1st tow with a brand new car

My wife and I have just completed our 1^st towing trip with our brand new Vauxhall Antara SE Nav 184 and I thought you guys might be interested in how we went on. The trip comprised travel from Guernsey where we live, to France where we store our caravan, from France to the UK, UK to Spain and a return tow back to our home, through Spain and France, a total of 2,397 miles covered. Most of this was towing 1,497Kg of caravan. We left home with our car (17 miles on the clock at delivery), took the local ferry to St. Malo and drove the 20 or so miles to where we store our caravan. We hitched up; our first tow was up to the ferry port at Caen, about three hours, then an overnight ferry to Portsmouth.

Next tow was from Portsmouth to the Midlands (Warwickshire) where we had the caravan serviced by the dealer, and then visited our daughter and husband who live nearby. Next day we picked up our caravan and stayed at a site nearby while we repacked the caravan for our holiday. The following day it was towing back down to Portsmouth for the 24 hour ferry to Santander in northern Spain.

Arriving in Spain early evening after a comfortable crossing, we then towed to Santillana Del Mar a few miles west of the port for our first night halt in Spain. The next day we set off to drive to Zaragoza, traffic was light and the towing was pleasant, motorway cruising very comfortable. Then a second night halt at Zaragoza the temperatures now in the 30’s were very pleasant.

Next day off we set again this time heading down to Sagunto north of Valencia, on arrival we discovered the camp site we were aiming for no longer existed as it was now a building site where lots of villas were being constructed. So we followed the ring road around Valencia and found another campsite about 20 miles south near a town called Sueca and a lovely beach at Cullera, very pretty. We stopped there for almost two weeks, exploring Valencia and the local area.

Our plan was to continue returning through France, so we towed back through Zaragoza with another night halt and then up through Pamplona and Donastia San Sebastian on the A15/A63 gorgeous scenery all the way with snow capped mountains and earlier, south of Zaragoza desert type scenery. Our next stop was just outside Dax in France and we liked the site we found so much we decided to stay for two weeks. We had not been there before, Dax is a thermal spa town in the middle of the Les Landes forest with lots of local wildlife, deer etc.

All good things must come to an end and we had to start our journey back so we headed up to St Jean D’Angely for a night halt. Our last night halt close to where we store our caravan, near Combourg. Then of course put away our toy and take the ferry back to Guernsey.

Solo I believe the car will turn in about 30+ miles per gallon, overall average on this trip towing a heavy caravan with 2 passengers was 22 miles per gallon, to me this was acceptable but I would hope it will improve once the car beds in. I was only aware of one DPF regen at around 520 miles and only then because the car after stopping was very hot and the engine fan ran on for several minutes. I had no warning lights lit and the rest of the regens must have taken place without my knowledge. Overall I am delighted with this car, as a tow car it is brilliant. I find it amazing that Vauxhall don’t appear to market this vehicle as it would appear to be one of the best tow cars I have ever owned, early days yet, but soon hoping to be off again on another trip.