Hi. We are thinking of moving from a trailer tent to a caravan but unsure as to what our car will handle.
We have a 2008 Picasso 1.6 diesel - but it is the lower power version (90 bhp) Is anyone towing a van with one of these? If so, what van are you pulling and how good/bad is it?
We had a Picasso Xsara 1.6 turbo diesel and towed a Sterling Europa (approx 1350 weight) - it did not work too well at all.....in fact, the turbo failed on the car and we think it was the towing that did it! Be careful......
I towed a Bailey Discovery 474 (MTPLM about 1100kg) with a 90hp Picasso. Did OK but but was quite slow and took time to get up to reasonable speed. Changed to a 110hp Picasso and that was much better.
We had a Xsara 1.6 Petrol. 55 Reg Citroen limited the weight to 900K which was lower than the weight ratio normally quoted. We towed a 2 berth Abbey Piper reasonably well, but OH wanted more "Umph" on hills so we changed to a Kia Carens, 2 lt.
------------- Don't know where I'm going but will be happy when I get there.
Thanks everyone for your advice - looks like we will have to upgrade our car. We did think that this might be the case. We have considered a Toyota Auris so I will post a new topic on this.
I've posted this elsewhere, but we had a 2009 diesel Citroen Picasso C4 1600 VTR+ - its the one with the electronic automatic gearbox and electronic handbrake. I'm afraid it struggled with our ABI 400/2 Brooklyn, and totally refused on a hill start in Devon. Never trusted it at all after that.
Have an 04 HDi Picasso which tows our Lunar Clubman 470/2 with no problems
Have toured all over the near continent and UK with no troubles at all, Ok you have to use the gears a bit but when you can average around 28-30mpg towing and around 40-50mpg when not that is a small price to pay
In contrast to Jenny s experience, we also have an 09 C4 Picasso 1.6hdi VTR+ 110bhp, but the manual version.
We have found it to be an excellent tow car and have found no problems on some of the steep hills on the German Autobahns. We are looking forward to our trip to Sweden in June towing all the way north of the Arctic Circle.
This is our third Picasso, the other two were an 04 2 ltr 90bhp diesel, 07 1.6 92bhp diesel. Both cars were very reliable a towed extensively throughout europe
Thanks everyone - on balance it seems like I should be OK with my Picasso and a lightish van. When we get a van we are planning on a trip to Holland this year - there shouldn't be too many hills to worry about!!!
I tow with a 2.0 hdi 190 with no problems. Ok it's not the quickest but we manage well with it. Gear changes are more frequent though, but a small price to pay for a good comfy car in my opinion
re marben towing with a 1.6 picasso. we have an eriba familia, towing with a citroen 1.6 deisel berlingo no probs it ticks all the boxes we got ours from auto lesuire poole dorset, look on their site luck denis