mondeo towing hobby

[philip_374229949]

new to caravaning I posted a question on the 2nd but don't seem to have any answer. Perhaps i did it wrong.

I have bought a great Hobby excellent 540 second hand. I am planning on buying a Mondeo and wonder if anyone has practical experience of this rather than just quoting whattowcar figures at me please.

I don't want a 4x4 because I do a lot of driving and want something more economical and comfortable.

Please help

 

[AlfromYC]

The most important thing is weight.

If the van weighs more than the allowable tow weight of the car, then it is against the law to tow it & your insurance will be cancelled if you have an accident.

If the caravan weight is more than the kerbweight of the car, then it is not recommended that you tow it although this is not law, so its upto you.

I know a few people with tdci mondeos, and they rate them good as tow cars, good spread of power and good economy.

 

[philip_374229949]

thank you Al. I know the kerb weight of the Mondeo is about 1560 and the weight of the van is 1156.

 

[busman1]

philip,

if your caravan is only 1156 kg you will have no probs. towing with the mondeo.

I tow a 1300 avondale with my 2ltr.tdci and regularly travel from scotland to the south of england average 30 mpg

happy 'vanning

Will

 

[Lutz]

Are you sure the caravan weighs only 1156kg? It seems to be incredibly low to me for a laden Hobby 540. I suspect that it's the unladen weight that you have quoted there, which is fair enough if you don't put anything inside, but few people always tow completely empty.

 

[philip_374229949]

I think you are right but will I not also have a fully loaded Mondeo which offsets the van ?

 

[Garfield]

I think you are right but will I not also have a fully loaded Mondeo which offsets the van ?

Not really, as well as a max towing limit there is also a max train weight which is the weight of vehicle, trailer and cargo. Putting a lot of weight in the boot of your car can make stability worse, always pack heavy items as close to the centre of the towing vehicle or trailer as possible.

 

[philip_374229949]

thanks again. I appreciate the time taken to help. Does anyone know from experience whether a mondeo TDCI estate will pull a 540 well ?

 

[JeremyClarksson]

You really really want someone to say yes don't you!

If you check out Whattowcar.com it will give you an indication. The heaviest Hobby 540 seems to be 1247Kg unladen so you are looking at something around 95% with normalish loading, which is higher than ideal, I tow fine at that ratio but mine is a twin axle which tend to be more stable (I think the Hobby is a SA).

The width appears to be 2.3M which is fine.

The power from your car should be easily able to pull that weight - just be wary of stability problems, particularly as you are a novice - it could be worth taking a towing course.

As a first outfit ideally you should have a bigger car like a Galaxy if you like Fords.

 

[cliff_5040076]

Philip

It would appear that all the Hobby 540's have a max laden weight of 1500kg which on your figures allows you to load 344kg of your own kit into the van. This is very generous and will allow you to load with very few worries (heavy stuff down low and over the axle).

What you really need to do is to buy a vehicle of sufficient weight and power to utilise this and not come up with a vehicle and then ask people to justify your choice.

With the Mondeo you will be forever fiddling about , making sure you don't put too much weight in the van and trying to get the noseweight correct.

You WILL get brassed off with this and you WILL end up just chucking stuff in the van without thinking about the loading. Then one day you get a snake, van on its side smashed into bits all over the motorway.

I've seen that loads of times on the M5 in summer.

So my advice, feel free to disregard it -

Forget the Mondeo. It really isn't ideal.

Buy a car of at least 1725 kg kerbweight, and with at least 130 hp diesel engine ( preferably higher). The Ford Galaxy would be a good place to start.

Mpv's can give very good mpg and are usually very comfortable.

Good luck

 

[philip_374229949]

thank you Garry.

I do not really want someone to say a Mondeo is ok. I do however want someone who actually drives a Mondeo and pulls a van of similar weight to mine to comment if possible.

Whilst I am very grateful indeed for your kind help I am less content to rely on statistics, which generally can justify any position one may care to argue. I know I will be inside 85% so I now want to see if it actually works out ok in practice.

 

[Tapestry]

Hi

Not sure if this helps. We have a Mondeo estate 2ltr tdci. We have towed a van at 85% single axil and then upgraded the van this summer, again single axil, we now tow at 92%. Hubby is experienced in towing. We do a lot of towing. We notice the difference. Packing and loading the van is always important. I would say extra care is needed if you are towing at 92% - 95% for stability. Its when lorries go past, or going under motorway bridges or cross winds that we can notice the difference. We are strict with how we pack the van.

We like the Mondeo both as a tow car and for solo driving. We prefer towing at about 85%. Next season we will be towing most of the time with a heavier car, back to about 82-85% as hubby has now had a car with his job. We will still have the Mondeo, as I have taken it over as my car. Annette

 

[LizCornwall]

Hi All, Just to let you know we towed our Lunar clubman with our mondeo 2.OGLS no problems, had to use gear box a bit on hills, but apart from that everything went well. I would only say that a Hobby is a lot larger and heavier van. Our Lunar very light. Liz