Is it the wrong X trail

[PaulA3]

I'm picking up the X trail on Saturday, but I'm a bit worried that I may have picked the wrong one. Its the 2.0i sport petrol looking at this and other web sites it seems every one has the 2.2 diesel

anyone have the model I am getting and if so whats it like towing.

 

[jon_5103124]

Dare to be different, and stop worrying.

I pick up an Astra Cabrio Saturday and it won't even pull my caravan. Doh!

The petrol X trail will be great I'm sure. Slightly less power but quieter and not as messy when filling up.

Enjoy

 

[PaulA3]

I'm a born worrier the wife says, so it must be true, she's never wrong.

If I'd bought the diesel I'd worry about the first time I'd put petrol in it by mistake.

 

[cris_408518]

Deisel has the torque and grunt at low RPM to tow the van and should be more economical!

I guess it depends on how often and how far you intend to tow!

With two litre petrol v 2.2 diesel I would be going for the diesel>

Sorry PaulA , but you may regret your choice I think!

 

[DavidM.L.]

We tow our 2005 Bailey Ranger 500/5 with our x-trail Sport 2.0i Petrol (51 plate) and have no concerns at all. Like you when I bought it I probably would have prefered the diesel but the budget wouldnt stretch to the newer 2.2dci so I went for the petrol which I believe is actually more powerful than the 'older' diesels. The outfit is totally stable and in fact last year on the (almost deserted) M6 toll road I found the speed creeped up to 'slightly naughty' levels without us noticing. The only time the lack of torque can cause problems is we sometims have to change down to 4th to accelerate up motorway inclines if we have slowed 50-55mph. It needs to be fairly steep before we need to change down to maintain 60mph. The outfit actually cruises slightly better at 65mph which equates to just over 3000rpm where it is more in the 'power band' but I will probably upset a few people by saying that. One thing to bear in mind is the cars surprisingly low (for a 4x4) kerbweight which even surprised a few of the dealers when we were shopping for the van. We have even towed our boat which is bang on the cars max tow weight, but although we had no problems, it was not very enjoyable - boats never look safe on trailers to me!

 

[cris_408518]

PaulA. I towed caravans for years with 2 litre petrol cars and they were OK.

But the diesel I find is easier, but you'll be OK as David says.

On a lighter note if I were David I would think about grabbing his Car,Van and Passport and emigrating quickly today after what he posted above ;-)

I'm saying no more ;-0

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I'm on the 3rd X diesel and at 60+ mph the revs are 2000 so it should sound more relaxed and you have 6 gears on the diesel

I find that towing at 60mph with the X means that you are overtaken by lorries etc.I have come to the conclusion that 65mph is more like a true 60.

My camera detector also seems of this opinion !!

 

[cris_408518]

If you have or can borrow a good GPS you should find how accurate your speedo is.

On one of my cars the speedo reads 3mph over and the other 4mph

My wifes car reads 2mph over and her sports car 8mph over and my friends Shogun 6mph over.

Weve tried my GPS and two other brands of GPS and they indicate the same as my Garmins.

So you could find that you are driving legaly with your vans in the UK ;-) and not quite as fast as you think!

 

[trucker]

With the 10% tollerence you are aloud by law for the seedo not being accuate you are right that the gps is indeed more accurate. I wonder however if this would stack up in a court of law.

M Lord I was doing 60 according to my gps but yes I was travelling at 69 mph on the clock!!!!!

Any thoughts?

 

[cris_408518]

A few friends and associates have checked out a number of vehicles with GPS and some friends have access to a calibrated speed gun so as far as we can tell the GPS is pretty good on LEVEL Ground, this also seems to be supported by all the reports on GPS as well.

Other people I know of checked the GPS units against a set road distance used by the police I undersatnd and that also proved very accurate.

All the speedo's I know of overstate the speed, so taking it that the police and authrities use accurate callibrated speed guns/traps I can't see how your theory works!

If the cars speedo reads 60 I'm doing 57 and if it reads 70 I'm doing 67. If the Gps says I'm doing 60 speedo says 63 and at 70 the speedo says 73.

The only way you could have a problem is if the speedo under reads the speed, and so far we haven't found any that do.

 

[cris_408518]

A few friends and associates have checked out a number of vehicles with GPS and some friends have access to a calibrated speed gun so as far as we can tell the GPS is pretty good on LEVEL Ground, this also seems to be supported by all the reports on GPS as well.

Other people I know of checked the GPS units against a set road distance used by the police I undersatnd and that also proved very accurate.

