Towbar Advice Needed - Volvo Vs AL-KO?
Will be new to caravanning when our ordered Elddis Storm arrives in 2018.
Need to get my Volvo XC60 fitted with a towbar. Elddis Storm has an AL-KO chassis. I have asked my Volvo dealer to supply a detachable towbar. They cannot tell me what make their ‘Volvo’ towbar is?
Can I assume that a Volvo towbars will be good for my AL-KO Elldis Storm caravan?, or do I go to a third-party and get an AL-KO towbar fitted?
Many thanks.
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I have an XC70. When I bought it I had the dealer fit a Volvo detachable tow bar. This is fine for my van. I expect the XC60 one will be the OK too. The fitting bracket will be specific to the car but the actual ball part may even be the same. I've seen threads on the forum from other Volvo owners and can't remember any issues with the towbar itself.
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A detachable towbar or fixed swan neck towbar, of any make, will both be suitable for use with an Alko hitch. A standard 2 bolt flanged towbar is NOT suitable with an Alko hitch because it hasn't the room below the ball for the hitch to fully articulate. The only other problem that you might come across is room between the ball when fitted & the bumper if the car is fitted with any 'go-faster' styling packs.
Also don't make car tow bars 😉
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We have had a few Volvos, all our Volvo towbars were actually made by Brink, a reputable brand.
We also currently have a Brink on our Touareg.
The detachables are all swan neck type, which is what you need for the AlKo hitch.
The only issue we had was the lock that stops anyone stealing the detachable bit failed after about 5 years, it seems to be quite a common problem. The one on our Touareg has already failed after only 8 months, so it will be going back under warranty!
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Maybe Brink have improved since they are now together with Thule, but at the time I was in business, they never managed to get our approval for factory fitment.
To the best of my knowledge AlKo don't make towbars for cars, only for motorhomes. No car manufacturer makes his own towbars. They are all bought out items although some have different suppliers depending whether the towbar is factory fitted or an approved dealer fitted accessory item.
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It may well be worth your while phoning around and asking for prices. You may find out that a dealer fitted tow bar/electrics is more expensive than at an independent fitter. When we bought our Kuga (from new) Ford told me they would simply take it to a local independent to have the equipment fitted.
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Hi hastghyll,
I would be wary of the Volvo dealer fitting the towbar and sooner take it to a towbar specialist. I went through 240/740/940/960/S80 with independent's and on my new at the time XC90 ordered it with a "Volvo " detachable towbar,so when not in use it would not be seen. it came as a fitted Witter and the hole they had cut in the rear bumper looked as though Stevie Wonder had done it with a wood saw.
Needless to say, at great expense the dealer had to replace the rear bumper and supply what was ordered.
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I've had two V70s and currently I've got a V60. I've had a different make towbar on each. One fixed and two detachable. None from Volvo and all very good.
If you look around you'll probably get one for around £200 less than Volvo would want - and it may even be fitted by someone your Volvo dealer would have gone to, as some dealers don't fit them and send the car elsewhere.
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Interesting to hear different experiences.
Volvo main dealer towbars are indeed expensive. Our compromise was to have a Witter bar fitted by the dealer but with Volvo electrics. (we'd previously found that very few independent fitters can re-programme non-volvo towing electronics). That way any canbus or re-programming requirements are dealt with by Volvo with no warranty issues arising. We saved about £350 on at least 2 occasions. It pays to ask.
Last year we changed to a Kuga and the main dealer fitted a Ford towing package. The bar is a Brink. We were pleasantly surprised that it worked out about £50 less than most independent quotes.
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As the club had an offer for £1000 of free accessories ( September 2017) we had Kia fit a detachable towbar and full electrics and it was done at the distribution centre at the port. They did a good job it's fully covered by the Kia warranty. It would have been expensive if not on offer at £850! When talking to the salesperson she said had we wanted one through the dealer they would have got the local towbar fitters to come to them to do it from Durham.
The towbar was a Witter.
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You can use a 2 bolt flanged towbar but you must use an extended neck towball
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just a word of advice, one chap on site who I was talking to about his Kia before buying mine said that he had his dealer fit the towbar and electrics but they had not fitted the full electrics (old N&S sockets) only the lighting, so his caravan battery and fridge had no power so make this clear to a dealer. Towbar fitters will know this but dealers might not.
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Yes you do need to check that and make it clear what you want.
We had a really good Volvo dealer, they did the towbars themselves and were really clued up on decent fitting and full electrics, obviously it must vary depending on the dealer.
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Inside Left, we have a 2016 XC60 and have a factory fitted detachable towbar and electrics which are compatible to our Alko hitch on our 2011 Bailey Unicorn. We took advantage of the discount offered by the CC on Volvos and their accessories. We've not had any problems, so far.....touch wood.
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I'm taken aback by the promptness and number of responses, thanks.
Consequently, I'm edging closer to the view that a detachable Volvo tow bar will be compatible with the Crusader Storm.
I spoke to Elldis and all they 'need' is for the tow ball to be 50mm in diameter.
The doubt is really my inexperience and not being able to match up the different descriptions from the Elldis and Volvo dealers.
Thanks
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We had no problems with their wiring it up for our 13 pin socket. We just stated what we required when ordering the car.
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A few years back there were some problems with Volvo fitting the 13 pin plugs.
It was well documented and probably available on the Volvo Owners Website
The wiring provided by Volvo was for continental caravans and this differed from UK vans. Generally continental vans didn't have fridges and therefore the connection to the fridge was missing. I would expect this to be resolved on factory fitted electrics but I would seek reassurance that this is the case on bars being retrofitted by Volvo dealers.
With all (12 in total) the towbars I've had fitted by an independent fitters I've always questioned if they are confident that the installation will not affect the cars electrical or computer system and always made it clear from the start that I will test everything and they will not get paid until I'm fully satisfied. I've never, once has one of them questioned me and I've never had any problems.
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Our experience has been totally the opposite on all our Volvos.
We ordered our 2007 XC90 with a 13 pin socket and detachable towbar, at that time the Volvo towbar was dealer fitted rather than supplied from the factory. I think more people have had problems with factory fit than dealer fit on many makes of car.
Continental vans DID/ DO have fridges, but it is not very common for caravanners to run them while on the move. They also do not bother much with battery charging. For these reasons, factory fit is often not fully wired. This is why when you order a towbar you need to check that your dealer totally understands what you are asking for.
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Grant, it's an automatic D5, & we are getting somewhere around 26 mpg towing and up to 40 mpg touring round. We tend not to do long runs, up 100mls is about maximum towing and much shorter journeys without the van on the back. Most of our journeys are not on motorways but rather A & B roads. We've done only about 8000mls so far and it's averaging out at 30+mpg. Hope to get better over the next year.
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