safe matching

[paulnlou]

Hi everyone. I'm looking for a bit of guidance. I'm currently looking at second hand caravans and want to make sure I buy something which is within safe and legal limits for towing with my car.
I have a vauxhall zafira life dti1995cc accordimg to the handbook and door plate the weights are as follows: kerbweight 1448kg mpgvw 2075kg mpgtw 3170kg. I'm a bit confused as to what figure I need to use as the 85% works out at 1230.8kg, but the difference between the gvw and gtw is only 1095kg.

Ibm hoping to view a sprite at the weekend which the seller tells me has a total mass running weight of 1070kg loaded....I'm assuming he means the mtplm.

I would very much appreciate any advice as I must admit I'm starting to confuse myself!
thank you Lou

 

[ProfJohnL]

Duplicate Post

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Lou,

Firstly your calculations are correct.

It seems you have one of the MK1 diesel Zaffira's which are limited to only 1095Kg braked towed weight. I know this seems low and is well below 85%, but it's down to a characteristic of that particular model.

The way a cars mechanical ability to tow is tested is laid out in its type approval which is model specific and when Vauhall/Opel did the tests they discovered some shortfalls in the cars towing performances and so had to rate it so poorly.

For reference, the 85% guidance is just that, only guidance. Its a figure the caravan industry magiced out of the air a few years ago. It bears no reference to car manufactures specification for towed weights, and the Zaffira is an example of where the guidance cannot be applied because the car is simply not rated to tow above 1095.

There is nothing you can do to improve the cars towed limit, that is set in stone. If you ignore it and exceed it you will be illegal and you are in danger of damaging the engine.

Sadly if you need to tow a bigger caravan there is nothing else but to change the car.

Safe towing is down to a lot more than just choosing vehicle and trailer weights. Probably the biggest influence on safety is the way the outfit is driven.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Lou,
in essence what the Prof has written is correct, however that is not the whole story, I think you will find (look in vehicle handbook) that the 2004 1.9dti Zafira has a max braked trailer weight of 1300kg, because, the chances are the vehicle will not be loaded to its maximum of 2075kg but much less, say 1870kg so taking this off the max gross train weight of 3170kg = 1300kg,
the reason I say this is because I have a 2004 1.7cdti enjoy Meriva (smaller brother to the Zafira) that has a max trailer weight of 1200kg doing the same calculations as you have done my max trailer weight would be 1225kg.
after loading the car and weighing it and then removing this figure from the MPGTW left 1395kg well above the 1200kg limit, set by the manufacturer,
as long as the combined weight of loaded car and van is less than the gross train weight and the trailer is less than the manufacturers maximum you dont have a problem,
ps although the figures on the vin plate MUST be correct they do seem a little low
ie, the Meriva is ULW 1442kg, GVW 1935kg, MGTW 3160kg,

so the ULW of the Zafira is only 6kg more than the Meriva and the gross train weight is only 10kg more, so the differance is in the allowable vehicle loading and nothing more, keep this down and you could tow any van up to the recommended maximum of 1300kg,

 

[paulnlou]

thank you both for your replies. I have towed a caravan before but our previous caravan was well under the allowed towing weight of my previous car. with this car havimg a lower limit and us looking for a better caravan than we previously had I want to ensure that I'm using the right figures.
We are likely to have a fair amount of weight in the car as there will be 3 adults, 2 children and a labrador!
thanks once again, Lou

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Lou, your welcome. did you check the handbook for max trailer weight,!! is it 1300kg, and whats the noseweight max!!.
I was looking at the figures last nite and the ones stated dont add up!! looking at Zafira models from the early ones to the new ones on a internet search it seems the model is the important factor, is yours the 7seater version as I cannot understand why it has such a huge user payload taking the gross vehicle weight of 2075kg and deducting the unladen weight of 1448kg leaves a whopping 627kg.
or enough for 5 full size rugby players and a st bernard dog

and still have the capacity to tow a 5berth Orion,
dont let a set of figures convince you that in order to have a holiday with the famliy and a dog you have to have a huge van and a 4x4 to tow it, the Zafira will do the job just make sure the maximums are not exeeded,

 

[alon]

i think Prof John L have suggested you the best!!!

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

i think Prof John L have suggested you the best!!!

in which way??? by assuming the car will be carrying 552kg +noseweight?? based on the figures quoted 1095kg (towload) relates to a van with a MTPLM of 1170kg anyway! and thats only 130kg below the vehicles maximum trailed weight.
I dont wish to sound pedantic but just taking figures from a vin plate and then assuming that in all cases the lowest figure is the correct one is a bit "alice in wonderland'ish" the Prof correctly quotes the maximum figure based on a difference between the max gross vehicle weight and the max train weight, to give the maximum trailer weight!! this is not correct, when the manufacurer of the vehicle states a trailed weight in exess of the difference between these two figures it assumes the vehicle will not be fully loaded to the gross vehicle weight but much less as some of the car load will be transfered to the trailer,(and visa versa) via the nose load.
if you really want to know how much a vehicle actually weighs pop it on a weigh bridge fully loaded, then take this figure off the gross train weight and see whats left!!!!!!!!!, I will bet it's a hell of a lot more than the minimum quoted,

 

[Lutz]

According to the type approval data that I have in front of me, the maximum towload of a mark 1 Zafira 2.0dti is 1050kg for a car with air conditioning, 1100kg without. Both figures apply whether the car is fully loaded up to its GVW or not, except in the case of automatic transmission, in which case the GTW is limited to 2975kg.
The kerbweight is hardly of any importance except in assessing how much payload you can put into the car.