Help please for newbie

ianatcove
ianatcove Forum Participant Posts: 1
edited March 2020 in New to Caravanning & Touring #1

Hi everyone

My wife and I are about to enter the world of caravanning and I must admit we’re going round in circles. We’ve been round the showrooms, trawled the web sites read the reviews and spoken to seasoned van owners.

Our problem is that we’ve fallen in love with one van but don’t know if our car (and my limited towing experience) would be up to the task.

The van is a 2015 Lunar clubman SI (currently residing at a reputable local dealer) and we’re reliably informed that the MTPLM is 1465. Now I’ve checked, and the maximum towing weight of our Volkswagen Touran 1.4 is 1500 so on paper things seem to match. 

My question (and sorry for taking so long to get here) is, am I crazy looking at a van this close to my max towing weight? I have a fair bit of experience towing trailers but none towing caravans.

Hope you can point me in the right direction.

 

Comments

  • Amesford
    Amesford Forum Participant Posts: 685
    500 Comments
    edited March 2020 #2

    If you go on line and search for caravan/car  outfit matching, select the make, model and year of the caravan and car and it should come up the answer. 

     

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,134 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2020 #3

    I would say it is far from a sensible match especially for someone who is not an experienced caravan tower. The car is neither heavy nor powerful enough in my opinion. I do not believe it to be a good match at all.

    Towing a huge white box of a caravan is different from towing a low trailer. A caravan will be much more affected by side winds and turbulence from passing traffic and I seriously doubt that the Touran would be man enough to control a sway. Sorry.

     

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 6,828 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2020 #4

    My rule of thumb has always been big car + small caravan.

    Towing my Eriba with a 2.2 litre diesel Land Rover might seem taking things to extremes, but it sure solves a lot of problems. 

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,663 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2020 #5

    I would agree, I would not want to be towing anything above around 1300kg MTPLM with your Touaran going on what some matching sites say.

    What are the various weights of the car?

    Kerb weight

    Max gross vehicle weight

    Max train weight

     

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited March 2020 #6

    A 1.4 engine isn't going to be up to towing anything beyond one of those mini teardrop type vans IMHO. If you are set on anything other than the smallest of vans, get a heavy car and an engine with some grunt.

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited March 2020 #7

    What’s the nose weight, that could be problematical as well

  • DaveT
    DaveT Forum Participant Posts: 174
    100 Comments
    edited March 2020 #8

    All good advice above. As a newbie, I would be inclined to stick to the club's recommended guidelines and not exceed 85%. I don't know the weight of your car, but I suspect it is not in the region go 1685Kg. We all usually start out thinking that we will only be using the combination on sunny dry days. Trust me, when the weather does it's worst you will be grateful of a heavy car with good stability, torque and power. I recommend a diesel if you are using an engine of 2 litres or less. My own preference is for automatic transmission since I find it easier and more relaxing. Some prefer manual transmission, whatever you feel comfortable with. If you like VW, there are a number of models in the range that would be suitable. Do check the nose weight limit of whatever you will end up buying as some cars have ridiculously low allowances which might mean that you are unable to sufficiently load the Tow ball and thus risk stability of the outfit. 

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