Galaxy, Alhambra and Sharan

[craig_5114066]

Hello all...

I tow a Sterling Europa 540 with a Vauxhall Frontera 2.5 TDS.The car tows the van very well but the fuel consuption when not towing (comuting to work and general daily use)is costing me way too much.

I'm thinking about changing to a Ford Galaxy, Seat Alhambra or VW Sharan 1.9TD. The maximum the van can weigh is 1450 Kg.This combination looks fine on paper but does anyone have experience of these vehicles with vans of similar weights.

Many thanks

 

[JeremyClarksson]

I tow a Magnum (Compass Corona 636) MTPLM 1710kg with a Seat Alhambra 115 PD SE, the VW PD engine is superb delivering more torque than the 2.8 V6 petrol.

Check out the specs because my 2001 SE has the lower stiffer suspension of the V6 and I do not think this is available on the Galaxy or Sharan of that year.

A really good tow car, it should prove to be an even better tow car with your van and I find it better than our old 2.5 LWB Shogun.

I get 50mpg on a run, 40 mpg around town and it does around 28mpg towing our van.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

i know the seat alhambra tows the most and can take up to 85 on its towball.

 

[Icemaker]

Craig i have copied a reply i gave in the past for you to read, as you will see the alhambra and its clones are without doubt superb tow cars, our galaxy and our new alhambra replaced my discovery and without any doubt what so ever they are far better all round tow cars than the disco other than the obvious 4 wheel drive, but then i only ever needed 4 wheel drive once in 9 years.

I have a seat alhambra 1.9 tdi 6 speed manual 130 bhp fitted with a dms engine re-map which gives 172 bhp and oodles of torque, the car is without question the absolute best towcar i have ever owned it is an absolute gem to live with. it tows our ace celebration 590 twin axle with ease and never once have i had any concerns or nasty surprises with the handling. just done 1650 mile round trip to france and back, not a murmour, averaged 30 to 35 mpg with the van and round about 50 solo. at one point we where following a french outfit and did not realise untill i looked at the speedo that we where doing 75 mph, the rev counter showed just 2500 rpm in 6th and for 200 miles we never changed down a gear. leave the petrol versions well alone they are gutless and very thirsty but get a tdi 1.9 or the newer 2.0 and have the sport suspesion fitted as i have and you wont look back. seat should really pick up on how good this car is as a towcar.

We have now sold the ace and tow a coachman VIP 530/4 which weighs around 200 kgs more than what you intend to tow, again no problems at all.

If you are looking at the moment go to your nearest ford dealer, the new galaxy is now out and we recently saw a brand new old style unregistered galaxy 1.9 tdi ghia for sale for

 

[Themass31]

I had the 2.8 v6 4x4 it was a good tow car apart from the two auto boxes it went through.

craig

 

[alan_374225999]

I luv my alhambra, its a 130bhp 1.9 TDI Stylance, this is my second Alhambra and it tows my Bailey Senator Wyoming Twin axle loaded to about 1500kgs max with no problem whatsoever, from the mountains of Scotland to Cornwall,sixth gear, snick it into cruise at 60 to 65 mph and it will sit there all day, I get about 25mph towing and 50mph solo, what more do you want,and theres 7 seats for taking the grand kids.

 

[craig_5114066]

Thanks for your replies....The Alhambra looks right on paper and judging by your response seems to be the way to go especially as it seems to have a higher spec for less money than the Galaxy. Thanks again.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

After seeing and hearing about various tweaks to the VW engines(we have the 1.9L 115PS PD fitted to the Seat Alhambra) and the cost of them I thought I would look on Ebay to see if there were any going secondhand.

Seeing a new plug in kit boasting 140PS for c.

 

[Jo-AnneFairway5402010]

thanks garry interesting reading, please let us all know how you get on.

jo-anne

 

[Icemaker]

The problem with the plug in modules like the ones sold on e bay is that all they do is confuse the signal from a sensor to the ecu, this makes the ecu tell one or more components to work a bit harder, usually the turbo. This may sound fine untill the turbo fails due to lack of oil pressure or overheating, its a well documented problem with these type of "chips" and many examples of stories can be found on the web of blown turbos and engines. the other problem is they only give around 25 bhp more usually a lot less than what they advertise.

