks

jo-anne

 

[gavin_5121842]

I'll second that...

Gavin.

 

[trucker]

jo-anne, good comment. I received my mag today and also commented to my wife that these cars were proberbly out of touch with mr Average.

So Mr Editor how about a response this time as you did not reply last time????

If you must do these cars for what ever reason (proberbly sponsership) why not do a second hand more affordable selection as an alternitive

Kevin H

 

[LMH]

Good post Jo.

It'll be interesting to see if he replies and what he says.

Lisa

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

jo-anne, good comment. I received my mag today and also commented to my wife that these cars were proberbly out of touch with mr Average.

So Mr Editor how about a response this time as you did not reply last time????

If you must do these cars for what ever reason (proberbly sponsership) why not do a second hand more affordable selection as an alternitive

Kevin H

thanks kevin and i totally agree with you.

 

[MikeAce]

ditto

 

[Steve L]

Here, here.

I completely agree. For some time I'm afraid the pC team have been concentrating on the top 25% of the caravanning public and while there are people out there who can afford the biggest and the best and not have to worry about the price tag, there are a majority who still take to caravanning purely because there is no other way to enjoy holidays at an affordable level.

I for one drive a 1998 Laguna 2 Ltr RT estate and tow a 1982 Link 575 20ft twin axle van behind it. Which although the caravan is 25 years old, it is still in a good mechanical condition and perfectly serviceable, infact we are going to tow it to the Highlands this year again and realy don't expect any major dramas. The car doesvery well on fuel delivering upto 45mpg solo and high twenty's going on thirty mpg towing. Both vehicles cost less than

 

[adrian_5071472]

this was suggested about a year ago,but nothing ever came of it,and was one of the reasons i stopped buying the mag,so obviously the ed or whoever isn't interested in what the majority want

 

[Val & Frank]

Good post Jo Anne we agree 100%.

Just wonder if it would be to much competition with a sister magazine??? Car Magazines are for Cars, Caravan Magazines are for Caravans.

At the end of the day I think we all understand about Low Down Torque and what we like in Tow a vehicle.!!!!!

Val & Frank

 

[clivea]

Hi,

I agree with the comments. Witha van of 1400kg there are now fewer and fewer mid range cars that can tow it without exceeding the 85% rule, or having to pack the car so full. It will be interesting to see the kerbweight of the new Mondeo to see if a 'reasonable priced ' car can tow 1400kg without to much of a compromise.

 

[vernon]

I fully agree with all the comments made, but I fear that road testing Joe Bloggs' 2002 Mondeo/Vectra and his 1990 Swift/Bailey won't generate as much revenue as they get from printing a glowing report about the Rangerover/Mercs/Lexus.

Ever read a bad report of anything? - problems with any new caravans or campers on test are always brushed aside as "...this will be taken care of in production...!"

Until Magazines actually buy their own cars and caravans and use them as real caravaners for a couple of years, we will never get a true report.

Anyone remember Bill Body, editor of Motor Sport years ago, he called the Ford Cortina "The biggest load a junk, ever to come out of Dagenham" and that Lotus did the "Best of a bad job with the Lotus Cortina!" - it took years before Ford would supply another "Test car" to Motor Sport, but at least you knew the reports weren't written by Ford's PR Dept!

 

[BigAl1]

What mag are you all reading? My mag features The Ford S-Max, with a Verso, a Zafira and a Touran as alternatives.

 

[mcghee]

I wonder what effect this has on newcomers to the hobby who don't yet have a caravan, or possibly a suitable towcar. Do they pick up PC in their local supermarket and start to wonder if we all tow the latest 'van with a

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Unfortunately no two second hand cars can offer similar performance as it will depend on the life they have had - how they are driven, servicing, etc. Likewise with second hand caravans. However the magazine could print data on the cars capabilities when new and also caravan specification regarding weight, etc. when new. This information could be given in a tabular format and will give the reader an idea what to expect should they purchase a used car/caravan. As far as the individual vehicle is concerned it would be up to the buyer to decide whether the condition of the vehicle he/she is considering to purchase. It is rediculous the type of outfits they have on test - if I could afford to spend

 

[Garfield]

To some point I agree with the thread and the pointless testing of a range rover which has been around for years and we all know can tow a small town behind it but most second hand cars have previously been tested and there is plenty of information about them. The testing of latest models such as the s-max and new CRV is relevant though.

What someone in the caravan world needs to come up with is a more relevant stability test rather than relying on weight matching alone, judging by my experience and comments from freinds and this forum there are some heavy towcars out there that, despite their weight are truly rotten roadholders which may appear to be fine in the hands of a careful driver but even the best of us can be put in an emergency situation by others

similarly there are some lightweight cars that, by design, are natural towcars.

 

[David_374244358]

Thanks to all of you for your feedback on the magazine's towcar test section.

We do have some more affordable tow tests planned. The Kia Cee'd, Carens and Sedona are all on the way, as is the new Citroen C4 Picasso and Mitsubishi Outlander. However, I'd also like to reiterate Big Al's point that we don't just test big luxurious vehicles. The Skoda Roomster, Toyota Verso, Volkswagen Golf Plus and Ford S-Max have all featured in the tow test pages recently.

I'd also like to assure you that the cars we test aren't chosen to secure advertising revenue. I choose the cars I believe will be of interest to readers.

I think the Range Rover test is a valid one. Admittedly this car will be beyond the reach of most, but I'd certainly like to know what I'd tow with if my numbers came up on Saturday night. We won't be testing cars in this price range often. And it's not quite accurate to say this is a three-year old car. The TDV8 model has only just gone on sale.

Testing used cars brings its own set of problems. As Colin points out, no two used cars are the same. However, given the obvious appetite for used car coverage I'll have a think about how we can bring more used cars into the magazine - perhaps in the new Perfect Match section.

Regards

David Motton

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

david, thankyou for replying to us. im glad that you have taken on board some of our points and hopefully we will start seeing more affordable towcars with the mag.

looking forward to the towtest on the new sedona.

thanks for listening to us lets hope we start to enjoy the mag a bit more.

jo-anne

 

[Pip1]

Totally agree , thats why i cancelled my subscription ,i too got fed up with mega exspensive vans and tow cars for the rich and famous .