Message Forums

We are looking to buy our first caravan over next couple of months. Our No 1 car is a Fiat Brava. Fine family car it may be, but it is light and flimsy and a bit gutless.  

For financial reasons it would be great if we could postpone purchase of a new car so I was wondering whether anyone has direct or indirect experience of towing with a 10 year old Ford Escort 1.8TD - our No 2 car.

We are targeting a 4 berth van, which I guess will be 1200-1250kg.  Weight wise I think the old Escort is OK... but can it do it ? 

(PS: any thoughts on a good starter caravan welcomed)

I have seen a few escorts towing in the passed so all I can suggest is try it out and see,

Our friends used to have a 1.8td mondeo estate (M reg) (I think the same engine)  and that towed fine and it had done nearly 200000 miles when they sold it

They had a 1000kg+ 15 year old lunar at the time full of all the usual stuff, And they always kept up with us when we all went out.

What sort of caravan are you looking for? age etc?

 You dont want to be exceeding the kerbweight of your escort mate , if you tow above the 100% threshhold you are asking for trouble , regardless of what your max tow weight is you dont want your van to be much more than 85% -90% of the kerbweight of your towcar ( some cars have a lower max tow weight than there kerbweight) so best check it out.

i dont know about the max braked of an escort but if your looking at an older van, you could do a lot worse that an Elddis Shamal. They are well made, 4 berth, fairly modern looking and only weigh in at 1000 kgs or maybe slightly (+50ish Kgs) more.

you can find good ones (93-94)at under £2k easily and Elddis are great quality.