Kia Sportage 2016 1.7 CRDI

Oct 30, 2019
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Hi

I’m really looking for some advice with regards to my cars towing capacity. I used the Caravan Club car matching service for the caravan I am looking at and it shows a 87% match which is “with caution” and then everything else was a green tick. It said under the with caution section for the 87% that you can take it up to 90% if all else is a good match which it was.

The caravan I am looking at is a Swift Challenger 500 se which a 2000 challenger I believe the weight to be 1348kg. We’d usually be travelling with just the two of us, and a 20kg dog plus we usually take a bag each. The caravan would have the normal sort of stuff in but never loads of items as we only ever do 2 night trips. We don’t use an awning...although we might consider a porch awning in the future but never a full one.

Does anyone use a Kia Sportage 1.7 to tow a similar size van? What is the stability like? How about power?

I think I basically just want to know how safe you feel with the setup?

We have been driving a 3.5T motorhome sometimes with trailer for 2 years so towing a caravan is a bit different for us.

Thank you in advance!!
 
May 7, 2012
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The figure is a recommendation and not a rule and is based on some very old research. Things have moved on a fair bit in design since then and the behavior of both cars and caravans have improved, so it probably needs looking at again.
The towing ratio you quote is as near 85% as makes no difference, and the Kia is regarded as an excellent tow car, so I see no problem with he match from the point of view of safety, if the caravan weight is the MTPLM. I have no experience of that engine, but if the weight you quote is the MTPLM (the maximum laden weight) it should have no problem. You do need to look at the power and torque ratings though, and if you can quote them it should give some idea as to the performance.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I’d agree with the above comments. It’s probably because you used the caravan club matching site that the caution warning came up. You were above 85%!!! But as Raywood says so many other things affect an outfit that is nice to drive and is also safe. You seem to be aware of many of those factors so I will not describe them further.
The Sportage does have a good reputation as a solid towcar. We have to accept that modern engines are getting smaller but still putting out even higher levels of power than the engine that has been replaced. But it’s not just power, it’s torque and gearing. I towed a caravan of similar weight to yours with a 2000 MY Mondeo 1.8 tddi estate giving out about 90 bhp. At times I needed to work the gearbox but overall there weren’t any places I wanted to visit that were limited by the car. At motorway speeds it was quite relaxed. And engine design has moved on in leaps and bounds since then. One matching site that I favour is Towcar.info which gives lots more detail than either club sites and you can customise parameters so see the effect of changing them. But as with most sites the results aren’t absolute but do aid decision making for what isn’t a totally numerate subject.

But overall your choice and approach seem sensible to me.
 
Oct 30, 2019
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When I used the tow car.info site it basically said my car wasn’t legal to tow my outfit. Which did concern me hence why I used the caravan club information. My cars information in its manual states it’s kerbside weight to be 1545kg. It’s 114bhp. If any of that information helps. For me performance isn’t the issue, I would just like to know that I would be safe (apart from any user error of course), and also I won’t be damaging the car in any way. I should add that we probably only get to go away 2-3 times a year.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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kmw89 said:
When I used the tow car.info site it basically said my car wasn’t legal to tow my outfit. Which did concern me hence why I used the caravan club information. My cars information in its manual states it’s kerbside weight to be 1545kg. It’s 114bhp. If any of that information helps. For me performance isn’t the issue, I would just like to know that I would be safe (apart from any user error of course), and also I won’t be damaging the car in any way. I should add that we probably only get to go away 2-3 times a year.

Why did it say you weren’t legal to tow? What is the cars specified towing capability? See V5. What is the cars specified Gross Train Weight? Not being blessed with paranormal capability only you can provide the cars specification and allow contributors to the Forum to advise.

No one can tell you it will be safe or that towing will not damage the car. I’ve towed caravans using many cars and have had no indications that any car has been damaged through towing. If you’re only towing 2-3 times per year and you stay within the makers specifications why do you think the Sportage will suffer?

As I said I towed a similar sized van with a 1.8 tddi Mondeo with 90 bhp. But horsepower is only one facet of an engines capability, gear ratios and torque will affect how well it tows. You can substitute low torque by increasing revs but that gets noisy and makes for a less relaxing drive.

https://www.practicalcaravan.com/reviews/tow-car/44852-kia-sportage
 
Nov 11, 2009
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You did not say what your cars towing limit is but some sites show the 2010-15 Sportage 1.7 diesel has having a limit of 1200kg. Could this be a reason why Towcar.info showed your intended caravan as not a legal option?
 
Oct 30, 2019
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Mine is the 2016 - 2018 Sportage and the tow limit is 1400kg. This information is taken from the manual. I can’t find the gross train weight and the little metal sticker on the passenger door makes no sense at all. I think it may say that the tow limit with 4 passengers is 1200kg and tow limit with 2 passengers is 1400kg. All the varying website information can be a bit confusing when I have very little vehicle knowledge...especially when it comes to towing. I really should be a bit more educated on it!
 
Nov 11, 2009
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kmw89 said:
Mine is the 2016 - 2018 Sportage and the tow limit is 1400kg. This information is taken from the manual. I can’t find the gross train weight and the little metal sticker on the passenger door makes no sense at all. I think it may say that the tow limit with 4 passengers is 1200kg and tow limit with 2 passengers is 1400kg. All the varying website information can be a bit confusing when I have very little vehicle knowledge...especially when it comes to towing. I really should be a bit more educated on it!

Years ago Renault used to reduce allowed trailer weight as weight came into the car. From your description Kia may be doing that for your model. I would either contact the Kia Owners Club, or Kia Technical support. If Kia are limiting the trailer weight in this way it will probably because of a limitation in the power train.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello kmw.

I'm sorry to have to agree with the caravan clubs matching result, and with the later information you supplied its easier to see why.

Otherclive has offered a partial explanation, and I think it may help to have it explained from a different perspective.

All recent new cars sold in the EU have to have a vin plate which contains so maximum weight limits stamped on it. There are four required values

Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW or MAM)
Gross Train Weight (GTW)
Maximum Front Axle Load
Maximum Rear Axle Load

These are all absolute legal limits and at no time should you exceed any of them.

Most car manufacturers limit their maximum towed weight figure to the difference between the GTW-GVW. but some manufacturers play the numbers game and legitimately simply say the GTW is the absolute limit for the combined outfit, so if the tow vehicle is not fully loaded to its GVW limit, then some of that spare capacity can be transferred to the trailer, which allows them to increase the towed weight limit. This does mean as the load in the tow vehicle is increased the same value has to be removed from the capacity of the towed weight limit. In many cases you can only tow the largest trailer when there is zero load in the tow vehicle to keep within the tow vehicle's Gross Train Weight limit.

The problem is your car is not going to be empty, it will have your passenger and dogs and any items you don't put in the caravan, and it has the caravans nose load to carry as part of the cars actual load. All of this reduces the the apparent extra 200kg of load you could have in the caravan.

Consequently I'm sorry but I think you are very likely to have under estimated the combined weight of your whole car, caravan passengers and items, and its quite likely to exceed the cars legal Gross Train Weight. On that basis I cannot recommend your proposed outfit, as it stands a high chance on actually being illegal when loaded. This probably the same conclusion the matching site came to.

This is sadly another example of how simply looking at the industries 85% weight ratio advice fails to take into account the realities of modern cars technical data, and the legalities.
 

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