Hi Folks, I apologise in advance for the long post, but here goes.. I currently have a Hyundai i40 premium saloon 1.7 Diesel as a company car, pulling our Swift Conqueror 570. It has been a lovely car, but she sits quite low at the back, and I keep catching the tow bar on speed bumps, even at crawling speed. Towbar is a detachable swan neck. I am due to change the car next month, and am considering getting a mid range SUV instead, so that the ride is higher. However, my choices are limited. I need to find a 1 year old car for less than £16,000, that is heavy enough to tow our van, but has a low enough CO2 rating to keep the company car tax down. I'd like a Qashqai, but am worried that the car is too light compared to the van. Van has an MIR of 1486kg, so is quite heavy. Any suggestions? I have also considered the Tucson or Sportage, but the 1.7 litre models have too low a towing limit...Or do I go for a family estate instead?? Help!
SUV or Estate?
- Thread starter DaveG307
- Start date
Hi Dave ,
For something what you have have got weight wise I would go for a SUV as that is what we have got , (profile pic) we have the Kuga 2 litre TDI (2wd) which pulls our Major 6 that's just under 15oo with no problem at all even when you hitch up on the back with a full car and loaded caravan you barely notice its on suspension wise . And there's no chance of hitting the tow bar of the speed bumps !
Craig .
For something what you have have got weight wise I would go for a SUV as that is what we have got , (profile pic) we have the Kuga 2 litre TDI (2wd) which pulls our Major 6 that's just under 15oo with no problem at all even when you hitch up on the back with a full car and loaded caravan you barely notice its on suspension wise . And there's no chance of hitting the tow bar of the speed bumps !
Craig .
Thanks very much Craig. I do really like the Kuga, but the one thing that puts me off is the high CO2 figures, which puts the company car tax up a lot..I may have to be prepared to pay the extra tax to get a decent SUV..
It depends on how new you want to be with the new tax that has come in ? Ours turns 3 year old in few weeks , just passed mot today , £11o a year tax . Great for towing . Love it , it all depends on whats about for your budget to but some more folk will come on tell you other opinions on other SUVs.
Have you considered spring assisters?
Appreciate you are changing the car, but most SUv's are basically a jacked up estate car. If thats limiting your choice, you could try spring assisters, or a proper 4x4 B)
Appreciate you are changing the car, but most SUv's are basically a jacked up estate car. If thats limiting your choice, you could try spring assisters, or a proper 4x4 B)
Like Craig, for me it's SUV! I had an estate before and had the same issue with towbar grounding, was a fixed flange Witter, and I would always catch it with my shin or reverse it into things (no parking sensors) like kerbs/embankments.
I have no experience with company cars/allowance, but I was offered a job a few years ago that came with a car. I looked into Volvo XC60s at the time and it seemed the 2WD D4 variant was ok being a 2L 4cyl engine. The AWD D4 variant, which I now own privatly, was a BIK no-go due to the car being 2.4l 5cyl!
The XC60s were replaced with an all new version recently, and the 5cyl engine has been discontinued. You may be ok with a 2wd version of an SUV, A Mitsibishi Outlander PHEV may work for you (a thread on another forum has real world feedback) but a proper 4x4 would kill you in tax!
I have no experience with company cars/allowance, but I was offered a job a few years ago that came with a car. I looked into Volvo XC60s at the time and it seemed the 2WD D4 variant was ok being a 2L 4cyl engine. The AWD D4 variant, which I now own privatly, was a BIK no-go due to the car being 2.4l 5cyl!
The XC60s were replaced with an all new version recently, and the 5cyl engine has been discontinued. You may be ok with a 2wd version of an SUV, A Mitsibishi Outlander PHEV may work for you (a thread on another forum has real world feedback) but a proper 4x4 would kill you in tax!
Thingy said:
I’ve fitted MAD auxiliary springs in my Superb as it had a similar problem with grounding the towball base on our local speed humps. There has been no detrimental effect in the cars overall ride when solo. The problem arose mainly due to the angle of the Witter detachable tow ball which has a different curve cf to Brink. And yes the cars suspension was checked out prior to my decision to fit MADs.
Do not automatically think an SUV is the only way to go.
Whilst I haven't considered the CO2 figures, there are plenty of good family cars that should meet your towing requirements without going straight to a SUV or 4x4.
I will comment that the only way to know if your car is sitting low when hitched up is to measure the height of towball when it is is loaded. it should sit between 350 and 420mm (EU Directive) vertically from the ground measured to the centre of the tow ball. If it falls below 350mm, then the car is either over loaded or there is something wrong with the cars suspension of tyres. - Check your height & the caravans nose load.
If a car is operating within its designed loading specification it will not need any form of spring assisters.
If spring assisters are fitted they will change the cars handling and suspension characteristics and that means you must report them as a modification to your insurers. As leased car the leasing company may not permit such a modification.
Whilst I haven't considered the CO2 figures, there are plenty of good family cars that should meet your towing requirements without going straight to a SUV or 4x4.
I will comment that the only way to know if your car is sitting low when hitched up is to measure the height of towball when it is is loaded. it should sit between 350 and 420mm (EU Directive) vertically from the ground measured to the centre of the tow ball. If it falls below 350mm, then the car is either over loaded or there is something wrong with the cars suspension of tyres. - Check your height & the caravans nose load.
If a car is operating within its designed loading specification it will not need any form of spring assisters.
If spring assisters are fitted they will change the cars handling and suspension characteristics and that means you must report them as a modification to your insurers. As leased car the leasing company may not permit such a modification.
I'm with the prof on this one, I'm not sure if the lease company would allow you to modify the springs and suspension but also your choice of car is depending on who's in your family and how many you are packing for , where's as our choice for an suv was because there is 4 off us and quite a bit to pack when going away .
