New Kuga and new to towing, soon.
Hi everyone, searched but could not find a relevant topic. retiring next year and planning to buy a caravan. Motability car to purchase and have settled on a ford Kuga. Choices are good but limited to keep the advance payment reasonable, Titanium 2.0 diesel 150PS manual FWD seems the best option but would have liked a Powershift model. Only problem is that it would have to either be the 187PS engine and 4WD which is pricey or the 2,0 118PS the latter having a lot less torque than the 150PS. Anyone tow with the lower power engine? Should I just settle for the manual and be happy with the choice. Need to get car sorted then look for a suitable van.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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Depends on what size of van you are looking at.
We have a Kuga 180 PS AWD and tow a coachman 450/2. Not a problem as the car can tow much more that that van.
The problem nowadays with the caravans is that they have such a low personal weight allowance, that just about everything has to go in the car, hence the reason for the big car.
We like the AWD as we often go on grass and we live in Scotland, so having that extra bit of pulling and grip we thought worth it. Having said that we have towed for over 30 years without an AWD and not experienced and issues.
I would look around at caravans first to see what you like, look at the weight of the caravan and see what size of car you will need to tow it.
As you say there is a choice of Kuga's so you will find one to do the job.
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The car I will be getting will be the 2.0 150PS Titanium 2WD. Kerb weight is 1720kg tow bar 100kg. Been looking at Bailey Ranger GT60 510/4 which is light but prefer something like the Bailey Unicorn Madrid though this is a little heavier but only a bit over the advised 85%. not buying a new van at this stage, seems daft to lose all that VAT not knowing if we will like it so going to try to get around the 10k mark if possible. Maybe the Swift Corniche 17-4 or Swift Charisma 560 all fit the bill. 4 Berth with side dinette and rear door with nice rear washroom.
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I had an early model 2WD Kuga with the 135PS engine. Towed 1350Kg quite comfortably with a fuel consumption around 30-32mpg.
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Coming at from another angle,what sort of caravanning will you be doing?If you plan to rally or go off grid,say have a grass storage site,then I would recommend going for a 4x4.
My personal opinion is a 4x4, and I currently tow with a 2014 163bhp Kuga,again towing a Coachman.
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I too would look at your Caravan choice shortlist first and ensure you choose the right spec (weight) of car. Personally I would pay the extra for 4wd (even if you think you don’t need it) and automatic - and you cannot have too many horses when it comes to towing so go for the most power too. There is a saying that you should buy the heaviest most powerful car you can afford to tow the smallest lightest Caravan you can manage with!
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So eventually my post gets accepted after over 7 days but then the content is removed? All I tried to say was thanks for the replies and advice. Anyway opted for the 2.0 150PS FWD Kuga, get it in March so no hurry to get a Van as yet and will look very carefully.
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Hi, just to follow this up. Have now bought a 2004 Stirling Eccles Moonstone. Seemed a real nice van though a bit older than I would have preferred it ticked all the boxes and the wife loved it. So pick up the Car on Thursday and the Van next Tuesday. Booked on a training course early April just to satisfy my need to learn so wish us luck.
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That might be the MIRO weight. Our 2010 Moonstone MTPLM was around 1615kg. Having said that as long as you do not exceed the max towing weight for the car, nose weight or trainweight you are legal! There is no legally enforceable weight ratio limit of car to caravan - it is just you will get earache from the trainers and those members who think the clubs archaic recommendations are laws written in tablets of stone. We towed our Moonstone all over Europe with a car giving around 97% ratio and never had any concerns. We liked our Moonstone layout very much but simply got fed up of bed making.
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This is the detail from this site. Miro 1224Kg, MTPLM 1442Kg.
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Our 2009 Moonstone was 1580kg but it was always nose heavy. Really struggled to get it down. We loved our Moonstone, only changed it last August for Challenger 530 (almost same van).
Good luck, I’m sure you’ll love it.
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Rockbyter, you cannot take anything on the CMC matching service as accurate, in my experience it is the most unreliable source of data available to the extent it can be dangerously nisleading. The only accurate and legal data is that on the plate usually located by the van entrance door. Alternatively Swift will be able to tell you. (Same goes for car weight info).
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OK, already checked the plate on Van and is as expected 1442Kg, Kuga too is as posted at 1722Kg so should be OK for me as a beginner at under 85%.
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Enjoy your Kuga. We're on our second now (have the 180bhp 4wd version) and it tow like a dream without breaking the bank and will sit at 60 mph all day long. We go abroad every year with it - Carcassonne last year and Venice the year before. Quiet and comfortable. Enjoy.
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