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Hi. I'm about to get a Passat or VW Touran as a company car, and would love it if anyone has experiance of towing with the Touran?  My caravan has a MTPLM of 1350 kg, but isn't usually that heavy (except on the way back from France

If I get the passat, it will be one of the 1.9 Diesels.

Can you help?

Thanks in advance

We considered the Touran when we bought the X-Trail

It certainly drove well and weighs more than the X so should make a good towcar with that VW diesel engine

Look forward to hearing what owners have to say for future reference

I know this is not much help but I know someone who tows a Swift challenger with a Touran and is very happy with it, it's the diesel model by the way.

                   Jim

Gleaned this info from the web, hope it helps!

VW TOURAN 2.0 TDi
Price from £18,500
Kerbweight 1700kg
Max tow weight 1500kg
Noseweight 75kg
VW's first midi-MPV is a belter and offers five or seven seats. Well built, good to drive and packed with safety kit. The 2.0 turbodiesel offers the necessary towing muscle.

VW PASSAT Tdi 4MOTION
Price from £20,070
Kerbweight 1425kg
Max tow weight 1700kg
Noseweight 75kg
A great mix of VW's potent 1.9-litre 130bhp turbodiesel engine and clever four-wheel-drive system gives a capable and sure-footed load-lugger for all occasions. But it's not the sharpest drive.

Judging by the stats the Touran is the beast for the job, all that extra room for the trip back from France as well!

I have a friend who has an older Touran and he loves it, must admit I had a wee shot of it last year and was well surprised with it as well, certainly comfortable enough for a long haul and plenty of room for all 7 passengers. Been a passanger in it a few times now and no matter which seat I was in it was comfortable, something which my weary bones appreciated. A little tricky for me to get into the back seats and certainly with these in place it does not leave much luggage space . Overall a very good vehicle and certainly up to the job. Have only ever seen the passat on a forecourt but going by the stats above, given the choice I would take the Touran every time.

Hi Candlefish

Just looking to replace the Audi A4 Avant 1.9 TDI (130) company car and have been looking at every alternative vehicle available, including the Skoda Octavia Estate 4x4!!

All the alternatives appear to have something missing off the 'ideal list', must be the marketing people doing their work correctly. Why is it that the car manufacturers are able to produce a 'car tax friendly' engined car but not th 4x4 manufacturers. Can't get my head around this at all.

I've short listed both the VW Touran and the Passat, both for different reasons entirely, apart from the fact that they'll both pull our Avondale Argente 530/5 with ease. The Touran for the 2.0TDI DSG and the Passat for the 4Motion TDI. When I've had a test drive of them both I'll report back.

Mick

Hi team, and thanks for the replies so far.

I'm hoping to get a test drive in a touran tomorrow, and will take it from there.  I currently have a Zafira, so know how tricky the very back seats are for adults, but the kids love them!

I was just a bit puzzled by how the touran could tow so much more than a Zafira.  They are both the same size of car.  They both return about the same MPG, and yet the VW should tow a decent caravan, while the Zafira is more for the canvas brigade.

I'll let you kneo how it ends up.

Thanks

David.

Well, progress has been made. I took delivery of the 1.9 Touran at the end of April, (Boss said "no" to the 2.0 litre) and am well impressed.   50 mpg solo without any difficulty.

 We haven't had time to get away yet, what with family illness and other commitments, but are planning to get away next month.

Thanks again to all who put in their oars, and stirred the soup.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Not all zafiras have the 1050 kg limit.  We have the 1.8L Elegance and it has a max tow of 1300kg.  Towed our Bailey fine, better than expected to be honest. Bailey has a 1338kg MTPLM.

We changed to a Passat estate 1.9 TDI and have found this to be a better tow car. Max tow weight 1400kg, 35MPG fully loaded with the van on the back.  The VW diesel is just so willing.

Well, It's official now.  The Touran can tow effortlessly.

I think we reached the maximum weight for the caravan coming back from France, and 60 is easy and stable on the Motorway.

The air conditioning packed up however, so the last few days were quite warm in the car!

Thanks again for all your input.

The towing limits set by manufacturers are arbitary and ofen set by the ability to move off up a hill of a specified slope. Not much real use.

The towing limit on the road can be determined by other factors such as the maximum train weight. This is the maximum weight of the car and trailor. If you subtract the maximum weight of the fully laden car from the train weight you get the maximum towing weight for the fully laden car. This is often VERY much lower than the value specified by the manufacture. The two values with my Scenic are 1300 (maximum specified by manufacturer) and 1050kg (maximum allowed under traine weight.

Also the weight of the fully laden caravan should not exceed the kerb weight of the car. The kerb weight is specified in the brochure, in the manula and on a plate usually inside the engine compartment. Quite often all three values are differnent and it is difficult to get the manufacturers to give a definitive value.

Whatever you do NEVER rely pn any uinformation given you by the salesman, hes just trying to get you to buy a car - any car, the dearer the better.