The difference between these cheap chips and the module i have is that my module re programmes the ecu with a new map and modifies the map to run all the engines components at the new higher performance, the module i have increases power by a number of improvements including slightly increased turbo boost and increased fuel input plus it increases the oil pressure to the turbo for increased lubrication, on top of this all the sensor parameters are altered to allow the engine to run perfectly at the increased power level. this is why the dms dual system is able to increase power by 42 bhp and torque by 140 pounds without any damage potential and improve fuel consumption by 10 %.

ive been told that if you open up the box you have bought Garry you will find it contains a resister that alters the signal and this resister can allegedly be bought from maplins.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

Icemaker

I take your point and accept that your route would be the more technically correct route but I am not a boy racer and do not intend to push the car to its limits, I wanted a bit of extra power for for vey occasional use when towing and I usually tow nowhere near the upper rev range.

The sellers do claim that the device keeps the car within manufacturing tolerances and it does appear to be a VW part - I have also heard from other sources that there is a 150

Ohm resistor inside.

I am a little mystified that this device works in line with the fuel temperature sensor, I could understand what it was doing if it was in line with something to do with the turbo wastegate or similar.

I am happy with the significant power increase but will keep a closer eye on lubricant levels and quality.

Thanks for your input - note taken.

 

[Robert_5114463]

Hi, Can you supply information on the mod chip you have please. Cheers Bob...

 

[Robert_5114463]

Hi, Can you supply information on the mod chip you have please. Cheers Bob...

Sorry this is to icemaker

 

[seth1]

Icemaker

I take your point and accept that your route would be the more technically correct route but I am not a boy racer and do not intend to push the car to its limits, I wanted a bit of extra power for for vey occasional use when towing and I usually tow nowhere near the upper rev range.

The sellers do claim that the device keeps the car within manufacturing tolerances and it does appear to be a VW part - I have also heard from other sources that there is a 150

Ohm resistor inside.

I am a little mystified that this device works in line with the fuel temperature sensor, I could understand what it was doing if it was in line with something to do with the turbo wastegate or similar.

I am happy with the significant power increase but will keep a closer eye on lubricant levels and quality.

Thanks for your input - note taken.

hi there,this might sound a bit alarming,but when cars mainly diesels leave the factory were there made the fueling is set on the lean side .now between the factory settings and mot standards there is a bit of a margin not much but a bit(1.9%roughly).diesels run with an excess of air.because of this they will burn more fuel if you add it and still not up set the ratio.by putting a resister on the temp sendor it makes the EDC ecu think the engine is much colder therefor it injects more fuel,more burn,t gas down the exhaust makes the turbo spin up more producing more boost.there you go simple.

 

[JeremyClarksson]

An update on the tuning device I mentioned earlier in this thread.

We have found the car to be a lot more responsive and on a run which I normally got around 40 mpg returned 20% better.

Towing - a really noticable difference the car feels 50% more powerful and holds gears where we would have had to change down before.

Where previously I knew I was towing a large van now it feels like a small van and mpg is about the same or slightly better than before, probably because I was using some of the extra towing power.

Turbo lag has virtually disappeared in all situations.

Taking into account the concerns mentioned by Icemaker, I do not intend to test or use the car as someone has in the tunit thread and will keep an eye on lubricants and service levels more closely, but overall at present I can not think of a better way to spend less than

 

[Icemaker]

Robert, sorry to have taken so long to reply i have not really been on the forum much recently.

The module that i have is made by a company called DMS and the item is known as THE DUAL SYSTEM, its not a chip but a module that you plug in to the cars dignostic plug and it sends a modified "map" to the cars computer, you then unplug the module and away you go. if you wish to reverse the car back to standard you just plug the module back in press a couple of buttons and the cars original map is sent to the ecu and no trace of the modified map is left so the warranty is intact.

Its not cheap at nearly