TOWING
I have recently sold my motorhome with the intention of buying a caravan.
I have looked at a number of different caravans and I need some advice on the towing weights etc. The caravan I am thinking of buying is a Lunar Solar Eclipse GTS - 2001.
The caravan is plated at 1090kgs loaded and the car I will be using has a kerb weight of 1236kgs. (Seat Leon ). Working on the ratio of 85% I believe this will be in keeping with the advised limits for towing. However a colleague has suggested that I would be better with a car that has a 2 litre engine for example, to make towing easier on gradients etc.
I would appreciate it if anyone with more experience could advise me on this point.
Comments
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As long as the recommended towing maximum of the car is not exceeded you'll be fine. Just enjoy it and if you're going up a hill, change down.
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What is the power of the engine in the Seat?
I see to remember another thread recently in almost the same topic - just the numbers were different.
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Moderator Comment - John I see you have started a new thread rather than replying to your original thread here so I have copied your post here and will delete the other thread to avoid confusion.
Thanks David
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Many thanks for the replies to my query on towing.
I missed the following info. off my first post. The Seat Leon car I will be using
for towing is a 1600cc petrol Seat Leon, 100 bhp. Hope this helps.
John Alan.
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I suspect that car might well struggle on hills.
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I ought to have said that the recomended towing weight quoted by the manufacturer is regarding starting on a 12% incline. You've already checked it's within the 85% ratio recommended by the club. I've got a few more BHP these days, but most of my tow cars have been below or around 100BHP. The Rover Maestro 2.0 ltr diesel packed a punch of around 85 BHP if I remember correctly. I used to tow a yacht up very steep slipways with it. It never missed a beat, but saddly rusted away. British Leyland! Those were the days!
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I've certainly towed with smaller cars eg. towed a small Swift with a Rover 214i and it did the job to a certain extent. Took my mother and two children from South Yorks to Pembrokeshire and back one holiday including the hill out of Freshwater East!
Another question - 100bhp sounds ok but when does the power come in? Presumably at higher revs so you may be slower to 'get off the mark' but who cares. If its safe - go and enjoy.
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With regards to your choice of car & caravan , I don't think you'll have a problem we towed for many years with a Rover 75 1.8 petrol 108bhp (none turbo ) & a Compass 362 1075 kgs all in .
Never had any problem whatsoever , you may need to use the gears more I found I used 3rd more on hills & 4 th in between 40 mph /50mph but 5 th was ok as long as you were above 50 +mph .
Hope this helps 👍
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Hi John, I used to tow a similar set up. Used a 1.6 petrol Honda Civic and an old 1997 2 berth ABI caravan, it did the job fine. Noticed long inclines and headwinds but change down and it will get you there! I had to be careful of the nose weight as the Civic was only 50KG so positioned the stuff in the caravan to adjust, note no heavy stuff at the back of the caravan. I kept all the heavy items in the car boot.
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For some years I towed caravans with a company car, usually Ford Cortina, Vauxhall Cavalier, early spec Ford Sierra, and all were 1600cc petrol engine cars with less than 100bhp and 4 speed gearbox. With 2 children and all the tackle including full awning these cars did the job very well. I mean "very well" on the standards of the day. 60mph on decent roads/motorways was perfectly ok. Later cars had more power and with the diesel much more torque making driving easier, but those lower powered petrol cars were quite adequate.
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I originally towed an Eccles Topaz (800Kg) with a 1.6 Petrol Sierra. Mostly OK but I recall one trip down through France with a headwind and struggling to maintain 45mph and being passed by fully loaded 2CV's.
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