What makes a good tow car?

[sparkes]

OK, lots of new people around and looking for advice so I thought we could put together some ideas of what makes a good tow car.

My thoughts are:

Diesel is better than petrol for a similar engine size as they produce their power lower down in the revs and also use less fuel

Turbo's will always help on the motorway

4x4's will always help as they are heavy (normally) and have lots of traction. BUT beware that they are normally more costly to run day in day out.

The shorter the distance between the back wheels and the tow hitch, the better.

ALWAYS remember that whatever tow car you select. You will probably have to use it day in, day out. Don't go for the best tow car you can get if it does not fit on your drive or you can not live with 23mpg around town.

Any other ideas?

 

[emmerson2]

Agree with all your points steve, but as our American cousins say "there ain't no substitute for cubic inches". Go for the most powerful, heavy vehicle you can afford to run.As a pensioner, I find a classic Range Rover V8 on LPG does it for me>

 

[DavidW1]

At first thought this is a "how long is a piece of string" question or even a wind up trap, no offence Steve.

Bin towing for donkeys years now with all sorts of cars, vans, and trailers and have even towed large aircraft - basically Emmerson is right, the biggest, heaviest most powerful combination within a given class of vehicle is always going to be a good towcar.

I have suffered the swaying, rocking, sagging back spring antics of modest Family cars attempting to haul ancient Glendales when the family were young to the frantic wheel spinning of modern high performance cars trying to cope with todays high tech mobile palaces:the basic story doesn't change though i.e., a vehicle which allows a weight ratio greater than 85% for ones van, ideally about 60%for me, with rear or 4 wheel drive for the best traction, an estate type body for the dog and all the kit, automatic with cruise control for ultimate easy control, LPG or diesel power for economy and enough power to drag at least 2 tonnes with ease.

If you get it right then towing a van becomes the stress free pleasure it should be rather than "will it get us there, will it stall if I have to stop on this hill or oh dear it poured last night will we get stuck in this field"

Personally I've settled on the large 4x4 solution for the "good tow car" but the common denominators are achievable with respected rearwheel drive vehicles such as Merc and BMW and the now superceded Omega.A FWD vehicle, in my opinion, will always be compromised as a good tow car and can never compete equally.

 

[Guest]

Tend to agree that this question is not defined sufficently to correctly answer. If you are looking at purely the technical side of things then the comments given above are probably correct. However, most people have to look at towing as only part of their normal lives covering a 365 day cycle and then the definitions become vaguer. Most people have to define their useage of the caravan, does it account for more than 50% of their annual driving? This is unlikely for the majority of people, and so most people look for a vehicle that satifies their normal day to day use, and can be used to tow the van when necessary, even if it isn't perfect. Nobody in their right mind would use a 4x4 to use for daily shopping trips and 2 weeks caravan towing per year. It just isn't economic. If you are doing 100+ days per year then there could be more justification on putting towing ability at the top of your options list. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a Ferrari Testarossa, but recognise that it ain't really ever likely to happen.

 

[Lol1]

All good advice, but I wouldn't rule out front wheel drive. Chances are that if you're on a muddy pitch the road will be closer to the front wheels. Engine weight above the driven wheels and no transfer of weight to the rear ones because you're going too slowly.

 

[Lol1]

Tend to agree that this question is not defined sufficently to correctly answer. If you are looking at purely the technical side of things then the comments given above are probably correct. However, most people have to look at towing as only part of their normal lives covering a 365 day cycle and then the definitions become vaguer. Most people have to define their useage of the caravan, does it account for more than 50% of their annual driving? This is unlikely for the majority of people, and so most people look for a vehicle that satifies their normal day to day use, and can be used to tow the van when necessary, even if it isn't perfect. Nobody in their right mind would use a 4x4 to use for daily shopping trips and 2 weeks caravan towing per year. It just isn't economic. If you are doing 100+ days per year then there could be more justification on putting towing ability at the top of your options list. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a Ferrari Testarossa, but recognise that it ain't really ever likely to happen.

