Has any one created a spread sheet of past Tow Car of the year cars, say for the past 10 years and then compared the second hand value of the Towcars. This would help greatly to chose a Tow Car.
Tow Cars
- Thread starter Peter_5112786
- Start date
- Mar 14, 2005
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Frankly, I think this Towcar of the Year thing is a farce. I get the impression that the car industry has a strong lobby in the voting for this title. There are certainly a lot of good towcars that never made it and others that did but which I would consider no better than average.
Lutz,
Fully agree with you regarding TOTY. The groupings are based on vehicle type, whereas we as caravanners are more interested in the weight any particular vehicle can pull. If I have a van of a certain MTPLM, then I want to know what can pull it, not having to search all the sections to find out kerbweights etc. They also only use the top of the range models, which have gizmos, and prices, that most people never bother with. Some manufacturers have abandoned participating in it, as they feel it is more trouble than it is worth, especially if they get a poor write up.
The website 'Whattowcar.com' is probably the nearest thing we currently have to anything that will allow you to look at various vehicle/van combinations. It isn't perfect, because for starters it tells you nothing regarding fuel consumption. Yes, I know a Jaguar XJ8 will pull anything, but neither will it ever pass a petrol atation, so on practical terms is not that good.
Fully agree with you regarding TOTY. The groupings are based on vehicle type, whereas we as caravanners are more interested in the weight any particular vehicle can pull. If I have a van of a certain MTPLM, then I want to know what can pull it, not having to search all the sections to find out kerbweights etc. They also only use the top of the range models, which have gizmos, and prices, that most people never bother with. Some manufacturers have abandoned participating in it, as they feel it is more trouble than it is worth, especially if they get a poor write up.
The website 'Whattowcar.com' is probably the nearest thing we currently have to anything that will allow you to look at various vehicle/van combinations. It isn't perfect, because for starters it tells you nothing regarding fuel consumption. Yes, I know a Jaguar XJ8 will pull anything, but neither will it ever pass a petrol atation, so on practical terms is not that good.
PC may be able to help - they print "top towcars" in the buyers guide and although only for current models they do have an archive.
They used to grade with stars and my current tow barge, a LWB Trooper, was selected on the basis of the 5 stars plus the info given.
As Scotchlad says most of us input the MPTLM to arrive at a minimumum kerbweight which narrows down the search - a spreadsheet for every TCOTY going back 10 years could easily be put together from CC archive data but as has been said what would be the point.
They used to grade with stars and my current tow barge, a LWB Trooper, was selected on the basis of the 5 stars plus the info given.
As Scotchlad says most of us input the MPTLM to arrive at a minimumum kerbweight which narrows down the search - a spreadsheet for every TCOTY going back 10 years could easily be put together from CC archive data but as has been said what would be the point.
TCOY is a pointless award. It's only open to new models so based on a 6-year model change, the award is based on 17% of the available new choice to consumers. The marking system is different each year so cars still in production, but introduced in different years, can't be evaluated against each other.
We all choose cars using different criteria. Towing ability is important to us but there are a number of other, equally important, factors dependent on the other uses that a vehicle is put to beside towing.
Still it gives various journalists something to write about and a good jolly.
Sorry PCV you don't do caravanners any favours on this one.
We all choose cars using different criteria. Towing ability is important to us but there are a number of other, equally important, factors dependent on the other uses that a vehicle is put to beside towing.
Still it gives various journalists something to write about and a good jolly.
Sorry PCV you don't do caravanners any favours on this one.
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