Hi,
I'm looking to get a new VW Passat Estate, and would prefer to go for a petrol version. This is a cheaper car than the diesel version and for day to day use, makes much more sense to me.
Of course, this gives me some potential problems using it as a tow car, and I wondered if people could comment on its limitations, and what you would suggest is a reasonable higher tow limit.
The specs are as below:
VW Passat GT Estate 1.4TSI ACT 150bhp DSG Auto.
Max Torque: 250Nm at 1500-3500rpm (effectively the same as the 1.6 Diesel, which is 250Nm/1750-3250rpm with only 120bhp)
Unladen weight 1451kg
Braked trailer limit 1600kg
Towbar limit 90kg
In terms of towing limits, it seems to be about 1235kg at the recommended 85%, which severely limits choice of caravan.
So my question is, how close to say a 1350kg caravan could you sensibly go with this car, or is the car type/weight just completely stupid for my towing ambitions. In terms of power, as I mentioned in the specs, it is more powerful than a 1.6tdi version of the car, but weight is still an issue. The more expensive 2.0tdi is only about 50kg heavier, so not a massive jump in weight, but the torque jumps to 340Nm!
I am an experienced and confident driver, but not an experienced caravanner, so I just need a sense check, please!
Thanks.
I'm looking to get a new VW Passat Estate, and would prefer to go for a petrol version. This is a cheaper car than the diesel version and for day to day use, makes much more sense to me.
Of course, this gives me some potential problems using it as a tow car, and I wondered if people could comment on its limitations, and what you would suggest is a reasonable higher tow limit.
The specs are as below:
VW Passat GT Estate 1.4TSI ACT 150bhp DSG Auto.
Max Torque: 250Nm at 1500-3500rpm (effectively the same as the 1.6 Diesel, which is 250Nm/1750-3250rpm with only 120bhp)
Unladen weight 1451kg
Braked trailer limit 1600kg
Towbar limit 90kg
In terms of towing limits, it seems to be about 1235kg at the recommended 85%, which severely limits choice of caravan.
So my question is, how close to say a 1350kg caravan could you sensibly go with this car, or is the car type/weight just completely stupid for my towing ambitions. In terms of power, as I mentioned in the specs, it is more powerful than a 1.6tdi version of the car, but weight is still an issue. The more expensive 2.0tdi is only about 50kg heavier, so not a massive jump in weight, but the torque jumps to 340Nm!
I am an experienced and confident driver, but not an experienced caravanner, so I just need a sense check, please!
Thanks.