All the speedo's I know of overstate the speed, so taking it that the police and authrities use accurate callibrated speed guns/traps I can't see how your theory works!

If the cars speedo reads 60 I'm doing 57 and if it reads 70 I'm doing 67. If the Gps says I'm doing 60 speedo says 63 and at 70 the speedo says 73.

The only way you could have a problem is if the speedo under reads the speed, and so far we haven't found any that do.

ps, before any smarty pants gets carried away, the speedo reading one speed and the GPS another is a little annoying and with cash grabbing thieves from so called saftet partnerships out to grab your money I and others have just checked so we know that with 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70 on the speedo we are in fact a couple or more mph withing those limits.

 

[trucker]

Cris what i was saying was that if you went by the GPS and not your speedo you could in fact be speeding, as the GPS as you quite rightly state under reads the speedo.

So if you decided to take notice of the GPS on the motorway and noyt your speedo, it could state that you are travelling at 60mph, when in fact the car according to the speedo could read 68mph. A police car folloing you could pull you for travelling at over the speed limit

And it was your theory not mine!

Quote from above

So you could find that you are driving legaly with your vans in the UK ;-) and not quite as fast as you think!

 

[cris_408518]

Kev, not being rude, but I think you have your knickers in a twist on this one.

The point is most speedos over read the speed not the GPS mate, so if you know the GPS is as accurate as you can get and the law is meant to use calibrated accurate equipment you will not be over the limit. When the GPS shows 70 on flat ground the speedo will show more, not the other way around.

If your speedo gave an under read of speed and you relied on it you could get in trouble.

Count to 10, take a few deep breaths and I'm sure you will get there ;-)

 

[rob_jax]

Hi Kevin and Cris,

The average vehicle speed displayed by a GPS, say the popular TomTom GO, is at least as accurate as the calibrated speedo in certain Police cars - typically better than 0.2 mph

Car speedos over-read for a number of reasons:

1. The speedo is calibrated for brand new tyres

2. The speedo is calibrated for correctly inflated tyres

3. The speedo is calibrated for one (possibly two) brands of tyre - the brands that are fitted as standard when new

4. It's a mechanical system with built in tolerances - and some manufacturers have a very optimistic speedo (by design)

My C270, travelling at 70 mph (GPS) fitted with correctly inflated brand new tyres, shows a speedo reading of 72 mph.

Before I had the tyres changed, running at the same GPS 70 mph, the speed difference was 4 mph on tyres with 2 mm tread.

If you change the tyres to a different brand, say I swapped the 225/45R17 Continental tyres for Michelin - then different manufacturing processes will adjust the actual rolling diameter of the tyre by the equivalent of 1 mph if "oversized" - so the speedo would no longer read 72 mph (for an actual 70) but 71 mph - and 3 mph if "undersized" - making the speedo read 75 mph for an actual 70 mph.

So if you drive a car with correctly inflated new tyres (of the same type fitted to the car by the manufacturer) then the difference between GPS and speedo should be 2 mph or 3 mph at most.

Under-inflated, heavily worn tyres from a "bargain" tyre manufacturer can easily show a difference of 7 mph, and more if the linkage from the wheel to the speedo is mechanical - I'm thinking back to Ford cars in the mid 70's which could be 10 mph out at an indicated 70

Robert

 

[cris_408518]

Rob you are right, my V class had less than 1 mph diference with worn tyres and I don't know about the Viano yet but thats with looking at the speedo needle.

All eveidens points to GPS being as accurate as you can get.

2 or 3 mph does make a lot of difference. But at least the GPS should have tell you hwere you're really at.

 

[PaulA3]

Dare to be different, and stop worrying.

I pick up an Astra Cabrio Saturday and it won't even pull my caravan. Doh!

The petrol X trail will be great I'm sure. Slightly less power but quieter and not as messy when filling up.

Enjoy

jon I've just read your thread and wish you luck in sorting it out, yep your right nothing for me to worry about in comparison.

 

[PaulA3]

Thanks for the replies and the slight deviation about GPS. I have a hand held one that I use on the boat I'll give it a try when I pick up the X trail tomorrow.

I'm well knackered just spent this morning getting the stabilizer dropper plate off the Frontera, one nut and bolt well and truly rusted up ended up using a gas torch and lump hammer and the strength of my other half.

Got a delay with the fitting of the tow bar they are doing it next Thursday they are getting Indespension to do it, so it should be right. I've given instructions re making sure the relay only operates when the engine is running and to use 6mm cable from the Battery. Fingers crossed its how I want it.