Everyday runabout and occasional towcar dilemma
I'm looking for advice. We need a car that will act as our towcar when we go away, but whose main use will be commuting (20 mins) to work in town. We've been advised that such a short regular trip makes diesel look like a bad option (better for longer trips),
so were looking at petrol instead. Vauxhall insignia 1.8 vvt looked okay until we started reading bad reviews of it as a towcar. We can't afford to run two cars, so this has to be a multi purpose vehicle. We're looking at spending about £8k, and we're hoping
we can get something reliable and lowish mileage for that. The van is quite light (1200kg laden), so it doesn't have to be a huge car.
So something that is a compromise between efficiency on short urban journeys, but able to tow between half a dozen and ten times or so a year (including a few hundred miles to France, Scotland etc)
Comments
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I have towed with several cars with petrol engines main..ly Vauxhall and never had any trouble with them. You have to remember though they will need far more revs to set off and are less flexible because they produce their power at higher revs. They will
also use more fuel but this is balanced by lower initial costs.Provided you get one with enough power and weight you should have a decent tow car rather than the absolute best.
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I have towed with several cars with petrol engines main..ly Vauxhall and never had any trouble with them. You have to remember though they will need far more revs to set off and are less flexible because they produce their power at higher revs. They will
also use more fuel but this is balanced by lower initial costs.Provided you get one with enough power and weight you should have a decent tow car rather than the absolute best.
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2 cars spring to mind with the added benefit of 4WD/AWD too. Both far more able than the 1.8vvt which you rightly mentioned is underpowered for the weight of the car, although you get so much car for the money with the the Insignia.
1. Vauxhall Insignia 2.0T SRI 4x4. Currently on autotrader. 59 plate. 42k miles for £7,495
2. Subaru Legacy 2.0RE AWD. Currently on autotrader. 57 plate. 49k miles for £5,000
Both get low 30s real life mpg in normal driving and expect 20-25 mpg towing which is perfectly reasonable. They both fit the bill nicely
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We regularly run our deisel to/in/around town on much shorter journeys than 20 miles. OK, we do long journeys too but never had problems.
Just looked at The Car People and our local branch has an 11 reg Insignia 2.0Cdti Sri with 41k miles up at £7.799 Claimed mileage as Extra Urban 72mpg and combined at 58mpg. Towing capacity 1600kg.
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