Skoda vs Caravan
Hi all,
Just looking for advice on the car and van combination! The towing rig is a 2010 skoda Octavia vrs tdi (all the luxurys instead! Also have the sat nav).
The van is a Coachman laser 640 , very nice van in my eyes, prefect for the trips away.
the car and van combination seems good at speed but I feel the back of the car squats to much for my liking. I've been told to uprate the rear suspension of the car and freinds have said to "remap" the vehicles brain for more ponies and torques! Would this be sufficient enough to be okay while towing ?
Many thanks !
Looking forward for your replys and opinions on the matter!
Comments
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Depending upon the exact model of VRS (is it hatch/estate/manual/DSG) and caravan (year) it appears to be illegal set up. The weight of the caravan may exceed the cars towing limit. I am a fan of remaps but that doesn't overcome the weight problem.
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Isn't the Laser a big heavy van? It's not one I'd want to tow with an Octavia I'm afraid.
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The Laser 640 weighs 1800kgs the Skoda seems to weigh about the same as a Golf, i.e. 1500kgs.No amount of checking the nose weight will alter the fact that the tail will wag the dog, with or without sat nav.
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It seems pretty much what I suspected - a mismatch.
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Flatcoat is right, the remap might give you a power boost and might improve your overall mpg but it won't help if you have a weight mismatch. You need to check it out ASAP, not forgetting the nose weight.
Had my CRV remapped this year, boosted BHP by about 30 but more importantly improved the mpg both solo and towing
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Unfortunately an Octavia VRS although a very nice and competent towcar is going to be out matched by a caravan of that size and weight.
Our Audi Q3 lease is fast coming to an end and we were turning our thoughts to alternatives. We discussed an Octavia VRS estate DSG, but that was a discussion based around us swapping our Delta RI down to a Bailey Seville 2 berth in the event of going down the Octavia route.
If we were sticking with the Delta (similar weight to a Laser 640) we are considering going up to a Q5 or even an Amarok pick up route for additional weight.
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I have a 2012 Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 4x4, mass in service is 1,495kg, my van has a mtplm of 1,318kg giving a tow ratio of 88%. VRS have a lower suspension over the standard Octavia, mine has a slightly raised suspension, and with 75kg noseweight the suspension does not drop much.
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I wouldn't want to tow over 1500kgs with any Octavia - I towed with three - the last a Scout which did the job with my 1400 kg caravan but not nearly as well as the Mitsubishi Outlander I have now. The Octavia's before the Scout went very low to the ground with a caravan hitched - so I am afraid it is a mismatch as I would guess the club matching service will tell you. I tried matching the Mitsubishi ASX (salesman tried to tell me that would tow more than the Outlander which was rubbish!) the club service said it was just about possible if I was an experienced tower - but I don't want to go back to the days of feeling every overtaking car etc etc. A lighter caravan perhaps?
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Been towing with standard 2 litre TDI Octavias for 12 years, originally with 1000kg on the back, 80kg nose weight, last year with 1250 kg, same nose weight. 1st Octavia was fine, 2nd, 2009 version, back usually dips a bit. Only problems though, were entering & exiting ferries, depending on tide heights and French speed bumps, some of which can be extraordinarily steep.
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Hi 07 just sold a 2011 octy vrs fantastic car good tow car with our bailey pursuit 550 very close to the 85% limit I fitted rubber coil spring assisters and they really did help the rear end. Dead easy to fit. I still have them if your interested. I now have a kuga but really miss the Octavia. Contact me on iangordonipg@aol.com if you,re interested
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