Towcar for Heavy Caravan

Feb 7, 2007
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Haven't visited this forum for a very long time so please be gentle!!!
We have recently bought a Coachman 545 vip with a mtplm of 1630kg. Therefore we need to buy a beefy towcar. I like the look of the Kia Sorento and, when owners write about them, they seem to give them the thumbs up. But having looked into it further, they can be troublesome and the dealers don't have the best of reputations. Another car up to the job is the Hyundai Terracan which would tow the caravan easily but looks, in my opinion, a little dated. As my husband is quite handy with car maintenance, should we look at a car that he could maintain, such as an older Landrover Discovery? Has anyone got any advice please?? The last thing we want is to buy a car that ends up at best, expensive to maintain and, at worst scrap!!!
Many thanks
Juliec
 
Jul 31, 2010
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I have owned all three models of the Kia Sorento and I can honestly say that they have been very reliable over all
and apart from the standard service cost, I have not spent a penny on any of them. The current model is very economical for a vehicle of its class, cheap to tax and has a 7 year warranty.

Steve W
 
Aug 4, 2004
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It all depends how much you want to spend and whether the vehicle is to be used also for commutting. We have a caravan with MTPLM 1695kgs and use a 1996 Toyota HiLux Surf 3.0L auto diesel for towing and it cost us less than £4000. Generally they are priced lower but this one had less than 70,000 miles on the clock when we bought it in June this year.
Spares are readily available and they are easy to maintain even if you have limited mechanical knowledge. Here is a link to the Surf forum where you can ask all the necessary questions. We have a newish Ford Fiesta for around town and short journeys.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Julie,

Don't fall into the trap that makes people automatically think a 4x4 is the only choice for towing, for a few it might be, but the vast majority would be served perfectly well by a larger car or perhaps an MPV.

Remember that for most caravanners most mileage is solo, so the costs of 4x4 ownership may be an unnecessary millstone.

Its worth thinking carefully, however its all down to personal choice - happy caravanning
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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If you are considering a Land Rover, take a while to read the comments here: http://landroverhell.com/article/4010/
then make a choice.

Kia are generally good, the Sedona will pull your van with no problems and is a very comfrotable car to use, but its big and whilst not extravagant on fuel, is not exactly frugal either.
The 2.9 diesel is a great tow car.

With any make there will be tales of woe, its the nature of cars.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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I had a Series2 TD5 Land Rover Discovery and sold it as it came out of warranty because I did not want to have to be continually spending money and time keeping such an unreliable vehicle going. I then bought an 04 Sorento auto and kept it for nearly 7 years and it did not have anything go wrong at all. It was even good off roading on Salisbury Plain and in France, but not so good as the Disco on that front. The Kia dealer was okay but as it came out of warranty I used our local independant garage where I supplied all the lubs and filters and just gave him the service schedule. I took the latest Sorento out for a test drive when they first came out and whilst it was better on the road with a cracking engine the car had clearly moved away from the mould of the 2003-2010 models. So deciding that off roading was not an essential motoring need I opted for an Xc70 instead. However I am still strongly drawn to a Land Rover for off roading and exploring vague parts of Europe so I have not ruled out getting a Defender....now there's a car that can be maintained for ever from the parts bin!
 
Dec 30, 2009
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Have you thought of the Kia sportage, has a maximum tow of 1600 (up to 2008) but a kerb weight of over 1800 so reduce your payload by 30kg and have the sorrento little brother for a lot less and lower running costs. We have one and pulls our 1480kg caravan very well. Just upgraded to a new caravan to a max weight of 1630 myself, with some careful loading to ensure we dont go over the 1600kg the car is more than man enough to tow it.

Kev
 
Mar 14, 2005
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trucker said:
Have you thought of the Kia sportage, has a maximum tow of 1600 (up to 2008) but a kerb weight of over 1800 so reduce your payload by 30kg and have the sorrento little brother for a lot less and lower running costs. We have one and pulls our 1480kg caravan very well. Just upgraded to a new caravan to a max weight of 1630 myself, with some careful loading to ensure we dont go over the 1600kg the car is more than man enough to tow it.

Kev
There would be no need to reduce the payload by 30kg because the maximum allowable towload (1600kg) is NOT the total weight of the caravan, but only its axle load and that, in the case of a 1630kg MTPLM, will definitely be less than 1600kg.
 
Aug 6, 2008
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Hi Julie,
we have had a 2008 sorrento from new its a brilliant tow car we have a twin axle,we have towed in france for month then 5weeks later towed to barcelona for another month no problems what so ever.i keep it forever the newer ones are a lot lighter so i dont think they heavy enough for my van.services can be expensive so shop around,bare in mind if you bought a sorrento and you wanted to change your caravan in the future would never have to worry about weight as sorennto will tow anything of normal size.
ALL THE BEST Alan p/t
ABBEY GTS 2009 KIA SORRENTO 2008
 
Nov 6, 2005
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trucker said:
Lutz, if the max tow is 1600 and the van is 1630, why would you not need to reduce the caravan weight to 1600???

Kev
Because the noseweight has to be included in the car's load so is excluded from the towing weight.
 
Dec 30, 2009
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Thanks Roger, so if I understand correctly, my nose weight of 75kg can be subtracted from the overall weight I have the caravan at, and if that is below 1600 thats ok???

