Quote: Originally posted by campwithkids! on 18/9/2011
Hey all, thanks for your replies, very helpful. I dont know the 85% ratio (sorrrrryyyy I know I should and have no idea what you mean, how many hail marys do I need to do now?????)
Coachman is a Genius 1997/8, its a cracking van and yes heavy!! Thank heavens for motormovers ay!!
We have now steered away from the scenic and looking at a Vauxhall Astra Estate 1.8, although its automatic which we were told are ok for towing. Hope thats right.
You need to know the loaded weight of your van (MPTLM) , there will be a plate attached to you van probably near the door .
A suitable tow car should have a kerbweight (unladen weight)of at least 15% higher than the loaded weight of your caravan .
Your Tow car must also have a towing capacity to legally tow your caravan (Max towing weight will be in handbook)
i.e the towing limit must be higher than you caravans loaded weight .
Renault are/were known to use a different formula for their cars kerb weight & maximum tow allowance. The max towing allowance diminishes with any increase in load over and above the driver.Ie max tow allowance say 1000kg reduces to 750kg if the car is loaded with 4 passengers
They may have altered this in later years BUT do check before you buy
There are various models of Coachman Genius. some weigh only a tonne all up, so could be towed by the cars the op suggests. If the op wants meaningful help they need to state the actual model of their caravan & need to have an idea of the loaded weight.
Our 1.6 petrol Grand Scenic struggled with a 1178kg mtplm caravan & also only did high teens mpg towing.
We later had a 1.9 dCi Scenic & then fell foul of the variable tow weight Renault quote. When the car is full (which it will be when going on holiday) it can only tow 950 kg.
Original post mentions a 22' caravan, I would guess that woulod be a twin axle if its the body length. No hope it needs a big hefty tug! 2 Scenics would maybe work!
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
It could be a single axle also, ours it 24' (shipping length) weighing in at 1490.
However I do believe Coachman are heavier than most.
I will be pulling at around 92% with a BMW 3 Series Touring. So I would assume based on assumptions rather than facts. They are going to require a vehicle around the 1650 to 1700kgs minimum, and as previously mentioned this is getting into very large estate vehicles to 4x4 territory.
We need to know the MTPLM of their van before we can give a factual answer.