CC Towcar of the Year
Just received this month's mag and see the Towcar of the Year is the VW Passat Alltrack. I've had one from new for six months and can highly recommend it. Despite their problems VW still make excellent cars. I have the factory fitted swivelling towbar
which is the best piece of kit I've ever specified.
Comments
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I've been trumpeting the ability of the Passat for several years, I'm on my second one, which is a 2.0ltr Estate and am just as enamoured.
At last, a TCoTY which is big enough to pull a reasonable sized van, unlike in previous years with kerb weights of 1200 or so.
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Agree,
Perhaps the club has realised that they lose credibility amongst caravanning members when they make underpowered lightweight toy cars the towcar of the year. Unless they think we all have trailer tents.
Good to hear MBee likes his Alltrack, its one of the cars on my "research for next time list". I would be interested if anyone has the Bi Turbo jobbie.
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To Fysherman’s point about lightweight toy cars, the winner of the Class 1, under £20,000 category is the Citroen C4 Cactus.
I could not quite believe what I was reading, having looked into this car a while back, so I checked.
The Club tested the car with a 825Kg caravan and gave it the win. I am astonished that this car has won and that there is no mention under “Caravanability” of the fact that towing the caravan used for testing was at the expense of a large chunk of the car’s own payload allowance. The nearest the comments come is to say that “loadspace for a family is restricted”. In fact, you probably wouldn’t be able to carry the family at all.
The Club quotes a kerb weight of 1143Kg, presumably after weighing it. From the Citroen brochure, the maximum laden weight (MLW) of the car alone is 1610Kg. The maximum gross train weight is 2210Kg. The maximum towing weight (MTW) is 825Kg.
Perhaps you have already seen the problem. If the car is loaded to its maximum of 1610Kg, including the 55Kg maximum noseweight which must come out of the MLW, the heaviest caravan that can be towed without exceeding the MGTW is 655Kg.
Put another way, if one were to tow a 825Kg caravan, then the available payload in the car would be 2210-1143-825=242Kg.
That 242Kg has to include the driver and passengers, any luggage or possessions, and the 55Kg noseweight. My wife and I together weigh 146Kg (we are not especially heavy people) so we would only have 41Kg to play with for other contents. A further passenger would have to be well under 7 stones not to break the MGTW limit, with no other items in the car at all.
I think a mistake has been made. Perhaps someone from the Club would like to comment?
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Postscript:
Perhaps I should have said that Citroen has form for this, which makes it all the more surprising that the Club has either missed or ignored it.
Other than with Citroen, almost every car's stated towing limit is the difference between the MLW and the MGTW. In other words, the towing limit can be used with a fully loaded car, as long as the noseweight is included in the car's weight.
It has however been common for Citroen to set MGTWs that imply only a driver and passenger in the car when using the full MTW.
If you tow with a Citroen it might be worth checking your own car's plate if you are unaware of this.
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I suspect Citroen place a lot of advertising with the club.
They won't do this if the review read "fit for a lightweight trailer tent but a caravan will either tip it over or will pull the chassis apart."
Or am I getting cynical in my old age?
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I am not reading anything about this that would give me the slightest doubt that I should keep on towing with my Land Rover Discovery.
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Agree,
Perhaps the club has realised that they lose credibility amongst caravanning members when they make underpowered lightweight toy cars the towcar of the year. Unless they think we all have trailer tents.
Good to hear MBee likes his Alltrack, its one of the cars on my "research for next time list". I would be interested if anyone has the Bi Turbo jobbie.
Had a look at a Bi Turbo the other day, local dealer had a pre reg one with a big slice off the ticket price. Had it had the heated windscreen option I would have been very tempted. Having got used to this feature I am not willing to go without it!
I was offered a test drive but declined as it was not the car for me .... but kicking myself now for not seeing how it drove.
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You should have taken the drive Iain. Problem will be not many will come with the heated windscreen option so you'll be lucky to get a pre reg or one in stock.
I specced one up and was told it would be 16 weeks! Had a look at what was in VW stock and I gave up leather but got the factory fitted swivelling towbar. I was disappointed with the leather on my previous Tiguan as I felt it wasn't wearing well. The Alltrack already has a great spec anyway. As it was is the country I had it within two weeks, got a great discount and more for mine so was a great deal
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Iain, what sort of discount was being offered ? We are very happy with our 4 year old Alltrack but quite fancy the new Bi Turbo.
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This was the one! Think it was about £5K off and a £2K finance contribution.
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This was the one! Think it was about £5K off and a £2K finance contribution.
