4 wheel or 2 wheel drive?
Hi all, I currently use a 2016 BMW X3 to tow my caravan.
Will maybe change cars next year & was just wondering is it always good practice to buy a 4 wheel drive car when towing? My thinking is if I was stuck in wet weather in a field for example, or is a rear-wheel drive just as adequate?
Cheers Tony.
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Depends how much you go into wet fields! "Off-road" tyres on a two wheel drive (rear wheel drive, of course) can be a lot better than four-wheel-drive on tarmac slicks.
If it is grass pitches on a Caravan Club site you will not be alone and it is fairly certain some other member will have a decent off-road vehicle there. For remote and lonely CLs, well, . . . . . .
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Ok, thanks for the reply, pretty much what i thought, just wondered if anyone has experience of towing without 4 wheel drive.
Cheers.
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I'm sure that many/most manage ok with the virtually default FWD of most cars around these days. I'd only owned RWD tow car up until I bought my current permanent 4x4. Remember that many of the '4x4' SUVs on the road are predominantly FWD until they slip and then the rear drive kicks in.
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Apart from LRs, it’s all we had back in 'the good old days'.
So much depends on the type of 4wd that it’s almost impossible to answer your question. Selectable, full time, intermediate diff, predominantly fwd or rwd or equal distribution……
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4WD is supposedly better for towing.
4WD are generally heavier than equivalent 2WD versions.
4WD on a softroader with low profile tyres is a useless as a 2WD on slippy stuff.
For pulling a van off soft stuff you need a proper 4x4.
I have a big heavy proper knobbly tyred 4x4. Have I ever needed it to preform in its off road role, no. Have fellow campers benefited from its pulling power, yes. Therein lies the solution, there is always someone on site who has a mud plugger willing to help.
I have one due to physics. Its heavy, damn heavy, and was designed to pull (and importantly, stop) up to 3.5T and this makes towing stable and safe.
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Cheers, thanks for the replies, think i'll stick with 4 WD.
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agree with your statement + when the beast from the east was here what got all the hgv's and others out of the snow, nurses to work and carers to the elderly, the 4x4 owners yet what will they do when there is less and less when they ban the oil burners. moan over.
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I suppose a question for the OP is whether he has a mover on his caravan? If so that will usually get a caravan out of most situations providing the jockey wheel doesn't sink into the ground. I had three 4X4 SUV's when I had a caravan plus many years ago a 4X4 Vauxhall Cavalier! I can't think of many situations where I needed the 4X4 element to get me out of a difficult situation. Persoanlly I would prefer to tow with a larger SUV type vehicle than a saloon car as I find them much more comfortable to drive.
David
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When I bought my Touareg, three years ago, I specified the Escape model, which not only is a proper 4x4 but also has a low ratio box, diff locks and raised/stiffened suspension as standard. I have also recently fitted all terrain tyres. To me it's the perfect tow vehicle and has got me and others out of all sorts of potential trouble on wet grass pitches in winter. Sadly, this model has been discontinued by VW, so I shall be hanging on to it for a while.
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won't there be less and less snow as we all permanently fry?
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I managed fine with front wheel drive and all weather mud and snow tyres until 3 winters ago - i got completely stuck on grass which was covered in a thin layer of slushy snow. Had to get the farmers Xtrail to pull out the 'van. So I now have a Passat Alltrack with p/time on demand 4wd combined with all weather tyres and which copes admirably. However the vast majority of caravanners across Europe and the UK tow with their front or rear drive cars without a problem so you need to decide what is important to your use of and style of caravanning.
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not where I go....
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I bought my first 'part-time' 4x4 Tiguan last year, after 35 yrs of mainly fwd. The reason - weight without unwieldly proportions.
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There is no doubt that four wheel drive is best when the towing is on wet or muddy ground so if you rally it is probably the best choice. If you normally drive on sites with hard standing on no problem pitches then two wheel drive will manage. Having a motor mover on board I found I could use that when we were on a muddy site with a lot of wet grass to cross on one occasion. It all depends on if you want the extra costs and weight of a four wheel drive and if you think you will need it.
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Bought our first SUV 5 years ago. A Kia Sorento KX3 with intelligent 4WD. Wish I'd bitten the bullet sooner. No regrets, as we use CL's and CS's and have never become stuck towing our 1.6 tonne van onto or off a pitch, even onto a pitch at the top of a site reversing on grass during a storm. No slipping, no problem - easy. This with the car fitted with standard road tyres too. Knobbly tyres granted give better grip, but my how noisy they are on roads where they do most of their running between sites. Also, during the "Beast from the East" I found the tyres I have fitted were fine in the snow in Kent, although I did have the traction set to 4WD on hill ascent and descent. Added bonus is the higher driving position too.
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Thanks for all the replies, think it makes sense to stick with 4WD,
cheers Tony.
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Having had 9 4x4s and a similar number of 2wd towcars in every case 4wd is better. Both for traction off the mark on a wet road and slippery sites especially CL's.
In defence of SUV's I have had 5 big beast low range type towcars, 1 4wd car and 3 SUV's towing twin and single axle caravans. Subjectively the SUV's feel more stable and assured at speed on the road than the beasts and with an 8+ speed auto box you rarely need a low range. The advantage in efficiency is what sold SUV's to me 18-22mpg towing 28 mpg solo for a big beast to 27mpg towing and 45mpg solo better efficiency with the same BHP, a little less torque on the SUV. Oh and the £500+ / year road tax!
There are big differences in SUVs capability and they should not all be put in the same pigeon hole, for a rare example some of the recent Jeep Cherokee 4wd SUVs do have a low range option and 2400Kg max tow with 120Kg noseweight which is a bit different to a "normal" SUV of < 2000Kg tow and 80Kg ish noseweight.
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