Laughsatcats said:
Hi,
I'm totally new to caravanning and just purchased a new car to tow a small ish caravan.
However my choice of car was a Skoda Octavia VRS TDI.
This car has a kerb weight of just over 1400kg and it gets worse....
We have also purchased (but not received) an Elddis Xplore 526.
According to the tow car comparison this combination is 86% on the weight comparison chart and only for experienced caravanners.
Any suggestions what I can do to make it easier to tow? i.e. loading etc. New caravan has stabiliser on it as its brand new 2017 model.
I noticed if I load less weight in caravan but more in car (it has MASSIVE boot) it gets easier to tow.
Power is not an issue as its a powerful car.
Hints and tips are hugely appreciated.
Thanks
Hi,
All matching service's have erroneous data or omissions in their data bases, and the problem for the user is you don't know if the data they have for your outfit is correct. To complete the calculations they do you must be able to confirm that every scrap of information they use matches exactly with your car and caravan. It is unsafe to assume that a similar or related product will give a correct output. Usually by the time you have collected all the information about your vehicles, it's axsimpke enough job to do the calculation yourself.
Just a quick look at you choices and I think you should be fine.
As others have pointed out, the 85% figure is a guideline, and it has no legal authority.
The principle behind the guidance is, the trailer should weigh as little as possible, so it will affect the tow vehicle as little as possible, which is a sensible approach because caravans by their general nature are big and are far from ideal trailers, meaning that driver must use considerable extra care. But how the caravan industry came up with the very exact figures of 85% is a mystery. Such a precise figure might be justified if all cars were the same and if there were only one type of caravan, but there are hundreds of both leading countless possible combinations. Just an aside, some vehicles cannot even tow an 85% trailer, so the advice is not even universally applicable!
The guidance was introduced at a time before car manufacturer's had to formally test their cars towing capability. But because the authors of the guidance could not possibly test all the possible car and caravan combinations, the guidance was never a guarantee of a good safe or legal tow. However over time that has often been forgotten, and the guidance is too often missused as a black and white assessment of an outfit.
Weight ratio is not the sole arbiter of good towing, it is perhaps a starting point for most, but in my view there are other actors which arguably have more impact on the safety and quality of towing. Good mechanical condition of both tow vehicle and trailer, properly loading both car an caravan with reference to maximum limits of both and especially achieving a safe mode load, but above all of that, is the way the outfit is driven.
I note that you have been a bus driver. I have often suggested that new caravanner's should consider their outfit to be like a bus, for the space it needs, and the way it will perform, and the time it takes to complete a manoeuvre, the use of mirrors etc. so I'm sure your past profession will help you cope with towing. The big difference will be the fact its articulatted and you will have to learn how to reverse.
Take care, and don't be afraid to ask any questions.
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