What to do

[Peter_5129011]

I have been offered a rather old caravan (20years i ithnk) for free, other halfs parents have boufght a new one and we have first refusal on their cast off (gratis free etc etc).

Trouble is I have a choice of vehicles (lucky me), the house hack "99 1.8 Freelander (113k miles) or my work car 05 A4 TDi estate. Now I've never towed before so I'm guessing the "hack" is the best car to leanr with, but how capable a car is the 1.8 Freebie, I suspect it could pull the skin off a rice pudding, but I might be wrong.

 

[Lutz]

You don't give any information about the caravan to go by so one can't even say whether either of the two cars are legal, let alone suitable.

 

[Peter_5129011]

You don't give any information about the caravan to go by so one can't even say whether either of the two cars are legal, let alone suitable.

Ahh even though I've stayed in it I never paid to much attention (sorry but all caravans tend to look the same to me). All I know is it's 20-25 years old, a 2 berth err, err it's beige , they tow it with a 2.3 Frontera oh it has Colcester written on it, no idea if thats the manufacture, model, place of birth.

It's stored round the corner from the family's regular camping spot, so if i can't tow it it's not a huge problem, I was just wondering if I could be a lil bit more adventurous.

I don't doubt for a second that I could attach my house to the back of the A4 and it would happily dragged it around the country for me, just wondering how useful the freebie would be.

 

[Peter_5129011]

Hmmm I'll try..

20 to 25 years old

err

Biege

has Colcester written on it

2 berth

It's stored from the regular family holiday spot, but I'm wonder if I can be more adventerous, I'm guessing the Audi will tow it no trouble, and the Freebie will do it but now where near as comfortable.

 

[CliveV]

We have a 2001 Freelander 1.8 owned from new with 33k miles. Pleased to hear that yours has achieved 113k miles! If you believe the "tooth suckers" and the "you don't wanna do that" brigade - every 1.8 expires from head gasket failure well before 100k miles! LOL!!!

However - never been tempted to tow anything with ours - we use it as an excellent long distance car that can deal with wet grass/mud/muck and most off road conditions with ease.

The Traction Control, ABS and Hill Descent Control are excellent. All work far better than I thought they would and dragged my Luddite "whats wrong with Dif Lock and a transfer box" mind into the modern era.

As Lutz says - without an idea of what you are towing I would be very cautious. The 1.8 makes for a very economical medium sized 4x4 but the TD4 is the variant of choice for towing.

As for the Audi - I love them as cars - had three as company cars and thought they really were the dogs danglies. However, fairly useless, as all front wheel drive cars tend to be in slippery conditions, as a tow truck in my experience (unless you have a Quattro).

Now sits back to hear about how someone towed a twin axle up Kilimanjaro in a 1.3 Vectra.

LMAO!!!!

 

[Peter_5129011]

We have a 2001 Freelander 1.8 owned from new with 33k miles. Pleased to hear that yours has achieved 113k miles! If you believe the "tooth suckers" and the "you don't wanna do that" brigade - every 1.8 expires from head gasket failure well before 100k miles! LOL!!!

However - never been tempted to tow anything with ours - we use it as an excellent long distance car that can deal with wet grass/mud/muck and most off road conditions with ease.

The Traction Control, ABS and Hill Descent Control are excellent. All work far better than I thought they would and dragged my Luddite "whats wrong with Dif Lock and a transfer box" mind into the modern era.

As Lutz says - without an idea of what you are towing I would be very cautious. The 1.8 makes for a very economical medium sized 4x4 but the TD4 is the variant of choice for towing.

As for the Audi - I love them as cars - had three as company cars and thought they really were the dogs danglies. However, fairly useless, as all front wheel drive cars tend to be in slippery conditions, as a tow truck in my experience (unless you have a Quattro).

Now sits back to hear about how someone towed a twin axle up Kilimanjaro in a 1.3 Vectra.

LMAO!!!!

As an aside the Freebie hasn't had a blemish free history, head gasket, been there, eats centre electrodes on the distributor I know the first signs and get a new cap before it gets too bad, a few other little hiccups here n there, but once you get away from the LR dealer network and find a garage your trust it's all good fun.

In a way I prefer it to the Audi, the Audi is too efficent too souless, and the dealers attitude stinks. I don't really care if "all TDis do it, the battery is a little under powered to turn the engine over" it shouldn't have to be cranked for over a minute over like a Marina on a wet day to start in the morning, and it especially shouldn't do it with the "driver information system" predicting everything upto an including the end of civilisation.

*rant over*

Apparently the caravan is 27 years old and is a 2 berth fleetwood colcester.

 

[Ian.L]

Hi Peter

If I were you I would keep off the 1.8 freelander its a no no dont go there,we had one 4 year old had just turned 53000 on the clock we had just got back a week early and what happened the head gasket went what a headbanger I and my good lady were gutted then got told to get rid got it fixed went to trade it in and what happened it bloo again on the way to the garage so had to trade it in the way it was lost a lot of money so every time i see the 1.8 freelander you know its goner blow or has been fixed to blow again so stick to the other choice.Ian.L

 

[Peter_5129011]

Hmm so maybe plan C, keep it in storage for now, save the pennies to get an ok condition Pre 73 series III or II?

(personally, if a 2nd head gasket went that quickly, I'd be asking questions of my spanner man, if it was a LR main dealer I'd be running towards the service desk waving a burning torch and a pitch fork.)

 

[CliveV]

Agreed - whoever did the work was a muppet.

These engines are sought after by those who race in that catagory for their strength and reliability.

The REALLY stupid thing Rover did (amongst others) was to stick the thermostat up the front end of the engine as opposed to on the exit.

Think about it!

Cool water in hot water out - where do you fit the thermostat if you want the engine to remain at a sensible temp?

Wrong! - Rover in its wisdem decided that being able to demist your windscreen within 5 seconds of starting was more important than the life of the engine itself and stuck the thermostat where it would allow the engine to reach self destruct temperatures in seconds of start up.

Land Rover stuck in a remote thermostat for its post 2001 models and fitted a stronger gasket which more or less solved the problem. But they still put it in the bottom hose!

But in my opinion a true remote thermostat in the top hose is the only cure, and these are avialable from those that REALLY know this engine for about