Dougy, I've been reading the comments with interest. I started caravaning last may and was unsure on the best towcar. I have problems with my legs and needed an automatic and with dogs it had to be an estate. Having had a few I opted for the BMW over Ford ( also had a few of those from new, Modeos that is). We tow with a 525d auto estate on an 05 plate so its the 2.5l not the 3.0l in the later 525. We tow a sterling trekker and are approaching 95% of the vehicles kerb weight. It tows like a dream, with 400lb of torque it doesn't feel like the vans on the back, it can tow upto 2000kg and has a 90kg nose weight limit and is returning 26mpg not bad considering the vans weight. It was a little more expensive than the mondeo but I managed to get one with 3 years remaining of a service package. Without looking I couldn't tell you the insurance group, but my annual premium is