Towcar of the Year winner announced
The brand new ŠKODA Kodiaq takes the 2018 Caravan and Motorhome Club Towcar of the Year crown. Take a look at the best of the best from this year's Tow Car of the Year.
Comments
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I like the Kodiaq in principle it would be the perfect replacement for our Audi Q3. In my personal opinion though they got off to a bad start with the car from a towing point of view.
Some models cannot tow at all and the nose weight isn't consistent across the range. Some are 75kgs, others are 80 kgs and then there are cars with a more sensible 100 kgs. So if buying one you need to be absolutely sure of what your ordering and what you will get.
From memory a 7 seater 150 BHP Diesel isn't homolgated for towing.
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Not electric then, Rowena, ?
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This doesn't surprise me in the least !
As a Kodiaq owner towing a Compass Rallye 540, it is worthy of all the plaudits.
I am surprised that they tested with a 7 seater with a relatively low nose weight of 80kg. I would argue that the 5 seat versions (if you don't need 7) would be even better with an improved nose weight of 100kg and a better Max towing mass of 2500 kg. Plus, it's cheaper and with 1g less on the CO2 emissions is £300 cheaper to tax in year 1.
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Is this the club's way of bowing to the green lobby. a vehicle costing £63,460 that does not have the option of any kind of spare wheel winning its class, pathetic! Having had two irreparable punctures in the last twelve months I would not entertain a vehicle without one.
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how can you have a TOWCAR OF THE YEAR if you don't test every car on the market. its just the group picking what they fancy driving and putting quite light vans on the back. I'll take what the say with a pinch of salt and do my own matching and testing.
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They test the cars that manufacturers enter into the competition. If they ain't entered, they ain't tested. If manufacturers are having a sales drive on particular models, they enter them for the competition. It's all pretty meaningless.
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As I understand it, the tow cars have to have had a modification or up-date from the last year to qualify for entry, or have the rules been changed
?? { As a motorvan man I only look at 'em so I know what to browse round if / when I win the Eurolottery tonight 
! ( £166 million or something to night 
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You can acheive 75kg noseweight on virtually any van - just depends how you load it - and in any case as previously mentioned some Kodiaks have limit up to 100kg.
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I haven't seen anywhere that the Kodiak can in some cases take 100kg - if that's the case I stand corrected.
As far as 'You can acheive 75kg noseweight on virtually any van' - well, that may be the case but in the real world it don't work that way, many vans 'natural' noseweight is > 75kg and taking stuff out or restowing it to achieve < 75kg is a hassle and if taken to extremes can be unsafe.
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Moving a few KGs around is not extreme - anyway not necessary as the 4X4 5 seat versions as previously mentioned have a limit of 100kg which is more than many other cars
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Now that I have realised you can get a Kodiak with a 100kg noseweight limit can any one tell me if the factory towbar has sensible clearance from the bumper for UK caravan towing (ie with a Alko stabilised head on the hitch) and if it rides level or nose up/down with the factory towbar. Why do the CC not mention such things, they are kind of important.
Many thanks in advance
I am looking for a new tow car and considered the Kodiak but straight away dismissed it I thought it had 75kg limit thanks to the CC car of the year test. Wonder how many car sales Skoda will lose because of this?
Why did the CC test that version? Don't they know anything about caravanning and what is needed.
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The Alko max loading is indeed 100kg and that is an acceptable limit for a serious towcar. My current car for example (which I now am thinking of keeping) is 150kg which allows a couple of electric bikes on a towball mounted rack without encroaching on the Alko limit.
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Do you have a Twin axle Dave, my BPW single axle with WS3000 is only rated at 100kg. But looking at other specs for Elddis they state 150 kg for some twin axle caravans.
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No, its a single but the plate on the 'A' frame and hitch states 150kg, Lunar only had a one year run of BPW for my model and has reverted again to ALKO. Can only guess there might have been a hiccup in the usual supply line and took whatever was available.
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OK, I though for a moment I might have been lucky with mine
Bit of a result for you though
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So what does Tow Car of the Year tell us? As usual it says that a car costing £27000 is the best tow car (or £35000 and more for a Range Rover etc etc.). How does that help the vast majority of us who could never dream of owning cars of these prices? I know that many reading this could buy one in a flash but most could not. So how do we respond to the news that that is what we need? Go green with envy and wait a number of years until we can afford a second hand one? (and feel we have a less than perfect life in the meantime?). It's a pointless bit of information for most of us that some people who are paid just to have something to say put out. I have a car that cost what I could afford and a very nice caravan in which we enjoy brilliant times. My car tows perfectly for me and I never wish "ooh I wish I had this or that better car". A pointless exercise for me and I suspect the majority of other caravaners. Rant over
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I watched the YouTube video of how this years tow car was tested. Out of all the people doing the tests, I think the youngest person must have been in thier mid 50’s and ages going up into thier 70’s. As usual, the CAMC are allergic to the next generation of caravanners. It would have been nice to see tow car tests of ease of getting children into car seats and room for buggy with awnings in a boot. But CAMC would t think of this as it would encourage young families to go caravanning which CAMC really don’t want!
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Same old same old TCOTY.....just look around your average site to see what makes a good towcar. How a conclusion can be arrived towing only one make of van and all Bailey at that. Notorious for iffy nose weight etc. Just not a real world test imho.
Tj
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Like 'Fysh' its a car with 150kg loading and my van is on a BPW chassis with a Winterhoff WS3000 hitch that has a rating of 150kg also.
