mondeo

[alan_5039782]

after much debate,and thanks to this site,just bought 3 year old mondeo hatch lx model,130 bhp,caravan bailey pageant loire,seems plenty power from car solo,so would imagine should tow caravan ok,whats fuel consumption like,cruise control anybody use it when towing,also i take it 6 gears not much use when towing........thanks for all your help

 

[Steve L]

I've not yet used a six speed box to tow, but my impression is that it would give a good benifit when on the motorway and you are upto 60mph. The added choice of gear ratio's should make the hills a little smoother too.

I personally don't use my cruise control as it tends to work the engine harder to keep the momentum than I do with sympathy to the engine in mind. You see, I tow at max tow capacity which is hard enough on the engine anyway, beside's that, I'm a petrol head and like to play with the motor. (or is that contorl freak? )

You can expect fuel consumption to drop by up to 10 mpg, but with sympathetic driving you might reduce that to 6mpg. That doesn't mean driving slow but being more perceptive at junctions and avoiding harsh acceleration etc. Waiting for that slight down hill bit of road 500 yards infront can save 3-4 mpg as does going up a hill at mid rev range in the next gear down compared to labouring with the foot to the floor in a higher gear. It's all an experiment and I'm sure you'll have fun playing with the fuel consumption computer and quite suprised at the results.

Steve.

 

[busman1]

alan,

my last tow car was an 03 mondeo 115 with 6 gears and I got 29-32 to the gallon towing a bailey imperial.

I now have a new mondeo 130 and an Avondale Dart 1300 kg. and returning much the same milage. I regularly tow from Scotland down to the South coast of England and very rarely use 6th gear or cruise control as I think you get a better feel of the car without it but I suppose others may disagree it's whatever you feel confortable with.

Will

 

[Trevor_5122845]

I've not yet used a six speed box to tow, but my impression is that it would give a good benifit when on the motorway and you are upto 60mph. The added choice of gear ratio's should make the hills a little smoother too.

I personally don't use my cruise control as it tends to work the engine harder to keep the momentum than I do with sympathy to the engine in mind. You see, I tow at max tow capacity which is hard enough on the engine anyway, beside's that, I'm a petrol head and like to play with the motor. (or is that contorl freak? )

You can expect fuel consumption to drop by up to 10 mpg, but with sympathetic driving you might reduce that to 6mpg. That doesn't mean driving slow but being more perceptive at junctions and avoiding harsh acceleration etc. Waiting for that slight down hill bit of road 500 yards infront can save 3-4 mpg as does going up a hill at mid rev range in the next gear down compared to labouring with the foot to the floor in a higher gear. It's all an experiment and I'm sure you'll have fun playing with the fuel consumption computer and quite suprised at the results.

Steve.

I tow an ABI Jubilee Herald with a Mondeo auto. This is on the limit and it shows. Petrol varies between 18 and 20 towing and averages 31 solo. Cruise control OK towing on long flat runs but not good if many slopes even on motorway are involved.Struggles to hold 60mph if even a little wind about. Am looking for something with more torque

 

[papafulton]

I tow an ABI Jubilee Herald with a Mondeo auto. This is on the limit and it shows. Petrol varies between 18 and 20 towing and averages 31 solo. Cruise control OK towing on long flat runs but not good if many slopes even on motorway are involved.Struggles to hold 60mph if even a little wind about. Am looking for something with more torque

Hi Alan,

I recently changed to a 2.0L TDCI 130 Zetec and tow an Elddis Typhoon MTPL 1300. Travelled from Ayrshire to South of England last month (455 miles) and returned an average of 29.7 mpg at an average speed of 37mph. I did not use cruise control and only occasionally used 6th gear as I felt that the car struggled slightly if you could not maintain at least 60mph. However I seldom had to go below 5th gear as the power was great. Happy towing.

William

 

[joeby]

I have the Mondeo estate 130 BHP TDCI 6 forward gears ,and i tow a senator Indiana 1500KG plus i use a twin axle trailer for work ,most normal roads for towing i try to keepin 5th gear ,but on the motorway go to between 60-65 MPH you can keep it 6th gear even going up gradients,and i average 29 MPG towing ,but in windy conditions like we had at easter i only averaged 24 MPG ,driving solo on the M4 at 4,30 AM towards London a total journey of 164 miles keeping in 6th gears as much as possible ,and not going over 65 MPH i averaged 64.8 MPG ,allthough after that as much as i tried i never bettered that figure ,i came very close though