Kev
 
Mar 14, 2005
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RogerL has got it right, but to try to make it even clearer I would just like to add that the maximum towload is defined as the caravan's axle load, not its total weight. The car is, after all only towing the axle load. It is carrying, not towing, the noseweight. The total weight is the sum of the load towed and the load carried.
 
Aug 23, 2009
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my old pajero was pretty reliable and overall my rexton has been too. my td5 disco was an absolute money pit and disco 3s are heading to the scrap heap beyond economic repair. Currently have a 110 defender SW on order, but we only use the 4x4 for towing and pottering so the fuel costs are not too much of a worry. Welcome to the world of Coachman, hope you enjoy it.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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seth said:
So were does the weight of the actual axle go then,or doesnt it matter?
When talking about axle load one does not mean the load sitting on the axle but the load that the axle applies through the wheels to the ground. In other words it includes the weight of the axle itself.
 
Mar 10, 2006
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I don't see how you can say its ok to tow a caravan weighting 1650kg, with a car that has a towing limit of 1600kg, if 50kg is the nose-weight.
As far as I'm concerned your still pulling a 1650kg caravan.

While at the same time saying in a thread sometime back, that it wasn't correct to load a caravan with a MTPLM limit of 1600kg,( just for a example), with 1650kg, provided 50kg was applied to the car nose weight.

I don't see any difference?
 
Mar 10, 2006
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Juliec said:
Haven't visited this forum for a very long time so please be gentle!!!
We have recently bought a Coachman 545 vip with a mtplm of 1630kg. Therefore we need to buy a beefy towcar. I like the look of the Kia Sorento and, when owners write about them, they seem to give them the thumbs up. But having looked into it further, they can be troublesome and the dealers don't have the best of reputations. Another car up to the job is the Hyundai Terracan which would tow the caravan easily but looks, in my opinion, a little dated. As my husband is quite handy with car maintenance, should we look at a car that he could maintain, such as an older Landrover Discovery? Has anyone got any advice please?? The last thing we want is to buy a car that ends up at best, expensive to maintain and, at worst scrap!!!
Many thanks
Juliec
Go 4x4, modern 4x4 systems do more than just give extra traction.
Read this link. click or scroll to read how different systems work.
Interestingly the Quattro has some 6 versions.

http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-10863_7-10007878-2.html?s=0&o=10007878
 
Mar 14, 2005
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RAY said:
I don't see how you can say its ok to tow a caravan weighting 1650kg, with a car that has a towing limit of 1600kg, if 50kg is the nose-weight.
As far as I'm concerned your still pulling a 1650kg caravan.

While at the same time saying in a thread sometime back, that it wasn't correct to load a caravan with a MTPLM limit of 1600kg,( just for a example), with 1650kg, provided 50kg was applied to the car nose weight.

I don't see any difference?
If the caravan weighs 1650kg in total then the car is only pulling 1600kg. The remaining 50kg is being carried as noseweight.
Of course it's not permissible to load a caravan with an MTPLM limit of 1600kg with 1650kg, but that same caravan could be pulled by a car with a 1550kg towload limit so long as the noseweight is equal to or exceeds 50kg. The MTPLM limit is absolute and must never be exceeded.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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The regulations are quite specific and the relevant paragraph states, quote, "2.6. ‘Towable mass' means the mass of the trailer towed excluding the vertical load on the coupling point of the towing vehicle."
Besides, it is only logical that the above is the case. Otherwise, one would be counting the noseweight twice when calculating the gross train weight.
 
Mar 10, 2006
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Its not logical to me.

If you think back, i asked if i could load my Valencia with a MTPLM of 1565kg, by say the nose weight, for a figure 100kg.
So then i could then load to 1665kg.
The answer came back as no.
Really i see no difference, isn't the max weight limited only by the caravan axle limit, so if 100kg is on the car, only 1565kg is on the axle, (which is rated at 1600kg anyway).
As i understand it, if I'm pulled up by the law, usually only the axle weights are checked, which also gives a gross train weight.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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RAY said:
As i understand it, if I'm pulled up by the law, usually only the axle weights are checked, which also gives a gross train weight.
Yes - and the caravan axle load will be checked against the car's permissible towing limit as well as the caravan's limit - the noseweight will have already been included in the car's rear axle weight and checked against it's permissible Axle 2 limit.
Checking the axle weights is exactly the reason that noseweight is excluded from the towing weight.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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RAY said:
Its not logical to me.

If you think back, i asked if i could load my Valencia with a MTPLM of 1565kg, by say the nose weight, for a figure 100kg.
So then i could then load to 1665kg.
The answer came back as no.
Really i see no difference, isn't the max weight limited only by the caravan axle limit, so if 100kg is on the car, only 1565kg is on the axle, (which is rated at 1600kg anyway).
As i understand it, if I'm pulled up by the law, usually only the axle weights are checked, which also gives a gross train weight.
No! If your Valencia has an MTPLM of 1565kg, then that is an absolute limit and you cannot load it to 1665kg. If 100kg of that is on the car, then the car is actually pulling only 1465kg.
You are correct, however, in stating that if you are pulled up by the law, usually only the axle weights are checked. Assuming you are making full use of the 1565kg MTPLM, then the axle weight of your Valencia would be 1465kg. The remaining 100kg would be taken care of when measuring the axle weights of the car.
 

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