Looking for a towcar

[Melly1]

Hi, I am very new to towing (I have never towed anything!!) and we are looking for a nice looking car (sorry) to tow a small caravan. We have purchased a nice 2 berth caravan, Elddis Wisp (I think!) but it is still with the seller, I went to see my garage man and he advised me not to bother with putting a tow bar on my current car as it wouldn't do the job, I am not really that bothered as needed excuse to get newer car!

ANYWAY!!

We have only £6000 to spend, I refuse to go higher and are really getting confused, funny how car salespeople all contradict each other!! We are looking at 2003 Toyota Rav4, Suzuki Grand Vitara or Honda CRV, all 2.0l or above. Which is the cheapest to run and most reliable?????

If we get on with the caravan we wll upgrade/bigger in a couple of years when children bit older, dont want to have to change the car.

Thank you for reading my long drawn out message......

 

[Mikey_74]

Hi Melly. forgive me for asking the question but being a small ish van do you need a 4x4? I've towed for years with just a normal car and found them superb, something like a passat or Mondeo, having said that if you have your heart set on a 4x4 have you considered a Hyundai Santa Fe, I tow a twin axle and this year changed to a Santa Fe and it's a superb car, my diesel will do around 40ish mpg solo, haven't had a proper chance to work out towing ecomony yet, but for

 

[sarahandher6dachshunds.]

first you nead to know the weight of the wisp max loaded weight, it will be near the door on a plate.MTPLM,MAX TECHNICAL PERMISSIBLE WEIGHT.next figure is the car kerbweight,also look for the towing limit of the car.

the van should not exceed 85% of the cars kerbweight,as you are new to towing.

if the towing limit is set lower than the car kerbweight use this figure instead,some cars are lower as the engine has to cope with the car and van it may struggle with a van,which is harder to tow.some are set higher but do not think you can tow to the tow limit,the kerbweight is the key here.

idealy stay at 85% match to car kerb weight the higher the cars towing limit the easier to tow.the other figure that is helpful is the noseweight,or hitch weight.idealy this figure should be 7% of the vans mtplm,check the noseweight for the car,can vary 50 to 90kg.a 1200 van would be 86 kg nose weight optimum,but you can tow higher or lower.check noseweight for van in handbook as these have limits also.

idealy i would look for a car with a towinglimit higher than the kerbweight of the car,not more than an 85%match ,and try to get close to the ideal 7% noseweight.

also other peoples towing experiences.hope this helps sarah.

 

[Melly1]

this is the confusing thing, and please forgive me if you have already stated this and I didnt get it!

If the caravan weighs approx 1000kg do we then have to add on the weight of the contents? ie awning, when that is then all added up, that becomes the weight of the caravan and we need to calculate from that?

AND (??) How much can we carry in the car? I know how to work out the kerbweight but what happens when I load up with kids and toys and clothes and SHOES??

Sorry for sounding a bit of a thicky!!

 

[Melly1]

Hi Melly. forgive me for asking the question but being a small ish van do you need a 4x4? I've towed for years with just a normal car and found them superb, something like a passat or Mondeo, having said that if you have your heart set on a 4x4 have you considered a Hyundai Santa Fe, I tow a twin axle and this year changed to a Santa Fe and it's a superb car, my diesel will do around 40ish mpg solo, haven't had a proper chance to work out towing ecomony yet, but for

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Melly,

In the September issue of Practical caravan is a free booklet "The Caravan Towing Guide".

Look at the Caravan Club's web site. Full of excellent information for the newbie.

The MTPLM is The Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass of your caravan. It is the plated weight of the caravan as designed by the manufacturer and is inclusive of the caravan itself and equipment you may choose to load.

Loading the caravan is very important too. I suggest you have a look at the mags and web sites as I have suggested and then come back with any questions.

Cheers

Dustydog

 

[Melly1]

Hi Melly,

In the September issue of Practical caravan is a free booklet "The Caravan Towing Guide".

Look at the Caravan Club's web site. Full of excellent information for the newbie.

The MTPLM is The Maximum Technically Permissible Laden Mass of your caravan. It is the plated weight of the caravan as designed by the manufacturer and is inclusive of the caravan itself and equipment you may choose to load.

Loading the caravan is very important too. I suggest you have a look at the mags and web sites as I have suggested and then come back with any questions.

Cheers

Dustydog

Thank you, just popped to shop and bought the August one, will keep my eye out for next months and i bumped into a neighbour who has a caravan (I had no idea) and is willing to help me out and show me how things work etc,Funny how caravanning brings people together!!

 

[GeorgeandAde]

Hi Melly,Sorry if im out of line here,but ive got my 06 reg 2.2 tdci Ford Mondeo 5 door hatch on Ebay at the moment for around the price you require.

We towed our 2007 Lunar Zenith (unladen weight 1090kg) with no problems at all.

Its done 39,400 miles,45+ MPG.11months MOT.2 months Tax.If you need any more information,maybe one of the moderators would be kind enough to pass on my email address to you if you ask them.

Sorry once aagain if this isnt the type of vehicle you are looking for.

Adrian

 

[Mikey_74]

I would love a Santa Fe, they look very stylish, but again i was told that they were useless to tow and couldnt do a hill start with a caravan???

My head is spinning!!

I haven't heard that one, I tow a 26foot twin axle, my Fe takes it in it's stride no problem, and like I say, nearly 40mpg out of a 4x4, that's fantastic

Mike

 

[Mikey_74]

Well Melly I haven't heard that about the Santa Fe's, I moved my caravan today, well I bought it home to wash it ready for our 2 weeks away, yeah it's not the fastest car I've towed with, but then I don't scream away from the lights anyway, certainly not whith the van on the back, but I think it tows very well, it certainly tows better than my last estate car, I'll let you know in just over 2 weeks when we've returned, like I say our van is 26foot twin axle all be it light weight for it's size (1600kg's) but I'm lucky enough to have 3 wonderfull girls in my life, my 2 daughters give even my wife a run for her money with the amount of essential stuff they take on their hols

 

[waffler]

I tow with a kia sorento- absolutely wonderful. BUT!!!!! It is expensive on fuel and the 60 k service was

 

[Pat_374304630]

Hi waffler,

if you are still looking, I can recommend the Hyundai Santa Fe.I have just recently returned from France having towed in excess of 2000 trouble free miles. you would not be disappointed with one. However if you don't want a 4 x 4 I can also recommend a Renault Megane Sport tourer dynamique. I towed for 3 years with the 1.9ltr diesel and it was superb.

Hope this helps

 

[MK22]

Melly, until it was stolen, we towed an Adria Adora plus 532 with a Ford Focus C-Max 2.0 tDCI. Now OK, this 'van was about 95% of the car's kerb weight, so not recommended, but I've been towing for years. It was as solid as a rock and the car would tow it at tickover on the flat or up a gentle slope. I think you can probably get a 2.0 tDCI within your budget if you go back to 2005/6 as the model has been upgraded. And when you are not towing you'll have a car that will outrun most BMW3 series/Golf GTIs!