Thanks, wouldn't buy the saloon, one of the best features of the Passat is the massive boot of the Estate.
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This was the one! Think it was about £5K off and a £2K finance contribution.
Thanks, wouldn't buy the saloon, one of the best features of the Passat is the massive boot of the Estate.
I would prefer an estate too, though not a deal breaker.
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I run a previous generation (B7) Alltrack DSG bought in April at not quite 3 years old for £13k with factory detachable tow bar too! Good car for towing, love the DSG and economy is reasonable but it's not the best 'drivers' car and after coming out of an Audi (even though it had been to the moon and back) i miss the Audi feel and quality. I guess the new Alltrack is a much improved vehicle however by the time it is specced up with DSG and a few other toys and luxuries the price is in Allroad, Q5 and Disco Sport territory. Without a stonking great discount I would go for something else. As for buying a Passat saloon, I wouldn't, the estate will hold its value far better.
As for the Cactus getting an award I think the CC are having a laugh. Now I love the idea Citroen are getting quirky again with the Cactus but the towing capability of it is so restricted as to make it meaningless to most caravaners.
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I run a previous generation (B7) Alltrack DSG bought in April at not quite 3 years old for £13k with factory detachable tow bar too! Good car for towing, love the DSG and economy is reasonable but it's not the best 'drivers' car and after coming out of an
Audi (even though it had been to the moon and back) i miss the Audi feel and quality. I guess the new Alltrack is a much improved vehicle however by the time it is specced up with DSG and a few other toys and luxuries the price is in Allroad, Q5 and Disco
Sport territory. Without a stonking great discount I would go for something else. As for buying a Passat saloon, I wouldn't, the estate will hold its value far better.As for the Cactus getting an award I think the CC are having a laugh. Now I love the idea Citroen are getting quirky again with the Cactus but the towing capability of it is so restricted as to make it meaningless to most caravaners.
It may be because the Audi costs rather more for the equivalent car that the VW gets the edge on value for money. There is no doubt that Audi build a good car but whether it is worth the extra cost is a matter of opinion.
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I run a previous generation (B7) Alltrack DSG bought in April at not quite 3 years old for £13k with factory detachable tow bar too! Good car for towing, love the DSG and economy is reasonable but it's not the best 'drivers' car and after coming out of an
Audi (even though it had been to the moon and back) i miss the Audi feel and quality. I guess the new Alltrack is a much improved vehicle however by the time it is specced up with DSG and a few other toys and luxuries the price is in Allroad, Q5 and Disco
Sport territory. Without a stonking great discount I would go for something else. .......
You surprise me that you say there's so much difference between two vehicles that in essence are the same
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I have done a lot of reading today on the subject of towing with 'skinny' spare wheels, puncture repair outfits and 'run flat' tyres and concluded that, for the sake of peace of mind and safety, none of them are suitable when towing a caravan! Many people
tow overnight or at weekends, when finding a tyre repair company can be a major problem, especially if heading for a ferry crossing! Reading through the chat subjects in this site and others, many caravanners agree with this idea, with many refusing to buy
a tow car which cannot be supplied with a full size spare wheel. Bearing this in mind, it is amazing how many of the cars entered for TCOY have skinny spares, puncture repair kits or run flat tyres. There is no mention in the supplement of which cars can have
a full size spare substituted for the cheaper 'normal fit' solution. I think the Caravan Club have missed a trick here, this matter is high on many caravanners minds and should be addressed in future competitions.0 -
I have done a lot of reading today on the subject of towing with 'skinny' spare wheels, puncture repair outfits and 'run flat' tyres and concluded that, for the sake of peace of mind and safety, none of them are suitable when towing a caravan! .
Hard to disagree with that. And I have found in the past that even when a failure occurs in weekday hours, it is by no means certain that the tyre you need is in stock locally.
It might not be life and death, but it would be deuced inconvenient and potentially very expensive if a tyre were damaged beyond repair or treatment with the gloop,
Similarly, how far and how fast would you push a skinny space saver that is designed for temporary and speed-restricted use? I believe police have been known to take the view that a space saver is outright illegal if it is being used other than immediately following a puncture to get home or to a place where the damaged tyre can be repaired/replace.
A glopite-and-pump 'repair' kit is an absolute no-no for me, The Outlander has a skinny spare and I am not especially happy about that. If I had a rear wheel puncture when towing, I think I would put the 'pram wheel' on the front and move the serviceable front tyre to the back; not a trivial inconvenience with a fully loaded car and a caravan in tow.
