Mazda 6 any good for towing

[geezerdave]

As a newbie to this site and hoping to purchse my first caravan in the next few months, can anyone give me advice on the use of my Mazda 6 2.0L Petrol Saloon year 2005 as a tow car, i have read up on kerb weight and would choose a caravan of a suitable weight, but reading some comments on other sites i am not sure if my Mazda is suitable as a tow car.
Does anyone have any experience of towing with a Mazda 6 Petrol ?
Any advice would be much appreciated I would consider changing it but would prefer a similar size family saloon car rather than a 4 x4 due to everyday running costs any recommendations would be looking to spend around £5000

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Dave,

The Mazda along with evry other care sold in the EU has a type approval which includes tests for towing capacity. Providing none of the cars limits are exceeded, the car will tow satisfactorily. Obviously more powerfull engines will have better performance but that does not necessarily mean better towing.

Having said that what makes an easy tow is a low trailer weight, careful loading to achive the correct nose load and weight distribution in both the car and the trailer, good maintenance of all mechanical parts and tyres and most important of all carefull driving.

You must also check you driving licence categories; if you passed your test after Jan 1997, then you will only have a cat B towcar car entitlement that limits you to a combined MAM of 3500kg (braked trailer) and where the trailers MAM must not exceed the tow vehicles unladen weight. This is usually sufficent for all saloon car towing but do check