Saw a renault clio, think it was a 1.9 diesel towing a small 2 berth caravan, so was wondering if they are ok for towing.
Have seen a renault clio grand 1.9 diesel for sale, tried googling for tow weight and it came up as 1,200, which would pull a lightweight caravan I think but thought I would check on here.
Quote: Originally posted by lynn6183 on 29/5/2011
Saw a renault clio, think it was a 1.9 diesel towing a small 2 berth caravan, so was wondering if they are ok for towing.
Have seen a renault clio grand 1.9 diesel for sale, tried googling for tow weight and it came up as 1,200, which would pull a lightweight caravan I think but thought I would check on here.
Yes but the kerbweight is more important , unless it a new model most of the earlier clio diesels 2005 or earlier weigh less than 1000kg so you cannot safely tow a caravan that is heavier than your car regardless of its towing capacity
The Clio will tow a trailer or a small caravan up to about 800kg. Diesel Clios do have a 1200kg max tow weight but no way should you tow a caravan of that weight with it.
I tow my 12 foot Silverline Silvercrest with a Toyota Starlet 1.3 petrol - it's within the maximum weight limit, can safely see down both sides with the car's mirrors (though I do still use extension mirrors too), and find it's powerful enough. The Starlet sits nearly as wide as a Citroën C5, it's just rather short front to back, meaning it tows more like an artic lorry.
Biggest problem, besides very strong headwinds, are the ruts on the roads from too much traffic. Tows nicely otherwise.
At the end of the day, the bigger the towing the vehicle the better the overall ride/comfort will always be - hence the 'you need a 4x4 for a caravan!' types - but as long as everything's safe, legal and you're in control of the rig, you can still have fun with smaller motors!
Quote: Originally posted by lynn6183 on 31/5/2011
We have just bought a vauxhall astra 1.7 diesel
I do hope its not the usless low powered one, My sister almost bought one until i looked up the specs. 60...ish BHP that would have been fun with 5 of them and a 1000kg caravan.
It's a vauxhall astra envoy dti 1686cc 03 car, are you saying it won't tow a small trailer 3x4. We did have a look at a caravan, think it was 720kg max and 15ft, but my brother-in-law said it would be too big, said the vauxhalls have not got enough power. The caravan was an abi ace rallyman diplomatic 15/2.
My first car when I passed my driving test was a 1.2 petrol Clio T reg and I towed a 4 berth trailer tent with it. I towed it down to north wales every weekend with me, missus and my best mate and his missus. I have no idea how much it weighed though but it pulled that fine so the clio would have had no problems with the trailer. I have seen a clio before now pulling a small Lunar (not sure if it was legal) and that seemed to be coping well. If you want a lightweight caravan then take a look at Freedom caravans. There very light and can be towed by small cars. A lot only weigh 750Kg fully laden. I used to tow one with a 1.6 petrol focus when I got my first caravan
We have seen a smaller caravan, a Lynton laser gxl 2 berth, 10ft body, 12ft total length, think the weight is 860kg. Would our vauxhall astra envoy 1686cc o3 diesel tow that one.