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Hi

We are new to caravanning and now own an Elddis Typhoon Gtx, we are at present towing this with a Renault Scenic 2.0l.  We have had two trips out - one where we only put a small amount of clothes in the side dinette seating over the axle, sleeping bags under the dinette table and pots and pans under cooker, some melamine crockery in one locker above the cooker, and some fold up chairs again in the middle of the van.  We put the awning poles in the car, the awning canvas in the boot.  The car towed like a dream.

The next time we weighed the noseweight on scales to perfection, and packed the van with the spare tyre in the end bathroom the awning poles in the middle of the van, the awning canvas at the back of the van and everything else was the same.  The van did not like being towed as much and felt a little light, (weird I know).  We stopped half way and moved some items to the front of the van, increasing our noseweight.  It then towed well again and was much more stable.

We do not like to overload the van as unladen it is 1080 and laded 1350.  We know that the Scenic has a max tow weight of 1350 and we have no plans to get to the max, but trying to pack and distribute weight appropriately does not seem to work!

So two things

Can anyone recommend a good tow vehicle that is an MPV (I have heard Hyundai Trajet is good), or 4 x 4 (not too gut guzzling).

Can anyone help us with the nose weight issue?

Where are we going wrong?  The books tell you to do one thing and the car and outfit want something else!

Thanks for that.  We did put the awning in the car for first journey and didnt check noseweight but left the spare wheel in the locker.  The car and the van seems to prefer heavier noseweight.

Eddie, when we loaded the van and checked the noseweight to the letter, we thought way hey we have done it just as the handbooks tell you!  But you are right, the car and the van hated it.  When we moved the weight to the front it loved it.  Is it down to pure luck or getting a feel for how your van tows?

Purple-hat, what do you do with your noseweight to get good towing? Do you do what you know works - or follow the manuals to the letter?

Thanks

Quote: Originally posted by shortstufftrac on 23/4/2007

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Hi

So two things

Can anyone recommend a good tow vehicle that is an MPV (I have heard Hyundai Trajet is good), or 4 x 4 (not too gut guzzling).

Can anyone help us with the nose weight issue?

Where are we going wrong?  The books tell you to do one thing and the car and outfit want something else!

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Our towcar is a small MPV  It is a VW Touran 1.9TDI - 7-seater (they stopped making the 5-seater).

It has a 75kg noseweight and a max. trailer weight of 1,500kg

Our van has a 1430kg MTPLM and it tows this very satisfactorily, giving 30-32 mpg when towing.

I have only 2 criticisms of the Touran.   (1) It does not have much level loading space, even with all except front seats folded.  As there are only the two of us, this can be accommodated.  (2) The Touran has no provision of, or anywhere to stow, a spare wheel.  This is less acceptable, so when we change, we are going to compare the merits of the Nissan X-Trail.

Bertie.

Hi Tracey

After a lot of very scary problems with previous van, we very carefully chose a van that has its appliances and wardrobe over the axle with even weight distribution down both sides. We load very carefully and keep loaded weight slightly forward over axle but carry awning, tool boxes, food boxes etc in car. The lighter we can make the van, the better the match to the recommended 8% noseweight guidance, and for us, much much better towing. We keep to the max noseweight of 75Kg.very religiously. If the van is loaded to its max, then 75 Kg is on the light side for the weight being towed. If we had the money, we would have changed to a CRV diesel which allows 100 Kg, but we don't so have had to adjust and compromise.

I think you may be trying to tow too much!

Depending on what year your car is, it's "85% of kerbweight" figure varies between around 1090Kg to 1190Kg (1090 is for a 1997 model).  This is the recommended maximum towing weight.

If your caravan is 1080Kg unladen, then just a spare wheel and awning will bring it up around 1140 before you look at anything else - and these heavy items shouldn't go at the rear of the van, or it will be unstable.

Thanks for your help.

Now that we have tried two different ways, I think we will stick to the fact that we carry awning in car and leave spare wheel in locker where it should be.

Luckily for us we wont get much use this year - due to away abroad in summer, but I will feel happier leaving the bulk of the van unladen and changing the scenic for either a 7 seater or 4 x 4 once our Florida holiday has finished eating our pennies!

Regards

Tracey