tow car citroen c5 2008

Aug 29, 2007
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Hi we currently have Tabbert juenesse single axle and we have pulled this with a citroen zara picasso we are thinking of changing this to a C5 does any one reccommed the C5
 
Apr 26, 2005
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Hi David,

Up until last month I always used a Citroen C5. I can recommend because of the suspension, which will always stay level and is very comfortable.

Our last C5 was an estate, they have a button inside the boot that allows the back of the car to be lowered, so loading heavy objects is easier.

I would go for the diesel engine, 138bhp as these seem to be 'bombproof' and rarely need topping up with oil (I think Ford are using these engines).

Good luck,

Ron.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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Hi,

my neighbour has a S5 Pageant Vendee ( 1400kg ish) and tows witha C5 hatchback. He praises it as an excelent towcar, and so far it has been very reliable.

Other Clive
 
Nov 29, 2007
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Hi

I've towed for the last 4 years with a 2.2 138bhp C5 estate. It's a superb towcar and if you use the cruise control you'll be suprised at the increased fuel economy, especially in France, where you can drive for 100's of kilometers without touching the brakes. I've just changed 'vans and now tow at about 90% but the outfit is rock steady.

Chrisbee
 
Apr 12, 2008
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Hi

I've towed for the last 4 years with a 2.2 138bhp C5 estate. It's a superb towcar and if you use the cruise control you'll be suprised at the increased fuel economy, especially in France, where you can drive for 100's of kilometers without touching the brakes. I've just changed 'vans and now tow at about 90% but the outfit is rock steady.

Chrisbee
Very dear friends of mine have just bought, this last fortnight, a brand spanking new C5 1.6td and a brand spanking new Bailey Senator with the Virginia end bed layout.

Luckily they bought the old model c5 at 1503kg kerbweight with hydraulic suspension with a 75kg noseweight capability, rather than the new model which will only take 55kg. However the max permissible braked trailer weight for the C5 1.6td is 1300kg and 1370kg for the old/new and 2994 gross train weight.

The Virginia is 1295kg MRO and 1495MTPLM.

The figures that scream out at you from the page, is that the maximum the car may tow is 1300kg and the caravan naked as it was born from the manufacturers is 1295kg. That is unless a few shavings more per part of the overall structure can be added to the whole.

So; up to two and a half bags of sugar can be added to this setup before it becomes illegal then, and from a total of 196kgs the remainder to add up to the gross train weight of 2994Kgs. That is 191kgs in the car. As a passenger of mature years and the dog with a few paltry items needed on site that don't leave much, do it? Let alone getting the noseweight correct with our bags of sugar.

Lunacy? Criminal stupidity?

Well no.

The dealer, apparently, who I believe sold them this brand new caravan, so they say, it could of course be slightly second-hand, assured them with the aid of his computer, so it must be true then, that if they bought a brand new 1.6td Citroen C5 it would be ok.

We hear stories of unscrupulous dealers miss-selling their product, I wonder if this is one of those times.

I would very be very grateful if some knowledgeable soul would point out how wrong I am and then I needn't worry so.

The few words I muttered and the reaction to shut me up leave me in no doubt that our friendship would be severely strained should I attempt to speak out of turn with unwelcome advise. Non of my business, and why should it be, except that I was approached for advise before the car was bought and I said that the 2.2td with gross train weight of 3816kgs would with the hydraulic suspension be just about adequate and the setup was in four wheel drive territory.
 
Apr 12, 2008
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Very dear friends of mine have just bought, this last fortnight, a brand spanking new C5 1.6td and a brand spanking new Bailey Senator with the Virginia end bed layout.

Luckily they bought the old model c5 at 1503kg kerbweight with hydraulic suspension with a 75kg noseweight capability, rather than the new model which will only take 55kg. However the max permissible braked trailer weight for the C5 1.6td is 1300kg and 1370kg for the old/new and 2994 gross train weight.

The Virginia is 1295kg MRO and 1495MTPLM.

The figures that scream out at you from the page, is that the maximum the car may tow is 1300kg and the caravan naked as it was born from the manufacturers is 1295kg. That is unless a few shavings more per part of the overall structure can be added to the whole.

So; up to two and a half bags of sugar can be added to this setup before it becomes illegal then, and from a total of 196kgs the remainder to add up to the gross train weight of 2994Kgs. That is 191kgs in the car. As a passenger of mature years and the dog with a few paltry items needed on site that don't leave much, do it? Let alone getting the noseweight correct with our bags of sugar.

