Towcar choice assistance please

[ThreeLions]

I'm returning to caravaning after a number of years away. Have many happy memories of holidays in Spain and weekends away with my mum and dad and more recently with my own family. But then my 3 children got to big, I have 3, to use my Dad's two berth any longer!

But now we are looking to get back into it and have started to look at new vans. Cos we're based in Kent, we haven't been able to see much so far but are off to the NEC next week to have a good look round.

But my question for this forumn is more around what towcar. We like the look of the Bailey Pageant Bretagne (maybe even Pegasus 546) or Coachman 570/6. Not sure why but am avoiding twin-axles. So need a car that will tow a large and heavy single axle. So up to 1600kg MTPLM. Second selection criteria is that I want to avoid traditional 4x4s. Final criteria is that it must be an estate to carry all the junk my growing familty seems to need.

Currently I have an Audi A6 Avant, which I love. Current model is only a 1.9, so my prefered option is to get a slightly heavier model. So I'm considering an 3.0 or 2.7 Quattro Avant. The Quattro because it adds a little weight and the 'intelligent' 4x4 portion might come in handing towing or when we go skiing. Have also considered the slightly lighter E280 or 320 Mercedes or BMW 530D, which has self-levelling suspension.

I have a few questions

1) Anybody out there got expereince of towing with an A6 Quattro Avant? I am slightly concerned about the ride height as it seems a bit low.

2) Based on the above, does anybody have experience of the S-Line models, which are 15mm lower but have harder suspension I believe

3)Any comments on Audi vs Merc vs BMW? Any other options?

Thanks for the help.

 

[xtrailman]

paddy

i had a 2000 year, A4 1.8t quattro estate, a smaller A6 if you like?

Anyway it had the lowered sports suspension, which you mentioned, the car was a good tow car, BUT obviously care had to be taken on bumpy CLs, and road humps solo, in addition the wide low profile tyres were prone to tramlinning on the motorway.

I know you don't want a old school 4x4, who does?, but cars such as my xtrail even in auto transmission select, rarely use four wheel drive, and full time front wheel drive is a option.

Nose weight limits should also be given some thought, the Q5 for example only has a 80kg nwl.

 

[Martin24]

Why avoid a 4x4? Know someone that towed their lazer with a A6 allroad and got a rexton which is at the oposite end of the spectrum quality and class way but is the better tow car. We tow our amara 560 with a rexton too.

As an aside if your having a single axle the 570 amara is better than the 3 bunk layout of the other brands and is more useable especially with height of the bunks and headroom to the bunks. if you go to twin axle 640 amara is a cracker.

 

[ThreeLions]

Ray, Martin

Thanks for the comments so far. I should point out that I'm not against 4x4 technology, just trying to avoid having a great big lump of a car for the 6 or 7 times a year that I need it to tow the van.

I'm sure some people would say buy a van that fits your vehicle and I seem to be taking the other approach.

Maybe the best option is to sell the kids on e-Bay then I can get a smaller van behind my Audi and I'll be happy

 

[Glenn_5132962]

I tow a S7 Pageant Bretagne with a Jag X-type estate 2.2d. It's very stable & has plenty of torque. Hills dont bother it at all & its been totally reliable. I also think that you get better equipment levels than you get with the German competition & they cost less. Max towing weight is 1500kg & nose weight is 75kg but thats enough for the Bretagne.

 

[tonybur]

I tow a S7 Pageant Bretagne with a Jag X-type estate 2.2d. It's very stable & has plenty of torque. Hills dont bother it at all & its been totally reliable. I also think that you get better equipment levels than you get with the German competition & they cost less. Max towing weight is 1500kg & nose weight is 75kg but thats enough for the Bretagne.

I used to tow a bailey provence with a shogun,the only problem you have to drive a shogun once its unhitched.i changed it for an a4 avant tdi 170 bhp manual 2.w.d. expensive mistake.

too much power to get off the line smoothly but pulled like a train.small dmf means it is very easy to stall.px'd it for a 3.0 le mans tdi a6 saloon auto and quattro swapped the van for a wyoming,get 24+ mpg towing and 42 steady cruise.awesome towcar and even better when solo.the paddle change on the box is very usefull going down hills expensive but comes with lots of toys...the dealers are useless though