My take is the OPs current BMW is still within load limits for his new caravan proposal. Why not go ahead and use the BMW for a few tows and see how you feel. Better than splashing out £20 k on something which is unknown to you.
Thank you everyone for offering advice, we respect and appreciate all the comments. While looking for a new caravan recently, everyone of the dealerships we visited discounted our current vehicle as a suitable tow car for the Bailey i.e. kerb weight too low.
We definitely wouldn’t be comfortable using it as a tow vehicle, so will need to compromise on something.
We definitely wouldn’t be comfortable using it as a tow vehicle, so will need to compromise on something.
I have to say that virtually any of the bigger SUV's will tow the caravan without problem to the point where that is not the problem. As others say the main point has to de you have to live with it on an everyday basis and therefore finding one you can live with is more important. Possibly you need to look at a shortlist of the suitable models, see how they fit into your lifestyle and test the top three to see how you get on with them.
Despite what others say about BMW the only one I have driven was 5 series and I did not like it. Personal taste is simply that and we all look for different things in a car.
Possibly with a second hand model, making sure you get a good one is more important than the make.
Despite what others say about BMW the only one I have driven was 5 series and I did not like it. Personal taste is simply that and we all look for different things in a car.
Possibly with a second hand model, making sure you get a good one is more important than the make.
From what the op has said I would try towing with the old car before changing to another,, although I'm a SUV fan myself, on my fifth now.
A Tiguan at 1755kg kerb weight.
A Tiguan at 1755kg kerb weight.
Many recently announced models are lower kerbweight than their predecessors as makers reduce weight to improve emissions, by reducing fuel tank size, omitting spare wheels and using higher strength steel which is thinner.
Thank you, yes, unfortunately finding the true kerb weight of any vehicle seems nigh impossible unless you actually take it to a weigh bridge! We’ve noticed that they are getting lighter but we’d be buying a 3 to 4 year old vehicle probably, definitely not new. Great advice, thank you.
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HI Grador, If you enter car and caravan details into one of the outfit matching sites, such as https://towcar.info/outfitmatch.php it will give you at least a very good idea: it's still important to validate though before a purchase.
Thank you that’s very helpful. We’re thinking of an X3 and I was hoping to find someone towing a similar outfit or someone with the same caravan who could tell what they’re towing with. 😊
From BMW purchasing experience, admittedly before the X3, I would be checking that any particular used X3, comes with the same additional towing prep features, a factory fit would come with.
Just like my VW - I think Skoda use the same fitting as well.
If you aren’t towing for quite a while do you periodically activate it to make sure it will work okay. I had a Powrtouch powered mover on a previous van but it wasn’t consistent and occasionally stuck or stalled. So when we bought this van I opted for the simplicity of the Powrtouch Classic hand actuated.
If you check out the platform, floorpan and drivetrain, the A6 Allroad is just a lowered Touareg/Q5 - so of course it will tow well.
I’ve had 2 BMW with the electrically automated towbar, fantastic bit of kit and worked faultlessly, the last Q5 had the manual retractable towbar, as Jezzer says, press a button and it drops down, pull to clic in place, very hit and miss in use and usually needed a tug to drop down.
Kev
Kev
No, I don't test it periodically - due to illness and now Covid we've had two years without using the caravan, each with 16 month gaps - during my illness the car wasn't used at all and although I ran the engine once per month the battery still went flat.
Thanks. My neighbours Nissan GTR is continuously getting a flat battery through little use. He used to go to work 2 days a week and it’s exhausts could vibrate the windows. Fortunately Covid has left him working totally from home so no more 0545 rattles. Every cloud etc🤐
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