People don't just buy their 4x4 for towing Scotch Lad. I myself control the weather with mine, I don't know how, but since I started driving 4x4s I have had no reason to use it on the road due to bad weather conditions. Sure as eggs are eggs though as soon as we get a rear wheel drive or front wheel drive car, we'll get a foot of snow!

 

[Guest]

People don't just buy their 4x4 for towing Scotch Lad. I myself control the weather with mine, I don't know how, but since I started driving 4x4s I have had no reason to use it on the road due to bad weather conditions. Sure as eggs are eggs though as soon as we get a rear wheel drive or front wheel drive car, we'll get a foot of snow!

You don't live in Aberdeen do you?

 

[Guest]

The old rules are still valid. If you use reverse gear then you are using the lowest ratio and the driving wheels will be pushing the car. I admit that although my car is now... only just, a front wheel drive it was not really through choice. The old rear wheel drive was a better tow vehicle, it just ran out of life.

 

[Steve L]

Well I supose a car that is capable of compromise, because your not going to get a good tow car that is also a good shopping car or good for the school run.

Front/rear wheel drive or 4 wheel drive they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

The bigger the car the more problems parking it.

It's all down to choices and compromise.

I wanted a bit of a sporty car that would carry two labradors and tow the twin axle caravan, but I also like sailing. Ended up with a Laguna 2Ltr estate with a roof rack for the boat. The wife won't let me put the dinghy trailer on top of the boat on the roof rack.

So I might get an inflateable sailing dinghy instead.

See what I mean about compromise and choices.

steve.

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I can understand your comments regarding the boat and trailer. My brother is a very enthusiastic member of the British Steel Sailing Club at Port Talbot and has a Solo class boat. He tows the boat with a 2.0litre Rover 75 Estate. His wife will not let him put the boat on the roof and reluctantly allows him to put the sails in the car. He often goes away on weekend regattas with the boat in tow but never on the roof.

 

[mcghee]

Tell him to leave his wife and get a bigger boat. His wife won't let him, indeed. Jeez

 

[Steve L]

I can understand your comments regarding the boat and trailer. My brother is a very enthusiastic member of the British Steel Sailing Club at Port Talbot and has a Solo class boat. He tows the boat with a 2.0litre Rover 75 Estate. His wife will not let him put the boat on the roof and reluctantly allows him to put the sails in the car. He often goes away on weekend regattas with the boat in tow but never on the roof.

I think what done it was when we had a renault 18 estate. We had a 14 foot van behind a dinghy on the roof rack and then the road trailer on top of the dinghy, on top of the car.

The boys in blue kept getting cricked necks looking at us. We often joked about having a "this way up" sticker on the car.

 

[DavidW1]

Well there we go , off the subject again, the original Q was what makes a good tow car?

Of course there will be compromise but look at the question another way. Forget the car for a moment - what's our dream van or even what van do we need to fulfil our needs? i.e. how many births, fixed bed or twin axle etc. and thus how large/heavey is it. Where do we want to go - touring sites with all mod cons or CL'forestry type places "off the beaten track"; Hopefully you can see where this is going by now.

What is a good towcar for some people simply fails for others either because it isn't powerful enough and cannot take the "dingy sails" or it gets bogged down every time it goes off the tarmac.

A large offroader, just because it can tow anything anywhere is not automatically the "best towcar" althgough most owners of such would insist that it is!

A lot of us come unstuck( no pun intended)in the vanning game because we go out and buy a nice shiny new van and then find the current car copes less than well at dragging it about.

It's been said before but I'll say it again - chose a car to tow the van and not the other way round - that way you will get a good tow car. The argument, that for the majority of the time the car is not towing so it doesn't matter if it's an indifferent towcar for the ocasional towing trip is not valid. To me vanning is a major interest/hobby and I don't want to spoil the fun by straining the engine, clutch transmission and overloading the brakes of my car to tow a van that is near the limit or beyond it's capapbilities.

So in my humble opinion the best towcar is an individual's choice but with all the rules applied and then some.