It would seem to me, that with a few exceptions most family caravans cannot be towed with the average family car. OK, if you have the funds then there is no problem, but, the average joe and his wife have to use the family car, as having purchased the caravan the funds available to change the vehicle are limited. Turn the clock back a few years and most vans could be towed quite easily with lower powered vehicles, now, despite the fact that we have lighter materials available to constructors of caravans, still the weights continue to rise. It is almost as though there is a conspiracy between caravan manufacturers and car manufacturers to force people to buy bigger and more powerful vehicles despite the restraints being placed on the buyer with regard to road fund licence and ever increasing fuel costs. I post this to see what other caravanners thoughts are.
New Caravan Tow Weights
- Thread starter johnboy1
- Start date
Mel
Moderator
Generally agree, but I wonder if the pendulum is beginning to swing back with some of the much newer vans like the latest Eldis.
mel
mel
Let's not forget that the manufacturers don't tell us what to buy. They produce what the customer claims to want. The heavy 'vans we're seeing now are a result of the home-from-home type caravanning that "we" as customers have demanded. We're now starting to see some lighter versions coming on sale because the demands of the customer are changing due to increased fuel costs and taxation. Unfortunately you can't really get an all singing all dancing palace on wheels without paying a weight penalty. Well, you can, but build quality then becomes an issue.
Hello Jonboy
I'm sorry but I can't subscribe to the conspiracy theory.
There are many pressures brought to bear on car manufacturers and car owners to move towards more economical cars.
If you look carefully at recent developments in cars, we have seen what seems like some quite dramatic improvements in MPG. but you need to beyond raw MPG figure to how they are actually achieving it.
Hybrid systems, that only turn the engine on when the power is needed, so in city traffic electric motors take over which means power is only used when the car is in motion and the engine is never left idling.
Reduced performance - where in Britain is the ability to accelerate to 62mph in under ten seconds necessary? Much more fuel is used during hard acceleration, so reduce the performance and fuel savings are made.
Lighter cars means less power is necessary to achieve the same performance as a heavier car.
Better aerodynamics do help at speed, Lower power delivery from engines to maintain same high speed.
In all the above Its not that engines are getting significantly more efficient, its more to do with the way the power available is used. As a result 1 litre of fuel will still produce roughly the same amount of motive power, the key is were wasting less of it.
The car industry is simply following the customers demands, and here it is important to realise there are far more cars sold that never tow than those that do, so towing ability is not top of the manufacturers 'must do' lists.
The problem is that the caravan manufactures have either not foreseen the public's wish to down size cars, or they are are unable to make any major weight savings.
As others have pointed out, it seems the average caravanner is demanding more home comforts, and these come with both weight and price compromises.
I'm sorry but I can't subscribe to the conspiracy theory.
There are many pressures brought to bear on car manufacturers and car owners to move towards more economical cars.
If you look carefully at recent developments in cars, we have seen what seems like some quite dramatic improvements in MPG. but you need to beyond raw MPG figure to how they are actually achieving it.
Hybrid systems, that only turn the engine on when the power is needed, so in city traffic electric motors take over which means power is only used when the car is in motion and the engine is never left idling.
Reduced performance - where in Britain is the ability to accelerate to 62mph in under ten seconds necessary? Much more fuel is used during hard acceleration, so reduce the performance and fuel savings are made.
Lighter cars means less power is necessary to achieve the same performance as a heavier car.
Better aerodynamics do help at speed, Lower power delivery from engines to maintain same high speed.
In all the above Its not that engines are getting significantly more efficient, its more to do with the way the power available is used. As a result 1 litre of fuel will still produce roughly the same amount of motive power, the key is were wasting less of it.
The car industry is simply following the customers demands, and here it is important to realise there are far more cars sold that never tow than those that do, so towing ability is not top of the manufacturers 'must do' lists.
The problem is that the caravan manufactures have either not foreseen the public's wish to down size cars, or they are are unable to make any major weight savings.
As others have pointed out, it seems the average caravanner is demanding more home comforts, and these come with both weight and price compromises.
Car weights rise because of all the safety features - those airbags all over the cabin and other such safety features have meant cars haev got bigger and heavier to accomodate.
Caravan weights have risen because we have all demanded microwaves, big fridges, fixed beds, water tanks, more storage, etc. These all come at a penalty.
My van is a 1996 4 berth Lunar with a mid-bunk and end-washroom and has a 1200Kg max weight (whatever the MTPLM used to be called). My current car pulls it rather easily. Even a Quasar 524 which is today's equivalent van is 1360Kg MTPLM which removes quite a few potential towcars from the mix.
Caravan weights have risen because we have all demanded microwaves, big fridges, fixed beds, water tanks, more storage, etc. These all come at a penalty.
My van is a 1996 4 berth Lunar with a mid-bunk and end-washroom and has a 1200Kg max weight (whatever the MTPLM used to be called). My current car pulls it rather easily. Even a Quasar 524 which is today's equivalent van is 1360Kg MTPLM which removes quite a few potential towcars from the mix.
Tend to agree that vans are getting heavier against a background of increasing pressure to downsize cars. I've been fortunate enough to have ran company cars for the past 25 years, but recently my employer, as a "green" measure, decided to limit its company cars to sub 120g c02 levels. No way is there a car on the market today that offers sub 120g co2 and will also tow my 1500kg caravan, though I'd love to be proved wrong... So next time I change car I've got a real problem, either stay in the car scheme and save money through tax and fuel economy and choose a "green" car and stop caravanning, or opt out of the scheme and run an older/dirtier car thats big enough to tow the family caravan. Not a choice I really want to make, but given the weight of modern caravans one I'll be forced to make.
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