VW Passat Estate 1.4 TSi GTE (Electric/hybrid) DSG
Wondered if anyone has any experience or views of towing with this car. Have looked at tow weights (1600kg) / kerb weights and it all stacks up to be able to tow our caravan but just wondered about any practical experience or advice of towing with this car. do people tow with any other cars using similar hybrid technologies - what's it like?
thanks in advance.
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Personally I would be doubtful that a 1.4TSI would make much headway powering a Passat solo let alone towing but I put my hands up and admit I have no practical experience. Presumably the cars weight will be higher than a conventional TSI due its hybrid nature.
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Is this model Passat actually certified for towing? A number of hybrids aren't.
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Hybrids generally make poor tow cars and are heavy on fuel when towing. The electric power works for only a short time and is very economical if you do lots of short journeys, but on longer ones you are basically just using the conventional engine and a 1400 cc engine is likely to struggle with all but the lightest of caravans. I have no experience of the Passat but the Outlander has a reputation for being heavy on fuel when towing.
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My last tow car was a 2 Ltr SAAB 9-5 with 150 BHP and similar torque to the VW due to the turbo......obviously adequate for any roads.
Those figures are very much industry standard for 2 Ltrs so the much more advanced VW should at least be reasonable.
My first tow car was a petrol with 75 BHP and towed 1000Kg perfectly well all over Europe this was before all the mountain passes were bypassed.
My 3500 Kg Motorhome manages all of Europe easily with 84 BHP.
Good Luck
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I think people live in the past to a certain extent. And the output from engines today Petrol and Diesel are vastly different from those 20 or 30 years ago.
If the OP had asked do you think that the Passat GTE is the best tow car money can buy? Perhaps the answer would be different, what he did ask was for experiences and I don't think any of us actually have towed with this car and He asked would it be able tow his caravan and answer in my opinion is yes probably. Obviously a diesel push out huge amount of torque might be better. But then again maybe he doesn't want the tax and pollution implications.
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I doubt sales volumes are yet sufficient to have any caravanners amongst the owners/drivers, let alone are also CC and CT members! the fact that few hybrids are type approved for towing and those which are (save for Range Rovers and Porsche Cayennes) have much reduced towing limits suggests to me they are not yet suitable for towing anything other than a small van. I personally would love to go hybrid however even the owner of a nearby very large Mitsubishi dealers advised against the Outlander PHEV in favour of the diesel version for towing. I understand the attraction of the tax benefits, especially for the business buying the vehicle which get 100% tax relief on purchase cost..... without that I doubt EV's and Hybrids would get any sales in the UK.
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With the pressures on vehicle development going this way and some early examples now being available it is high time the clubs sought to test them in a caravanning role; we all need or might soon need the insight.
Having a couple of years back had to suffer a hired Prius for a holiday in the not totally flat Dorset countryside, and that was only used solo, then the technology needs massive improvement. The achieved fuel consumption in that terrain was awful. I accept it was a very early attempt at building a hybrid.
Contributor, Lutz for a while used a hybrid , Lexus???, though I note has now changed.
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Thanks for your responses. I am fortunate enough to be able to have a choice for my company car although this choice is somewhat restricted because of certain criteria including CO2 caps. This means if I want to use this car to tow, my choice is further restricted to a Volvo V60 D4 diesel or the Passat GTE petrol/hybrid. Because of tax liabilities and wanting to support minimising environmental impacts, if it would do the job I prefer the Passat. Alternatively I go with what is proven & go for the Volvo? Decisions, decisions.
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Understand, i agree putting the hybrid issue aside, the Passat is generally the far nicer and better car. However i would be wary of going for what is effectively a small and potentially underpowered petrol engine (forget the battery, that will do nothing for towing) in a large heavy car. Is the Volvo type approved for towing? Some eco specials are not.
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I am also referring to the OP's other option - the Volvo. However A review of the Passat along with hybrids from Volvo, BMW and Audi has just appeared on the Autocar website. The VW compares favourably but towing ability is not covered. Personally the power of the engine at 113bhp would worry me in a car weighing over 1.7tonnes, let alone adding a caravan into the equation. The power/weight ratio is poor. Yes he did ask for experience, clearly there isn't any so I along with others are offering suggestions and advice to help the OP avoid a potentially expensive mistake. One day I will probably have a hybrid but not until experience demonstrates they are suited to towing over long distances.
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Interesting thoughts. We to are looking at the Passat GTE and the Mitsubishi PHEV. I have posted a request for towing views on the PHEV. Drives very well solo. Cannot find one with a tow bar to try.
I thought the GTE had a quoted combined bhp of 218 ?
I have test driven the car and it was very impressive. I currently drive a Passat Estate138bhp blue motion which pulls our Bailey Verona very well.
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Just ordered a merc e350e plug in hybrid. 1915kg kerb weight and 2100kg tow limit. With a 2.0 litre turbo petrol and good torque figures the numbers stack up as a good alternative to the passat. Only available as a saloon at the moment but I'm sure an estate will follow at some point.
not as expensive as it sounds with the basic SE model fairly loaded with standard kit coming in at a similar cost to the Passat with equivalent extras loaded.
looking forward to see how it tows (I have a 3.0 D BMW X4 at present) and take delivery of the merc in April, I will report on the tow after my planned trip with the van in June.
anyone else have one ?
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The latest Practical Caravan Mag. compares petrol to diesel a VW Tiguen TSI v TDI. The outcome was that whilst the petrol was not far off the diesel pulling the caravan the fuel consumption made the diesel the better bet 30mpg v 20mpg. The hybrid using a petrol engine must with its extra weight due to batteries only fare even worse when towing. I guess on that basis it rather depends on how many miles you will be towing in a year. We will tow for around 5000` this year so a petrol hybrid on fuel consumption alone is a non starter. Now a diesel hybrid not completely dismissed by VW could be another matter entirely.
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I'd have thought that the overall running costs of 30mpg vs 20mpg on a vehicle that's only doing 5000 miles a year would be negligible compared with the purchase price of the vehicle. 😞 Does the diesel or petrol engine ever power the wheels direct? Some (e.g. Vauxhalls Ampera) just use the engine to power a genny which then drives the wheels electrically.
Just asking ....... 😊
(my tow car struggles to do 30mpg solo)
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