Advice on towing weight
Hi Folks,
My wife and I are seriously considering purchasing a 4 berth caravan for our young family and was looking for some advice as complete newbies.
My car is a 2014 Peugeot 308 estate 1.5 diesel. The V5 states it has a technical premissible towable mass or trailer braked 1300kg.
The Vin shows the following numbers 1870kg, 3170kg, 1 1050kg, 2 980kg
I know as much as I won't be able to tow much due to the restriction on my licence 3500kg combined weight.
Would I be right in saying that my car would be ok to tow a Bailey Orion 2012 430/4 MTPLM 1247kg
Our budget is about £10k to get a caravan and wanted your expert advice, unfortunately changing the car isn't really an option as need it for work so was hoping to make it work and the caravan needs to be in budget and big enough for 2 adults and 2 primary kids.
Appreciate any advice on the above and please feel free to point me in the direction of good starter caravans within my budget that would work with my car
Thanks folks
Paul
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Your gross vehicle weight is 1870kg, the gross train weight is 3170kg. The other two are max front and rear axle weights.
The GTW must not be exceeded by law and 1870 plus the caravan of 1247 = 3117 which is just inside the GTW limit. The other weight you must not exceed is the manufacturer's max towing weight of the car. Incidentally, that max towing weight is established under certain test conditions and is not necessarily a safe or sensible weight to tow on the open road.
However, to my mind you will be asking an awful lot of the car, even if all your weights are legal on paper, and it's not something I would want to do as I think it will struggle and you might run the risk of the tail wagging the dog. The usual guide for safety, and it is only a guide, is to tow only approx 85% of the kerb weight of the car.
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I forgot to mention nose weight. Your car and towbar will have a max recommended down weight/nose weight limit. Each caravan has a nose weight and you need to ensure it does not exceed the car's limit.
Remember, too, that a towbar will increase your car's weight and eat into the GTW.
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Your caravan choice should be fine with your car. You will not be beating anyone away in a traffic light grandprix but as long as you enjoy your touring in a relaxed leisurely way everything will be fine.
You don't need to look for a caravan with a matching noseweight, That will be determined by the way you load it. Load heavier items over the axle but move smaller things backwards or forwards to get the required noseweight. You can buy a noseweight gauge or use bathroom scales and a length of wood under the hitch to set it close to but lower than the maximum for your car. This may be around 75Kg but your manual should say.
Big, powerful cars are needed for big weighty caravans but not necessary to enjoy caravanning with your young family.
Have a great time!
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Benarty, if you're still around, the choice is yours. Pete and I clearly disagree but, whatever you decide, stay safe on the road.
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The car may be more than capable for towing the caravan. The 85% is a guideline for people new to towing. I do not know the kerbweight for the vehicle so cannot comment on safety while towing.
BTW I cannot find 2014 308 estate 1.5 diesel engine as it seems the 2014 308 estate has a 1.6l engine. Is it an auto or manual and does it have stop start technology?
There is no such thing as a "fixed" nose weight for any caravan however the guideline is between 5-7% of the MTPLM so should not present you with any issues. Nose weight is determined on how you load the caravan. Avoid any heavy objects towards the rear of the caravan otherwise you may have the effect of tail wagging the dog as mentioned above.
However generally you should not exceed 100kg downward pressure on the towball under any circumstances.
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As per guidelines it should be between 85 and 100kg which is between 5 &7% of the MTPLM. You cannot exceed 100kg which is the cut off point for the ALKO hitch.
However to also cannot exceed the maximum load on the towball on the towbar. This figure should be on a sticker somewhere on the towbar and may be lower than the 85kg. It is your responsibility to check.
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If you look on the towbar itself there will be a type approval plate on it showing the 'S' value, which is the noseweight limit relating to the towbar itself. To the best of my knowledge it's 140kg for a Touareg. Then there will also be a noseweight limit for the caravan. This is shown on the statutory weight plate. For most except the very smallest trailers and biggest twin axle caravans it is 100kg. The lower of the two values for car and caravan applies. The actual value should be close to but not exceeding that limit.
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hi benarty,
from the figures given it would be a close call but with careful loading/driving you should be OK. Put all your heavy stuff, including awning etc. in the car (forward of the rear axle) and leave one reasonably heavy item (e.g.spare wheel) on the floor of the van, by moving that between the nose and the axle of the van you can tweak the nose weight using bathroom scales or nose-weight gauge. First time out make sure you have a few stopping places to check and adjust things before you get on the motorway. You'll soon know if you haven't got it right!
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ALKO state on the paper documentation for the hitch that the maximum is 100kg so the 120kg limit is news to most of us. They also say the same on their website that limit is 100kg.
Do you have a link to show that all ALKO couplings except the AKS3004 have a maximum limit of 100kg?
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Data on pages 362 to 364 in AlKo's trailer components catalogue quotes 120kg as the noseweight limit for couplings for braked trailers up to 2700kg. Maybe other chassis components restrict the limit to 100kg.
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Max nose weight on my 2015 Touareg is 140Kg however those sold in America and Australia have a max nose weight, or tongue weight as they call it, of 280Kg.
All these are academic in reality as Alko place a max hitch weight on their couplings of 100Kg in most cases. Check the max hitch weight in your caravan manual and that's in effect the maximum nose weight you can go to with the Touareg. The cars limit is higher than the Alko max weights.
I always aim to have a nose weight of 90-95Kg when towing with my Touareg.
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