Vauxhall Antara
Considering this as my next car . Wondering if anyone else uses this as their tow car and if so would they recommend it. Uses a 2.2l engine with a towing limit of 2000kg. I would appreciate any comments from other owners.
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Doesn't look like they get reviews on line. We've towed for the last 4 years with a Ford Kuga (180bhp and 4x4 on demand) and had no problems. Currently averaging low 40s mpg towing/solo. On long journeys solo will do over 50mpg so can't complain.
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They are cheap for a reason, bargepole and wouldn’t touch come to mind. They may be Korean built (by Deawoo/Chevrolet) but they were one of Vauxhall/Opels worst efforts by a country mile in recent years. As others have suggested look at Kia/Hyundai and probably even a Ssangyong are better buys.
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Have a read on the Antara owners website and see what owners think of them not what non owners think. I have had the 163bhp model for over 4 years and as a tow car its great, average 30mpg round town and 25/30 towing depending on conditions,40/45 on a motorway run. The car is a bit dated in style etc but you get what you pay for and they are cheap. If they still produced the model I would have a new one if that's anything to go by.
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Bought mine brand new 4 years ago (prior to owning a caravan). I had the 163 psi version as had no intention of towing when purchased.
Great family car and does everything we wanted it to do, however now we bought a caravan, i do feel a little let down of its towing capability given its a 2.2 ltr Diesal. There is a 184 PSI version available, so i would imagine this would be more suitable as the tow car.
MPG is a round 27 for day to day. Get around 29 on Motorway and around 25 MPG towing our Coachman 520/4, so cant argue with that.
Tyres seem to last forever and they are cheap to insure.
Just part exd it against a Jeep Grand Cherokee with 245 BHP, so hopefully should tick all our boxes.
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Hi, I have had my Antara SE 2.2 diesel (163bhp) for about 18 months I have found it to be a great tow car very stable whilst towing my Bailey 1500 mtplm. Yes the MPG may not be the best I get around 30 mpg around town and have had 39 MPG motorway driving (solo) whilst towing I get around 28MPG.
I swapped from a 61 plate auto Santa Fe as I found this match with my van not the best.
Yes some reviews maybe a bit critical but I cannot complain, I got the SE manual model as it comes with all the toys and leather, it also has the 4x4 AWD system.
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l have had mine for 12 months its a 64 plate 2.2 cdt and before that l had a Discovery and believe it or not it pulls my Swift Challenger better than the Discovery ,as for fuel consumption towing 27mph solo l have had 46/48mph motorway l like mine
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We've had a 2.2 SE 183 since late 2012 when it was 8 months old (ex demo). It's now done 67k and had one warranty claim - a throttle box. Everything else has been absolutely fine.
We love the ride and the performance. We tow a Clubman SE max weight 1495kg and it tows beautifully helped in part by the intelligent stability control which 'knows' it's towing a trailer.
Yes, it's dated, yes, it only does 33mpg solo and 25mpg towing, but it's so, so much cheaper than the competition and as far as we are concerned if they still made them we'd have another. If you want modern and super hi-tech car, then go ahead and get one (and pay for it).
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Just saw some of the negative comments made above (by people who haven't even owned one) and had to post mine. I have owned and towed big caravans with a Vauxhall Antara 2.2 SE Nav for 4 years and it is the best car I have ever towed with. I have been caravanning for nearly 40 years, towing with Austin Princess, Rover SDI's, Cavaliers, Ford Scorpios, Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee. And the Antara beats them all, even the Jeeps because the Jeeps cost so much to keep putting right. I used to chat with people in the Jeep service waiting room and I wasn't alone in realising the Jeep's unreliability and costly maintenance. My Antara has been trouble free motoring for all for years I have enjoyed driving it and towing with it. And is extremely stable on the motorway. If you are thinking of getting one you wont be disappointed.
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Don't...Just...DON'T!
I had one, a top of the range Antara and it was the worst and most unreliable car I have ever owned and I used to drive cars from the '70s and '80s. Plus it was a death trap! Uses more diesel than my V8 Range Rover uses petrol. I had a factory fitted towbar that didn't charge the caravan batery or run the fridge. When I phoned them to complain, their excuse was "We thought caravanners only went 10 miles from home," They wanted an extra £345 to fit the proper wire until they found out I used to be an auto electrician, then they did it for free. Which was handy because it was done so badly I had to redo it myself!
The build quality was shocking with cables and wires between rubber grommets and metal rather than going through the grommet, Windows that instantly steam up at 70mph in the outside lane of the M25 plus many other things including four dealers in four different parts of the country that had the same excuse. "They all do that mate." Going into limp mode, which is 30mph, on the A303 with no hard shoulder and lorries thundering down on you while towing a caravan and having my three young children on board seemed normal to Vauxhall!
The ride was so bouncy it made me feel sick when we were towing our twin axle caravan and twice I had to pull over because I was literally sick.
The very last straw came when it broke down on the way to my Dad's funeral. It was gone within two weeks after that at huge expense to myself. Vauxhall were totally useless! I went back to Volvo.
I'll never own another Vauxhall...EVER! It was crap!
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You're sat on the fence then DS3 .... 😉
I've towed with a few Vauxhalls (Carlton, 2 Senators & an Omega) and never had anything major go wrong and they were run to the best part of 200k miles. 🙂 I'd probably still have one if they made a RWD car
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Ive now had a manual 64 plate Antara (165 bhp)for three years now and it’s now done 85k miles. It’s never put a foot wrong. It tows our Elddis Odyssey like it’s not there whilst returning 27-33 mpg depending on conditions.
solo around town it averages 37 but on a run 45. But on a solo run from Liverpool to Ipswich once I got 49.9.
I have always had Vauxhall’s and would probably go for a Grandland X but have to fork out for the rare 2.0 version.
For us this was the most cost effective way to get into the SUV market. We wanted a Ford Kuga but to get the same year would have had to spend another £5000 and it would have gone round the clock. It seems when sellers say low mileage now it means 100,000 ,average is 200,000 and high is 3-400,000.The Antara was 3 years old ,50k and £8k to buy.
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