Towcar weights

[vardenais]

can anyone help please? My new Mondeo only shows the gross train weight on the vehicle and not the kerb weight - this is not anywhere in the handbook either. I spoke to the dealer and they got me the figures from the Ford website and basically, the kerbweight of the car means I can only tow a 1350kg caravan (its a 2 ltr turbo diesel estate!) as the gross train weight on the car says 2000kg, the figures on the website don't make sense! Surely, the heavier the car, the more it can tow? When I questioned this with the dealer, they said, go by the figures on the car. Can anyone make sense of this?

regards

Aileen

 

[Jimbob1]

Hi Aileen,

If I were youI would stick to what the ford website says,there are plenty of good sized caravans that you purchase up to 1350kgs,getting a caravan up to 2000kgs to be towed by your new mondeo would knock the guts out of it.Perhaps someone else will come up with some other idea's but I wouldn't push it myself.good luck Jimbob.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Aileen,

The figures you have quotes don't seem right. I think you must have miss read then or looked at the wrong ones. 2000Kg for the Gross Train weight I am sure is wrong, but it is model and variant specific.

Most manufacturers do not print the kerbweight on the car, they usually print

Gross Train weight (largest value)

Gross Vehicle weight(next largest value)

Front and Rear axle weight limits (Two similar values about half of the GVW)

Now the other factor that may well limit your choice of caravan is your Driving licence. Up to Jan 1st 1997, all drivers were automatically gibe cat BE which relates to cars and towing.

Since Jan 1997 new drivers were only given the B part and that limits drivers to trailers that do not exceed the unladen weight of the car or up to the max towed weight which ever is lower.

New drives can extend their capacity by taking the B+E extension test.

I have checked the database I use for Mondeo data, and whilst it lists the 07 -onwards designs, it does not show their towing capacities, so I cant help you with specific data.

 

[Lutz]

Yes, the gross train weight of 2000kg quoted for the Mondeo can't be correct. The Ford website gives figures between about 3600kg and 4300kg depending on engine variant. The 2000kg is most probably the gross vehicle weight, not the gross train weight.

 

[vardenais]

thanks for your help - will go back and look again - I had the same model before - this is a new one and I towed an Abbey GTS with the old one. However, I am looking at buying a new caravan and wanted to check weights before I go looking at vans.

Something somewhere isn't right but it could be my eyesight !!!!

Aileen

 

[waffler]

Two weights are important. Kerb weight gives you the recommended max caravan weight, i.e 85%. You can find this at http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/ford/mondeo-saloon-2007.aspx?page=7 choose you model and go through "more figures". The gross train weight is the total weight of car and any caravan. That can be found on the car plate, see handbook. This letter figure includes all people, fuel etc. Two other figures to check are nose weight, see handbook and max tow weight see handbook. Amazingly some big cars have low tow limits because of the gross train weight and the number of people it can carry.

 

[Lutz]

The kerbweights given in ANY database, including the Parkers one mentioned above, can only be taken as a rough guideline and not as absolutely accurate. Expect actual figures to differ by up to 100kg.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Two weights are important. Kerb weight gives you the recommended max caravan weight, i.e 85%. You can find this at http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/ford/mondeo-saloon-2007.aspx?page=7 choose you model and go through "more figures". The gross train weight is the total weight of car and any caravan. That can be found on the car plate, see handbook. This letter figure includes all people, fuel etc. Two other figures to check are nose weight, see handbook and max tow weight see handbook. Amazingly some big cars have low tow limits because of the gross train weight and the number of people it can carry.

Hello Waffler,

85% is not the maximum recommended tow weight, it is only a suggested guideline. The actual maximum recommended tow weight is the figure the car manufacture states in their specifications.

Having said that, it is always wise to keep the trailer as light as possible.