Hyundai i800 Wellfield Camper - 134 or 170 PS?

[Saraband]

I have a choice of two i800 campers....a 2012 six speed manual with 136 PS or a 2011 five speed manual with 170 PS. I need manual for the 2300 kg towing weight as the auto only gives me 1500 kg.

The 136 PS car has lower miles and is more economic to run, so for day to day use and towing racing dinghies will be fine. Ideally this is the one I would buy.

However once or twice a year I tow a keelboat weighing 2000 kg.......will I regret having the lower power on those days?

Has anyone experience of towing with the 136 PS manual Hyundai i800?

Thanks!

 

[Mel]

Hi Saraband, welcome to the forum. I can't help you with your question, but there is a wide range of towing experience on here, so hopefully someone can.
Mel

 

[otherclive]

Towing 2000kg the lower power camper may seem to struggle compared to the higher power unit. But a goodly number of motor homes and commercial vans get around with diesels around 130 bhp. If your keel boat trips aren't long, or on difficult hilly roads the lower power one may be okay providing you accept it will be more leisurely. Having the 6 speed gearbox could be a benefit.
Have you contacted the Owners Club to see if anyone else tows such a trailer with the two power levels you are interested.
I've had a Disco 2 and a first generation Sorento. Both would have had no problem towing 2000kg and they were 138bhp. You could check out the torque of the two camper variants and compare to the above two cars. I assume that you've checked out the other aspects of towing with the camper such a it's gross train weight, towing limits etc.

 

[Raywood]

I agree with Otherclive here. Basically the lower powered model might struggle at that weight so for me it will depend on the circumstances involved when towing the larger boat. If this is short distances without anything serious in the way of hills the lower powered model should manage but it will be near its limits. If you are doing any real distance or there are serious hills or possibly a steep ramp where you have to haul it out of the water then the bigger engine might be far better. 136PS is low for that weight and any starts on a steep gradient could cause clutch wear.

 

[Kevin2306]

I can’t comment on the Hyundai but, having recently swapped my BMW 520 for the 3.0 Ltr I’d say go for the bigger engine if funds allow.
I am getting better mpg all round with the bigger engine and the whole journey is more relaxed.

Good luck with either though.

Kev

 

[ProfJohnL]

If all other things like body and weight etc remain equal then more power will result in better potential acceleration.

But power isn't everything. The ability to haul a heavy trailer is more about torque at the wheels, and it used to be the case that most car manufactures would also build vans, using the same engines as fitted to their cars, but the crucial difference is the gear ratios were very different, meaning a lower powered engine in a van based product would often produce more road wheel torque than the same engine in car.

The van derivatives could mage heavy loads far better than the car, with the trade off the top speed was not as high. But as long as you can get up to a reasonable speed, who needs a van that can do 125mph?

I am quite sure that either model you are contemplating will be able to tow the trailers within the vehicle weight limits.

 

[Dustydog]

The two engines are virtually identical to The Sorento pre and post face my 1.
There’s 75lb ft torque difference . The smaller power unit is more than adequate and tugged mt ta with no,problem. The more powerful one I now have is an auto and on truth there’s no real difference in tugging ability. Never felt short of grunt.

Have you mixed up manual with auto?
My own choice on what you say will be the 6 speed manual. It will do the job.

 

[otherclive]

The two engines are virtually identical to The Sorento pre and post face my 1.
There’s 75lb ft torque difference . The smaller power unit is more than adequate and tugged mt ta with no,problem. The more powerful one I now have is an auto and on truth there’s no real difference in tugging ability. Never felt short of grunt.

Have you mixed up manual with auto?
My own choice on what you say will be the 6 speed manual. It will do the job.

My Gen 1 Sorento auto and Disco 2 manual we’re both in the power range of the lower powered camper and neither had a problem with 2000kgs. As I said in my earlier post commercial vans and large 3500kg motor homes will often have 130 bhp engines. And as Prof has also said the trade off is reduced top speed for ability to carry heavier loads. With a six speed gearbox the manual option would be able to keep the engine spinning freely.

 

[Martin24]

Just had to make the choice between a 313 130hp Sprinter and the 316 163bhp. Went for the latter and having just towed with her for the first time was happy with my choice. Torque is down 40 on the D-Max we had previously and didn't really notice much difference.

 

[paws]

Hi Saraband,
You have received some excellent advice from our experienced members
However this comment does worry me a little:

However once or twice a year I tow a keelboat weighing 2000 kg.......will I regret having the lower power on those days?

If, as you say the keelboat weighs 2000kg , then a suitable trailer will probably weigh in at somewhere around another 700kg or so, and 2700kg is a fairly large load, are you sure it's within the allowable towing weight for your car and that the Gross Train Weight is allowable having regard to the driver's licence. IE pre 1997 or B+E category?

Depending on the draft of the keelboat concerned the combined centre of gravity of the trailer, the keel and the boat itself is likely to be fairly high and so a potentially unstable "lump" to tug around.

Given that it's a keelboat then it's likely that the mast and boom will be carried in supports on top of the coachroof making the air draft of the combined rig fairly high, thus adding to the total area exposed to the wind etc.,
Towing this sort of load.is not something to be undertaken without considerable thought and research, and the actual power output of the engine is only a relatively small part of the overall issues.

Good luck and I hope things work out well for you
Regards
paws