Having bought what I thought would be a good tow car about 2 years ago I now find that a Zafira can only tow up to 1050kg. This only came to light when we finally got around to looking for caravans.Though you see plenty towing on the road i'm now told my 2.0 DTI isn't up to the job of pulling a decent sized 4 berth. Has anybody got any thought's on this before I go and trade the Zafira in ?
Towing with Zafira's
- Thread starter AndyB_5039996
- Start date
Hi Andy, we had a 1.6 petrol nice car but with a max tow of 1100kg not a lot of use, but at the time we had a Avondale 5 berth max weight was 1100kg. and the then 2.2 has a max of 1400kg's the 2.0dti has a max tow of 1050kg but a very good engine. Our 1.6 was ok but very slugish on hills and the wind was not much fun. If you are looking at a fairly new van then it will be a hard job to find one within your weight limit.We took our van to Wales 18 months ago and that enough to make me want to change the car. we changed to a Vauxhall Frontera 2.2dti 16v better MPG (42 solo 26mpg with the van on witch is now a Avondale 640-6) the Frontera is a very reliable 4 x4 and it is not too expensive too own. Best of luke with your search.TTFN
Hello Andy, The way manufactures assess the towing limits of thier cars is quite complex, but in essence when you put a caravan on the back of a car you are almost doubling the mass that has to be got moving. This involves the engine working much harder, and when it does, it gets hotter. There are other features such as how it performs on hill starts which puts the clutch and gear box through its paces and of course can the brakes stop the outfit. When they did the test on the zafira they came up with the comparitively low figures you have discovered. It has been a popular model, but unfortunately if you exceed thier published limit you will be illegal and could be prosecuted.I hope that when it is due for redesign, they put a higher priority on the towing capacity.
Hi Andy, I was in the same situation as you but found that my Zafira 2.0Dti tows my 4 berth Bailey quite happily with no problems. However you can not load the van with an awful lot and have to be very careful with weight distribution but provided you carry stuff in the car as well and dont exceed the plated and train weights you should be fine.
Andy, We have the 2.0Di - so lower bhp than the DTi, and have had 2 vans that we have towed with it. Yes the hills in Cornwall were slow, but it will tow at 60mph (on the flat) without too much difficulty.
Considering we only tow the van for about 3 weeks per year, changing it for something different seems silly - for us - as we really benefit from the 7 seats in a smallish car - most importantly - that the wife can park without crashing! So for us the disadvantage of the "slow" towing, and the difficulty initially in finding the vans is outweighed by the usefulness of the whole package.
Both of our vans have been 4/5 berths but are older, 1976 & 1986, but were both under 1000kgs loaded on the road, so everyone was happy. HTH SteveB
Considering we only tow the van for about 3 weeks per year, changing it for something different seems silly - for us - as we really benefit from the 7 seats in a smallish car - most importantly - that the wife can park without crashing! So for us the disadvantage of the "slow" towing, and the difficulty initially in finding the vans is outweighed by the usefulness of the whole package.
Both of our vans have been 4/5 berths but are older, 1976 & 1986, but were both under 1000kgs loaded on the road, so everyone was happy. HTH SteveB
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