I am towing an Adria Adiva 532up with a Hyundai Tucson 2.0 CRTD which really struggles. I am considering changing to either a 2.0 Santa FE or a Can anyone give me thoughts on either vehicle?
It is really unstable at speeds greater than 40mph and barely climbs hills in 3rd gear! Doesn't make the slightest difference to the stability if I stop and re-arrange the contents of the van every time an HGV or a coach passes me the van becomes unstable and I feel as if all wheels are leaving the road. To be honest it is really putting me off towing. I think that the kerbweight of the Tucson is too low (top towing weight 1600 Kgs) that is the only explanation that I can think of but being a relative newbie to towing I am happy to stand corrected if wrong. Any advice is much appreciated.
You seem to have 2 problems and its difficult to tell if they are related.
Firstly you would benefit from a vehicle with more power - as Tony A said forget the Freelander , its is slower 0 to 60 than your Tuscon with only fractionally more bhp. Perhaps when the new model is released it will have some more power.
The same applies to the Sante Fe.
Again as Tony A has said the Kia Sorento would be ideal but you should do some research I suggest min 140bhp and a bit more kerbweight than your current vehicle.
Your second problem of instability could be caused by so many things -
Do you have the correct noseweight?
Are the tyre pressures correct?
Are you loading the van correctly? You dont want too much weight right at the back of the van as any turbulence can cause the van to "wag".
Do you have a stabiliser fitted? ( although a stabiliser is no substitute for a badly loaded van).
To be as unstable as you say at 40mph would indicate a fundamental problem and moving to a larger vehicle may not solve it.
As I have no personal knowledge of Adria vans you may get more advice from someone who tows a similar van by posting a question on "towing, driving and safety" or even "general".
It may also be worthwhile contacting your Dealer and relating your problem to them.
You seem to have 2 problems and its difficult to tell if they are related.
Firstly you would benefit from a vehicle with more power - as Tony A said forget the Freelander , its is slower 0 to 60 than your Tuscon with only fractionally more bhp. Perhaps when the new model is released it will have some more power.
The same applies to the Sante Fe.
Again as Tony A has said the Kia Sorento would be ideal but you should do some research I suggest min 140bhp and a bit more kerbweight than your current vehicle.
Your second problem of instability could be caused by so many things -
Do you have the correct noseweight?
Are the tyre pressures correct?
Are you loading the van correctly? You dont want too much weight right at the back of the van as any turbulence can cause the van to "wag".
Do you have a stabiliser fitted? ( although a stabiliser is no substitute for a badly loaded van).
To be as unstable as you say at 40mph would indicate a fundamental problem and moving to a larger vehicle may not solve it.
As I have no personal knowledge of Adria vans you may get more advice from someone who tows a similar van by posting a question on "towing, driving and safety" or even "general".
It may also be worthwhile contacting your Dealer and relating your problem to them.
Thanks Cliff. To answer your questions, I have an alko stabiliser fitted. I bought a noseweight meter just so as I could be sure of the load on the towball (75kg) and pack almost everything to the front of the van and stop frequently to make load adjustments towards the centre of the van in an effort to increase stabillity with little effect! I was advised by the dealer to load the van contents towards the front as it is a fixed bed model. Having read all the replies so far, I am now considering either the Nissan Terrano or the Hyundai Terracan. Both have 2.9 TD engines and lots of kerbweight. Any comments would be appreciated.
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