Lunacy? Criminal stupidity?

Well no.

The dealer, apparently, who I believe sold them this brand new caravan, so they say, it could of course be slightly second-hand, assured them with the aid of his computer, so it must be true then, that if they bought a brand new 1.6td Citroen C5 it would be ok.

We hear stories of unscrupulous dealers miss-selling their product, I wonder if this is one of those times.

I would very be very grateful if some knowledgeable soul would point out how wrong I am and then I needn't worry so.

The few words I muttered and the reaction to shut me up leave me in no doubt that our friendship would be severely strained should I attempt to speak out of turn with unwelcome advise. Non of my business, and why should it be, except that I was approached for advise before the car was bought and I said that the 2.2td with gross train weight of 3816kgs would with the hydraulic suspension be just about adequate and the setup was in four wheel drive territory.
 
Dec 9, 2007
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I HAVE A CITROEN C5 2.0 HDI AND IT PULLS MY CARAVAN WITHOUT A PROBLEM MY VAN IS 1125 IN WEIGHT AND THERE IS 4 OF US JUST THIS WEEKEND I WENT DOWN TO MABLETHORPE NEAR SKEGNESS AND MY AVERAGE MPG WERE 31.5

THE CITROEN C5 HAS A BUTTON IN CENTRE OF THE CAR TO LOWER THE CAR THIS MAKES VERY EASY WORK WHEN YOU WANT TO PUT THE VAN ON THE CAR ALSO THE DRIVE OF THIS CAR IS SO SMOOTH DUE TO ITS

SUSPENSION CITROEN NOW LET BENTLEY MOTORS USE THERE SUSSPENSION

THE 2.0 HDI IS CHEAPER ON ROAD TAX THAN THE PICASSONOW THERE IS A BONUS
 
Aug 25, 2006
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I think you had better contact the Volkswagen group pronto Peter, as it would appear that someone is going around fitting olio-pneumatic suspension to their prestige cars without them being aware of it.

Or you exist in a parallel universe.

The Bentley Continental has air suspension, as do certain models from Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes etc,etc, which is wholly distinct from the olio-pneumatic system fitted to (a very limited number of ) Citroens. The test reports on the new Citroen C5 (which does look rather nice especially in estate form) appear to be heavily in favour of the metal-sprung version which seems to handle and ride better as well as being cheaper.

The only other cars I can recall running an oil/gas set-up were the Austin Metro and Allegro, albeit not in a system pressurised by an engine driven pump.
 
May 7, 2008
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hi!

i know someone with a citroen c5 2.2hdi sx estate and it is fantastic! they got around 40 mpg solo, with plenty of power to get uphill. the legendary citroen suspension which is run on electric motors, can be lowered or raised in the boot with a single button, which is great for hitching up. it has a huge boot, bags of storage space inside and is very comfortable. it is stable in tow and averages around 31mpg towing.

Another citroen to consider is the new c-crosser. i haven't seen a tow test for it yet, but it is 4-wheel drive, which can be switched onto 2-wheel driver on the road for economy. Citroen claim that it has a 2000kg towing limit!
 
Apr 12, 2008
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i agree guys, the 2ltr and the 2.2ltr td models must be great.

my friend however is towing a senator virginia of 1495kgs with the 1.6td of 1503 kgs kerbweight. the mro of the caravan is 1259kgs. the max braked trailer weight permissable is 1300kgs. so 41kgs in an otherwise empty van.

why?

the disc supplied to dealers by towsafe says this car will tow 1500kgs! citroen uk have written to me saying that the towsafe data on this car is inncorrect.

the dealer said to me, that 'he was frankly horrified that such a match should be contemplated'. he tried to talk them out of it but had to relent in the face of the towsafe data. he is now going to firstly contact towsafe then has the onerous task of informing his customers that they have an unsuitable towcar. he had tried to comply with the 'duty of care' aspect of being a dealer to the letter.

there's much more to this sorry tale that beggers belief in the unbeleavable difficulty in trying to get towsafe to do things in a responsible and professional way.

that is a tale that needs telling.

terry
 
Apr 12, 2008
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sorry, i should have added this bit to the last post.

i asked towsafe by to contact the dealer but twice they insisted i did that for them and get him to contact them.

me, a mere member of the public!

astounding, but one of many incidents over this matter that make me shake my head in wonderment over the performance that i had to endure with towsafe. oh by the way, after i offered to send the dealers name and telephone number they bounced my next email back with a denied access message. lol. more to come.

terry
 
Mar 14, 2005
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The tow margin is not 5kg, as you describe, but 5kg + noseweight. Not much, admittedly, but perhaps just about enough for the odd item inside the caravan.
 
