hi all i have a elldis slipstream on the plate at the door is says weight is110k
im thinking of buying a zafira 1.6 on a 09 plate towing weight said 1000k and kerb weght is 1445kg i have been caravaning over 25 years so not a novice is this car far to light for my van wondering about the ratio weight bearing in mind i will have me ,wife and two kids in the back thanks for any advice
Your ratios will be fine, but I am sure the caravan is not 110kg. I guess it is 1100kg which is over the max tow weight of the car.
In fairness a Zafira 1.6 is not too swift solo so even towing a 1000kg caravan it will struggle. When I drove one (solo), it needed rev to get the best out of it so not great news once you have a square box on the back.
If you want a Zafia, I would recommend a diesel as I used to tow a 1480kg caravan with a 150hp one. However if most of your journeys are town bound then you could have issues if the car has a DPF.
you'll probably find that although the car has a higher kerbweight that it will have a limit on towing weights (quick check on cuddles and it has a limit of 1000kg). I have however had a 1.6 Zafira and found it not to be very powerful and would not have towed with it. In fact we swapped our Zafira for a 1.8 Vectra which wasn't brilliant but would have been a lot better than towing with the Zafira. We've also had a 2.0 dti Zafira and that towed our 2 berth van (1150kg) pretty well. I personally would look at getting a diesel even if it means getting an older model if your budget is set
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I used to tow a small caravan with a MIRO of 870 kgs. & MTPLM of 1000 kgs. with a Zafira 1.8 petrol engine. I chose the 1.8 because the 1.6 didn't have the required bodyweight or engine torque. Even so, I found the Zafira to be quite sluggish especially on the motorway inclines but the Zafira diesel is far better in comparison for towing. I now tow with a Focus estate 1.6 diesel with a slightly heavier caravan but the diesel far outweighs a 1.8 petrol version by far due to the extra torque for climbing hills plus the fuel consumption is much better too. After driving the Ford Focus I would never return to a Zafira because the vehicle is basically designed for a left hand drive anyway. The rear wiper is fixed for a left hand rear view so you see more of the pavement on the nearside than you do of the offside road behind and the front wipers are even worse as they are also fitted for the left hand drive market. When the front windscreen wipers operate, the driver gets a blind spot near the pillar and the front passenger doesn't. This says it all about Vauxhall in general as it's all about saving money first and safety second.
The Zafira 1.9 diesel with a BHP of 120 has an engine torque of 206 Lbs./ft. The minimum kerbweight is 1553 kgs. with a maximum towing weight for a braked trailer being 1300 Kgs. which is 108 kgs. more kerbweight than the 1.6 petrol engine but the specs here have been taken from a manual gearbox and not an automatic. The engine torque on my 1.6 Focus diesel is 177 Lbs./ft. so you shouldn't have any problems with climbing inclines or standing starts but what you finally need to know now is the actual MTPLM (maximum laden weight) of your caravan so you can calculate the percentage match the total outfit. If you can provide the MTPLM of the caravan you can then calculate what the match will be. See the link below to calculate the percentage.