Help with Cheap tow car
Comments
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When you say 1800 - do you mean 1800 kg? That seems heavy for a single axle Swift, and the advice below applies to a MTPLM of around 1400 kg. Otherwise you'll need to go for a much heavier tow car.
We have always had Ford Mondeo diesel estates, for years and years. Firstly they came as a cheap option (taxes, etc) company car, and they were always reliable and stable tow cars. We chose to carry on with our Fords, even when OH could have had a BMW, Saab, or Jaguar (and the top up payment for having a 'cheaper car' was also handy and paid for our holidays). Then when OH was made redundant we bought a second hand one, ex fleet car from another company, and this was a great car and we sold it for almost as much as we paid for it. We bought a new Mondeo in 2012 and it's still going strong. It does good mileage, is in a decent tax bracket (though not the best, these days, of course!).
Of course now there is all the debate about diesel/petrol - and soon we'll all be towing with electric roller skates, and be unable to tow anything other than a large paper bag.
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Certainly the Mondeo has been popular over a number of years. When I was looking to buy a new car in 2005 I said to OH that it was a smart choice. We then bought our present X-Trail. One reason was that the permitted tow hitch load was a little low at that time. That was increased not long afterwards I think. I would have thought that the OP's caravan would not be over 1500kg and many tow cars would fit the bill.
When the OP says 1800kg maybe that, sensibly, he is looking for some leeway. Our X Trail is rated to tow 2000kg but I certainly would not wish to tow much above our present 1500kg
There are many cars to choose from
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We towed for the first 3 years with a 2 litre petrol Mondeo estate. Only a 1300kg caravan but a very stable tow car. At the time hitch load was 70kg, but we were able to manage with that just. As it was petrol, mpg towing was rather poor and it did struggle a bit on the steeper hills, particularly if you ever had to stop. When we changed it I seriously consider a diesel Mondeo, but we opted for the X trail. Both for its greater hitch load 100kg (I think the Mondeo was 80 kg by that time) and the benifit of four wheel drive. Although not needed very often, it is nice to know it is there as a back up for when you do. The XTrail is also an excellent tow car, we now tow a 1500kg van. However, like ET I would not want to tow much heavier, although the spec says you can.
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Another Mondeo fan here. We towed our previous caravan 1400kgs with a 04 plate Mondeo 2.0 tdci it was a great tow car we towed to france with it a couple of times and all over the UK no issues and mpg both solo and towing was fine. We now have a Volvo V70 which is also a brilliant tow car. Mondeos can be picked up quite cheap as there are a lot about.
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The biggest Swift Accord is the 590 with a MIRO of 1365. I can't find the MTPLM but probably no higher than 1550Kg. If the original poster is looking to tow 1800Kg, it is not unreasonable to assume he is planning on buying a different van, in which case a Mondeo won't cut it. To get that sort of capacity, he will have to look at X5, Toureg and the big Asian 4x4 tugs. Given the budget, it is likely to be "a bit of a banger".
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