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16/7/2024 at 8:35pm
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the 85% part is the weight they recommend for an inexperienced tower such as yourself, ad whilst still legal, you do start pushing things a fair bit, by pushing it i mean your luck! you will find that things such as having to brake harshly or side winds from passing buses/trucks will upset how the car/caravan handles and could leave you a bit unstuck if caught out
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16/7/2024 at 8:49pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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The crucial figure is the MTPLM of the caravan, the MRO you should ignore as it is irrelevant.
I certainly wouldn't be happy towing a caravan of that weight with a petrol-engined car of only 1.3 litres. It is above the recommended 85%, although that is only a recommendation, not a legal requirement. Your car may well tow it but you would have very little power in reserve, if any, and I think the car would really struggle on hills and running into headwinds. I think it would also hammer your fuel consumption. However, this is only my own personal opinion.
I tow a caravan with an MTPLM of just under a ton, and I tow it with a Nissan X Trail with a 2 litre diesel engine. I hardly even know the caravan is on the back, quite the opposite of what you would find with your combination. With your car I would be looking at caravans with an MTPLM less than mine.
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Colin
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16/7/2024 at 10:10pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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That caravan weight is a 95% match against car weight, there are plenty of well experienced caravan towers who would be unhappy at that figure!
That is similar to my outfit weight balance, but I've had decades of towing experience over tens of thousands of miles and an assortment of trailer types! Experience counts, towing is a new set of skills to solo car driving and needs learning!
The 85% match is only an advisory, but based on the principle that the lighter trailer, the less influence it has on the tow car, AND the easier an inexperienced driver can recover from the trailer influencing the car - and there WILL be times it does!
I tow with a small petrol engine car and it's fine, but that's not to say your Quashqui would also be, there are a LOT of factors that affect how good a tow car will be, and the lighter the trailer the better the odds are stacked!
As already mentioned, the caravan MRO figure can be ignore in relation to towing, the MTPLM figure is the critical figure to work with.
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17/7/2024 at 8:34am
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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Like Monty I have towed caravans for a long while, since the 1970s in fact, and I have also towed all kinds of trailers professionally.
With your car I would be looking at caravans with a MTPLM of no more than a ton (1,000kg). Unfortunately, that will be very limiting unless you go for an older caravan like mine as over the years caravans have become much heavier.
When I started towing a caravan I had a 1.5 litre Cortina which towed my caravan beautifully, but it was a 4 berth caravan weighing well under a ton. Cars and caravans have both become much bigger and heavier since then.
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Colin
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17/7/2024 at 11:18am
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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From your figures, it looks like around 1200Kg is the Max MTPLM weight you should be aiming for, a little bit of latitude of a few Kg on that, but ideally don't push too much higher. Of course, lighter is better in most respects of towing, but often starting to compromise on caravan types and specs then!
Circa 1200Kg max is not doing you any favours for choice of caravan unfortunately, over the years they've just got heavier and heavier! In recent years cars have got lighter (driven by desire to improve economy and emissions) but caravans have continued to get heavier without much regard to the diminishing number of cars that can tow them! With the demise of the manufacturer Lunar a few years back, the market took a big hit, as they were renowned for good spec vans with light weight, still plenty of s/h ones around and still quite sought after as you get a lot of caravan in all respects, but without the weight of rival brands.
Caravan Finder web site is a great resource for seeing what's on the market, specs, prices etc. You can filter your research with all sorts of criteria, I've done a basic search with 1200Kg as max MTPLM and this is the result:
https://www.caravanfinder.co.uk/caravan_search_results.html?be=all&pm=100&px=10000........
As you can see, the market for newer vans is dominated by things like the Swift Basecamp, which is both small and fairly basic, as you go back in age and down in price the choice expands somewhat.
You haven't given any clues on budget, or berths etc. so can't advise further.
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08/8/2024 at 9:52am
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You asked this in another thread in April.
You need to provide all the specs of your car.
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XVI yes?
As well is two words!
How does a sage know everything about everything? or does he? or does he just think he does?
Remember, if you buy something you bought it, not brought it.
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Topic: Nissan Qashqui
via mobile 16/7/2024 at 8:05pm