Apr 12, 2008
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hi lutz,

it's the middle of the night and i'm not getting it. bit brain dead. lol.

could you explain how that works please.

thanks

terry
 
Mar 13, 2007
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hi terry

I share your frustration trying to explain to someone totally bereft of reason about towing large caravans with inadequate tow cars BUT it's their money so let it go. just go the other way when their out.(and let the rest of us know so we can keep out of there way also,)

we had a longish debate about this not too long ago if you remember and I am in total agreement with you on the subject.

now where were we, oh yes! nose weight, what lutz is refering to is the fact that the noseweight ie,75kg can be knocked of the gross weight of the van when towing and added to the car, that is to say the lowering the mtplm of the van by the nose weight and adding it to the cars payload this does not alter the cars max gross vehicle weight but distributes the nose weight from van to car.

clear as mud eh??.mmmm, here is an example:-

I have a bailey 380/2 2001 model mtplm 1058kg (875kg empty)according to the hand book.

when looking for another towcar I found a rover 45 2.0ltr td top spec model that looked perfect, low milage, top class,

electric everything! I just loved it, BUT!! when after doing a bit of research found out the rover's max tow weight is only 1000kg (all models) in spite of the fact that it was only a 81% match the van was 58kg over weight.

so I abandonded the idea and bought a megane 1.9dti instead thinking the rover would be illegal to tow with.

but later found out that is was not, bummer!! why well because the nose weight of 75kg is deemed to be part of the cars payload (like luggage in the boot) and therefore can be knocked off the trailer weight also after recieving some e-mails back from rover and bailey found out that the 2001 380/2 is only 1021kg mtplm due to component changes and the rovers payload was a massive 450kg after deducting 1000kg trailer weight from the cars max gross weight.

I hope this explaines it.

colin
 
Apr 12, 2008
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hi terry

I share your frustration trying to explain to someone totally bereft of reason about towing large caravans with inadequate tow cars BUT it's their money so let it go. just go the other way when their out.(and let the rest of us know so we can keep out of there way also,)

we had a longish debate about this not too long ago if you remember and I am in total agreement with you on the subject.

now where were we, oh yes! nose weight, what lutz is refering to is the fact that the noseweight ie,75kg can be knocked of the gross weight of the van when towing and added to the car, that is to say the lowering the mtplm of the van by the nose weight and adding it to the cars payload this does not alter the cars max gross vehicle weight but distributes the nose weight from van to car.

clear as mud eh??.mmmm, here is an example:-

I have a bailey 380/2 2001 model mtplm 1058kg (875kg empty)according to the hand book.

when looking for another towcar I found a rover 45 2.0ltr td top spec model that looked perfect, low milage, top class,

electric everything! I just loved it, BUT!! when after doing a bit of research found out the rover's max tow weight is only 1000kg (all models) in spite of the fact that it was only a 81% match the van was 58kg over weight.

so I abandonded the idea and bought a megane 1.9dti instead thinking the rover would be illegal to tow with.

but later found out that is was not, bummer!! why well because the nose weight of 75kg is deemed to be part of the cars payload (like luggage in the boot) and therefore can be knocked off the trailer weight also after recieving some e-mails back from rover and bailey found out that the 2001 380/2 is only 1021kg mtplm due to component changes and the rovers payload was a massive 450kg after deducting 1000kg trailer weight from the cars max gross weight.

I hope this explaines it.

colin
hi colin,

yes, let it go; indeed, i must.

the dealer knows all and may consider it wise to inform them; or not, we shall see.

got it with the noseweight thingy. i just love it when some new info comes my way. i'm an anarak for this stuff. thanks.

terry
 
Apr 12, 2008
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should have 'replied to topic' not comment, i suppose. sorry.

my reply is:

i colin,

yes, let it go; indeed, i must.

the dealer knows all and may consider it wise to inform them; or not, we shall see.

got it with the noseweight thingy. i just love it when some new info comes my way. i'm an anarak for this stuff. thanks.

terry
 

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