Craig .
Craig .
I took early retirement just over five years ago. At that time our Co cars were either Astra or Insignia estates but they were changing to i40 estates - these for broadcast engineers going up tracks to radio and TV broadcast sites and some PMR sites (which are generally worse.)
I have since spoken to a couple of former colleagues and the outcome is that they are looking to change again as they are having problems with the i40 clearance being insufficient, at worst the vehicles having difficult getting to site due to grounding and at best the undercart getting polished by the grass in the middle of the track.
The i40 was selected after staff were consulted and trial vehicles used. The preferred vehicles were the Octavia (although some had to trial Superbs as Octavias were not available) or Passat estates - but both of those are much more expensive to lease than the i40.
I would add though that the i40 seems to be very reliable and well equipped albeit they had to have DAB radios fitted in the early stages as they were not available as standard.
I have since spoken to a couple of former colleagues and the outcome is that they are looking to change again as they are having problems with the i40 clearance being insufficient, at worst the vehicles having difficult getting to site due to grounding and at best the undercart getting polished by the grass in the middle of the track.
The i40 was selected after staff were consulted and trial vehicles used. The preferred vehicles were the Octavia (although some had to trial Superbs as Octavias were not available) or Passat estates - but both of those are much more expensive to lease than the i40.
I would add though that the i40 seems to be very reliable and well equipped albeit they had to have DAB radios fitted in the early stages as they were not available as standard.
In general an SUV should be the better towcar because of the design. They are generally shorter with a wheel at each corner which aids stability and the higher profile should help with a lower wind resistance. Many estates though can have an uprated suspension which is also good so the choice is not clear cut.
The choice is vast until you get down to your price and it is really a case of looking round to see what will do the job in your price range. A bit left field but if you are prepared to accept a somewhat more basic vehicle and higher fuel consumption the Sang Yong range might work. At the end of the day though you will be driving far more solo than towing, and you need a vehicle that suits your everyday use and is a decent tow car second. The choice of car is very personal, my choice might be a Mazda CX5 but it might be a bit light for you. You do however get a very good 2l engine which tows very well.
The choice is vast until you get down to your price and it is really a case of looking round to see what will do the job in your price range. A bit left field but if you are prepared to accept a somewhat more basic vehicle and higher fuel consumption the Sang Yong range might work. At the end of the day though you will be driving far more solo than towing, and you need a vehicle that suits your everyday use and is a decent tow car second. The choice of car is very personal, my choice might be a Mazda CX5 but it might be a bit light for you. You do however get a very good 2l engine which tows very well.
Raywood said:
I can confirm that my XC60 made towing the slab-fronted Cadet much easier; the parachute feeling of towing with an estate was gone.
Raywood said:
Was speaking to a chap at the services with CX5; He was towing a T/A Sprite about 1500kg and had no issues, but said he wouldn't go heavier with that car.
CustardAvenger said:
I can accept the effect expressed above but I can't agree with the reasoning behind it.
But this is not the place to expand on those reasons.
Since going back to estate cars (Xc70 now Superb) I’ve realised how spacious and practical they can be, and are nice to drive too. Also overall fuel economy is very good even with 4wd they are significantly better than the 4wd SUVs I’ve had.
We were going to to purchase a XC60 , it hit all the tick boxes unril the boss test drove it. The head rest was not adjustable. So not for us.
EH52ARH said:
A trait of Volvo. Rear headrests now mirror the fronts and are also non-adjustable.
EH52ARH said:
I must be a short ar#e as I can't say that the head rests have ever bothered me whilst driving . I haven't got one on the bus which I'm on for 8 hours a day and when I drive car to I very rarely touch the headrests....
This was car and van fully loaded for the 4 of us for 2 weeks last year on route to Holland . Car suspension barely budged !
Craigyoung said:otherclive said:
This was car and van fully loaded for the 4 of us for 2 weeks last year on route to Holland . Car suspension barely budged !
What’s that got to do with the quote? Your point is?
Didn't realise I had put a quote in with the picture sorry ! But point was no chance of grounding out !
Regarding the perceived aerodynamic benefits of the SUV... here is a pic of my Cadet and V50 at Tebay Services. You can see how upright the front of the van is and how comparatively low the back end of the car is.
CustardAvenger said:Regarding the perceived aerodynamic benefits of the SUV... here is a pic of my Cadet and V50 at Tebay Services. You can see how upright the front of the van is and how comparatively low the back end of the car is.
Yes the outfit is unstable , but easy for me to get into. BTW Craig.
This has many similarities to the wind jammer threads we have discussed at length elsewhere.
Caravan aerodynamics is a black art subject, where there are many opinions voiced with no verifiable evidence available.
Caravan aerodynamics is a black art subject, where there are many opinions voiced with no verifiable evidence available.
If you look at the various Towcar of the Year tests the results between estate, saloon and SUV are varied particularly in the high speed test and lane change tests. The one consistent result is that Discovery is good, if you can afford to buy and run one. Unfortunately SUV now encompasses lighterweight vehicles which when they were originally introduced were actually called Crossovers. SUV was the domain of the Disco, Land Cruiser, Sorento,Shogun etc. These tended to do well on stability but often had shortcomings on lane change.
So like all things in life the decision on what vehicle is best is complex and very much depends on what the needs and preferences are of the one purchasing the vehicle. Me, I yearn for a VW Atlas!!
So like all things in life the decision on what vehicle is best is complex and very much depends on what the needs and preferences are of the one purchasing the vehicle. Me, I yearn for a VW Atlas!!
Just had to Google a picture to see what they were ! Oh very nice Clive ! I'll take the gold'ish one .
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