It doesn't help that fashion now dictates that wheels/tyres are of stupidly large diameter and width.
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Our Alltrack has what I suppose you would call a compromise on the spare wheel. The spare is a 215 on a 16 inch steel rim - it is a "proper" tyre not a spacesaver, the "full" size tyres are 225 on 18 inch rim. I dont think I would have any issue towing wth the spare but like others have said ideally I would like a full spare but very, very few cars have them now.
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Agree,
Perhaps the club has realised that they lose credibility amongst caravanning members when they make underpowered lightweight toy cars the towcar of the year. Unless they think we all have trailer tents.
Good to hear MBee likes his Alltrack, its one of the cars on my "research for next time list". I would be interested if anyone has the Bi Turbo jobbie.
Had a look at a Bi Turbo the other day, local dealer had a pre reg one with a big slice off the ticket price. Had it had the heated windscreen option I would have been very tempted. Having got used to this feature I am not willing to go without it!
I was offered a test drive but declined as it was not the car for me .... but kicking myself now for not seeing how it drove.
Write your comments here...thought you drove the yeti ?
does your have a heated screen ??
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Agree,
Perhaps the club has realised that they lose credibility amongst caravanning members when they make underpowered lightweight toy cars the towcar of the year. Unless they think we all have trailer tents.
Good to hear MBee likes his Alltrack, its one of the cars on my "research for next time list". I would be interested if anyone has the Bi Turbo jobbie.
Had a look at a Bi Turbo the other day, local dealer had a pre reg one with a big slice off the ticket price. Had it had the heated windscreen option I would have been very tempted. Having got used to this feature I am not willing to go without it!
I was offered a test drive but declined as it was not the car for me .... but kicking myself now for not seeing how it drove.
Write your comments here...thought you drove the yeti ?
does your have a heated screen ??
I did have a Yeti 170, but that was two cars ago, was a great car. Yes my Yeti did have a heated screen as an option as does my current Volvo.
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MM, I agree. Under the skin the older A6 and Passat shared more than VAG cared to admit. However in practice the Skoda Superb mk1 is somehow more of a budget Audi than the Passat. It's not a bad car as such, just mildly disappointing and I suspect I will
go back to an Audi sooner than later.0 -
Years ago i showed interest in a Golf, at the time the Bora was being made.
I had a good unbiased look at Skoda, VW, and Audi, and trust me the Audi has the edge, not by by a mile but sufficient for me to buy one.
I would buy another Audi but they just don't make a car that suits me, Q3 is too small Q5 is too wide for my garage, but i would also again consider a Skoda, VW.
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I have done a lot of reading today on the subject of towing with 'skinny' spare wheels, puncture repair outfits and 'run flat' tyres and concluded that, for the sake of peace of mind and safety, none of them are suitable when towing a caravan! .
Hard to disagree with that. And I have found in the past that even when a failure occurs in weekday hours, it is by no means certain that the tyre you need is in stock locally.
It might not be life and death, but it would be deuced inconvenient and potentially very expensive if a tyre were damaged beyond repair or treatment with the gloop,
Similarly, how far and how fast would you push a skinny space saver that is designed for temporary and speed-restricted use? I believe police have been known to take the view that a space saver is outright illegal if it is being used other than immediately
following a puncture to get home or to a place where the damaged tyre can be repaired/replace.A glopite-and-pump 'repair' kit is an absolute no-no for me, The Outlander has a skinny spare and I am not especially happy about that. If I had a rear wheel puncture when towing, I think I would put the 'pram wheel' on the front and move the serviceable
front tyre to the back; not a trivial inconvenience with a fully loaded car and a caravan in tow.It doesn't help that fashion now dictates that wheels/tyres are of stupidly large diameter and width.
The Merc E Class (Winner of Class 6 of the TCOY) comes with run-flat tyres, no can of gloop, and no option for a spare of any size. I fail to see how this can be a contender let alone a class winner in a tow car competition.
Beware of using space saver spares on All Wheel Drive vehicles if the running diameter differs from the normal wheels. The electronic wizzardry that controls the All Wheel Drive gets very confused if one wheel is roatating faster than the others as it thinks
the wheel is spinning. I found this out by experience, so now I have a spare that won't fit in the well in the boot of my Volvo estate!!0 -
I've had both and both are great tow cars but the manual has the edge for me.
Present one is auto which stands a group higher for VED and uses 3mpg more. I'm getting a true 38mpg at preset, with the manual it was 41mpg.
Auto is the heaviest car though at 1703kg for the AWD sport nav.
Only negative is a 88kg nose weight limit.
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