tow car what to do?

[Peter_374304682]

my set up is a nissan 2002 nissan terrano and a 07 Pageant Burgundy 1400kg the car is a great tow car, its just the fuel bills, (and the road tax)i do about 10k a year so thats £2800 approx in fuel, so heres the question can any one suggest an estate car that will do the job, i have 10k max inc my trade in to spend, any cars i should or should not be looking at ? or for safety reasons should i stick with the 4 x 4

thx

P

 

[Colin_374358138]

Hi Peter,

Consider two things:

1) Most importantly. What terrain will you be going on. If you go to spangly sites where all is flat and tarmac / gravel / well drained firm gorund are plentyful then a 2wd estate would do you fine. If however you only 'rally' like me. And your terrain is sloping, sometimes muddy and slimy then you may need a 4*4 - certainly there are situations where I simply could not pull my caravan across the ground I want to cover with only a 2wd car. This weekend just gone was a good example.

2) Fuel cost. All cars use a lot of gas when towing. Yes 4*4's tend to use a lot but this is because they are heavy. Depending on your choices 4*4 need not be a disaster compared to a large 'car'. Crysler Voyager people carriers drink petrol for example but they aren't 4*4's. Also the effect is further minimised by the fact that you are a low mileage user. The only real way to tell the financial difference it to calcualte it. For example 10k miles at 20mpg and 10k miles at 25mpg at

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi peter

it is fair to say that I am no great lover of 4x4s however even I would have to accept that they do have there place and uses, with such a large and relatively heavy van to tow, it would be hard to find a estate car that saved all that much in overall cost over the year perhaps something along the lines of a 19tdi passat might do it though.

have you thought of using a second car that is cheap to run when not towing, some of the small eco cars are only

 

[Frank_374237154]

Why not split the difference and buy something like an Audi A4 or A6 Qattro (4 wheel drive) estate?

My 2003 A4 Quattro Sport Avant 1.9TDI tows my Pageant Vendee without effort,as far as John o'Groats from Devon in my case.

Each Audi has a factory calculated weight,in my case 1632kgs.I had my Bailey up plated to 1350kgs,which is an 83% match,yours would be an 86% match.Saloons and non 4 wheel drives weigh much less,so ask to see the cars service manual which will have a sticker in it containing details of its actual weight.

My solo mpg reflects the twice daily school run and similar cold starts,however I rarely get less than 35mpg over a tankfull,with a lot more on long runs.Towing I seem to get 26-28mpg.

Running costs are fine outside the main dealer network:mine is serviced by a local VW/Audi specialist,the last service costing

 

[Peter_374304682]

Why not split the difference and buy something like an Audi A4 or A6 Qattro (4 wheel drive) estate?

My 2003 A4 Quattro Sport Avant 1.9TDI tows my Pageant Vendee without effort,as far as John o'Groats from Devon in my case.

Each Audi has a factory calculated weight,in my case 1632kgs.I had my Bailey up plated to 1350kgs,which is an 83% match,yours would be an 86% match.Saloons and non 4 wheel drives weigh much less,so ask to see the cars service manual which will have a sticker in it containing details of its actual weight.

My solo mpg reflects the twice daily school run and similar cold starts,however I rarely get less than 35mpg over a tankfull,with a lot more on long runs.Towing I seem to get 26-28mpg.

Running costs are fine outside the main dealer network:mine is serviced by a local VW/Audi specialist,the last service costing