what towcar?

[maxtherotti]

hi all i have a 1840kg caravan and am thinking i need a better tow car

i currently have a land rover discovery diesel manual (300 tdi not td5) and it just seems to not have enough power for up hill motor way sections etc (there is nothing wrong with it either but 111bhp with 4 tonnes is allways going to struggle)

so what other alternatives are there?

must be a large vehicle so i have space for my large rotti in the back and cope easily with the weight of the van

also i think auto would poss be better too?

are vito/transporter vans worth looking into?

thanks rob

 

[JTQ]

As you surmise you simply have not enough power to travel at at half decent speed; the CC recommended 40 hp per tonne so you need to consider 160 hp or more. I don't think their figure is far wrong.

An auto [conventional torque converter type] will sap probably 15% of the power during hard work which moves the ideal up to about 190hp. A modern one will sap much less when its free running but on the hills it will.

I made the same change from the tdi 300 [Defender in my case]and went for the Disco3 at 190 hp, together with going auto. Even this is arguably slightly underpowered but relative to the 300tdi its a transformation. We tried the Volvo, BMW and VW , but then back in 2004 the Disco outclassed them all for towing our heavy van. The horrendous depreciation these types of vehicle have had recently should make them attractive second-hand purchases.

When dealing with overall weights of this order you are very well advised to think proper auto to avoid clutch damage to double mass flywheels. Refined diesel engines need DMFs but the inevitable clutch slipping needed to start moving the masses involved will in time take its toll if towing forms a significant part of the vehicles usage.

 

[Martin24]

Our rexton does a good job has the 2.7 merc engine and merc tiptronic. Much better performance than our old TD5 Disco, more reliable (so far) too

 

[Allen774]

Hi Rob,

Kia Sedona,Rexton,Terracan,Sorrento are all capable of doing what you want,I myself have a sedona and pull a 1900kg van with no problems.