max towing with a mondeo estate

[jongeorge1]

i have a ford mondeo 2.0 estate 130 bhp and was wondering what i could tow with it. i know the max it can tow is 1800 but that is more than the car weigh's. what is safe to tow. would you yow a twin axle with a max wight of 1686

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John George,

It is difficult to give you a definitive answer as to what is safe to tow. Safe towing is the combination of a number of factors, or which towing weights is one, but in my view not necessarily the most important.

Some of us are quiet happy to tow a trailer up to the permitted weight of the car, even though it can be greater than the weight of the car, Others choose to limit themselves to 100% ratio, and some choose to limit themselves to a lower figure such as 85% (the guideline suggested by the CC).

Out of this though comes the generally accepted view that it is wise to keep the weight of the trailer as low as possible.

You do not give sufficient information about your specific car to enable me to get all the data to calculate you actual towing ratio. (MTPLM of caravan divided by the kerbweight of the car all x 100) but my guess is that you will be close or above 100%

Another factor I must alert you to is a legal matter. If you passed your driving test after 1st Jan 1997, then unless you have taken an extension towing test, you are legally limited to a trailer that cannot exceed the kerbweight of the car, and even if you don't load every thing to its limit, the combined Maximum Authorised Mass of car and trailer must not exceed 3500kG

My gut feeling based on what you have told us is that the proposed combination is possible but not recommended especially if you are new to towing.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John George,

It is difficult to give you a definitive answer as to what is safe to tow. Safe towing is the combination of a number of factors, or which towing weights is one, but in my view not necessarily the most important.

Some of us are quiet happy to tow a trailer up to the permitted weight of the car, even though it can be greater than the weight of the car, Others choose to limit themselves to 100% ratio, and some choose to limit themselves to a lower figure such as 85% (the guideline suggested by the CC).

Out of this though comes the generally accepted view that it is wise to keep the weight of the trailer as low as possible.

You do not give sufficient information about your specific car to enable me to get all the data to calculate you actual towing ratio. (MTPLM of caravan divided by the kerbweight of the car all x 100) but my guess is that you will be close or above 100%

Another factor I must alert you to is a legal matter. If you passed your driving test after 1st Jan 1997, then unless you have taken an extension towing test, you are legally limited to a trailer that cannot exceed the kerbweight of the car, and even if you don't load every thing to its limit, the combined Maximum Authorised Mass of car and trailer must not exceed 3500kG

My gut feeling based on what you have told us is that the proposed combination is possible but not recommended especially if you are new to towing.

PS. I should point out that we need Year make model body style and engine to be able to find the necessary information about a car. Even body styles affect the kerb weights and towing limits.

 

[ValA.]

No I wouldn't! We towed a Swift Speedbird, MIRO 1065 - and fully loaded MTPLM 1350 - and that's enough for our 54 reg Mondeo Estate 2 litre turbo diesel even though we're well under the kerbweight of the car itself. We've had a new clutch(which must tell you something) and now the Turbo has blown up so we have no towcar at present! Mind you it was 5 years old and has done over 150,000 miles, and was a company car which is well used.

Although our car tows 'like a dream' even uphill, it does have limitations and the last couple of years has been prone to overheating on very long uphill stretches in the Massif Central in France. I think you'll find the twin axle you're proposing will prove a heavy burden, at over 300kg above the weight we're comfortable with, especially on uphill starts, or long uphill sections.

 

[paul_374239978]

Hi, i have a mondeo 2.0 tdci 130 estate with self levelling and tow a coachman amara 580/4 twin axle. it weighs in at 1560 kgs about the same as the car. it tows no problem and gives 28-30 mpg towing. i think much more might be pushing the limits a bit.

 

[joeby]

I own a Mondeo 130 TDCI estate , and a 2.7 4x4 Nissan Terrano ,the Terrano is only 125 BHP some engines might be larger in cc but not so efficient in output , take the first Kia Sorrento 2.5 engine only 138 BHP and a quarter of a ton heavier , i have towed my T/A with both cars and the mondeo is the better puller ,the only thing i dont like about towing the caravan with it is the low down driving position ,the only thing i do if i am towing with mondeo is put most of the equipment in the rear of the car,but most of the time we use the Terrano

 

[otherclive]

Hi, but it's torque not power that most affects towing. How does your Terrano compare to the first Sorento in torque?

Cheers

Other Clive

 

[jongeorge1]

PS. I should point out that we need Year make model body style and engine to be able to find the necessary information about a car. Even body styles affect the kerb weights and towing limits.

the car is a ford mondeo estate 2004 130bhp and the weight is about 1640

 

[jongeorge1]

No I wouldn't! We towed a Swift Speedbird, MIRO 1065 - and fully loaded MTPLM 1350 - and that's enough for our 54 reg Mondeo Estate 2 litre turbo diesel even though we're well under the kerbweight of the car itself. We've had a new clutch(which must tell you something) and now the Turbo has blown up so we have no towcar at present! Mind you it was 5 years old and has done over 150,000 miles, and was a company car which is well used.

Although our car tows 'like a dream' even uphill, it does have limitations and the last couple of years has been prone to overheating on very long uphill stretches in the Massif Central in France. I think you'll find the twin axle you're proposing will prove a heavy burden, at over 300kg above the weight we're comfortable with, especially on uphill starts, or long uphill sections.

i have had the car for 2 years now and have had bits replaced but only the bits that tre known to be a issue. the bits are turbo, egr valve,boost pipe to egr valve, and due next to go is the clutch and flywheel. they are known faults so i am no wirrying they are known faults.

 

[Lutz]

Plenty of low end torque makes for more relaxed driving, but in the end it's power that counts. After all, power is basically torque times revs so you can gain on the roundabouts what you've lost on the swings simply by keeping the revs up.