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   Caravans and Caravanning -  Caravan Towcars and Towing Advice 		Share   Post on X / Twitter  Share on Facebook  Email  Printer Friendly Version Print
Subject Topic: Tow car please help!
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PersonDannyh9
02/8/2016 at 9:01pm
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We have owned our van for 12 months. It's a swift musketeer 2005 mtplm 1245kg. At the time of buying our van we bought an old mondeo 52 plate 2.0 diesel to tow the car with.

The car as been fine but it's had new fuel lines a new clutch and yesterday broke down on us in Kent meaning we had 12 hours of greengflag trying to repair it and eventually giving us a Navarro to tow the van home. We arrived back in south yorks at 6am this morning! It appears it has a fuel injection issue and as it has 147000 on the clock. So I've had enough of the mondeo and it's time for something else.

We fancy a 4x4 so looking at RAV4 maybe the xtrail or cr-v. Already been warned off the freelander but I do like them aesthetically.

Can anyone recommend any or all of them the key point is reliability. I'm also open to suggestions on others I have not considered. I will be looking for cars with fsh but I can't afford to spend much more than £3000 so I'm going to be looking at a car around 02/03/04/05 plate with 80/90/100000 miles on the clock. Must be able to carry 2 adults and three small children oh and a beddlington terrier! 😁

Any advice appreciated


Personhelandchas
02/8/2016 at 10:25pm
 Location: co durham
 Outfit: swift challenger View helandchas's Profile View Profile   Reply to helandchas Reply   Quote helandchas Quote  
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Hi. How about an old shape (2004 ish) Audi Allroad?
Got mine last year and tow a swift challenger. It's a 2.5 diesel with 180 horspower as standard. Tows effortlessly and in my opinion is a better everyday option than a fully blown 4x4. Being an estate you'll find it has loads of room for kids, animals and the odd trip to ikea! Suspension is height adjustable and if fitted with all weather tyres will prove adequate for any realistic caravan trip, not to mention the perfect winter family car.
These Audis are often advertised with slightly higher than average mileage (100,000 plus) but for around the 3 grand mark i recon you'll find a example in good condition with full service history.
Happy shopping, regards Andy.                         


PersonDannyh9
02/8/2016 at 10:38pm
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Cheers Andy i'll have a look at the allroad


PersonGrampian91
03/8/2016 at 1:57am
 Location: Midlands
 Outfit: Mondeo Avondale Gram View Grampian91's Profile View Profile   Reply to Grampian91 Reply   Quote Grampian91 Quote  
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At £3000 its going to be a lot of luck. Buy the wrong car and it could cost half as much again to fix fairly minor issues.

IM a fan of the MK3 Mondeo, the diesel tows very well, although the petrol one is OK also. The diesel is more relaxed when towing.

Parts are cheap and should easily run past 200k miles without major work.

Sister had my old one at 175k miles and she is putting 500 miles a week onto it. Well over 200k now.

They like lots of oil changes and a decent fuel filter changed at less than half the recommened intervals.

A good thrash also helps keep the soot out.


PersonDannyh9
03/8/2016 at 9:30am
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Great... Thank you. I do like the mondeo and the one we have has been a great tug. I wanted something with a little more space as it's pretty tight with 5 of us and a dog. Just felt the 4x4 would give us a little more comfort on the trek to the south coast


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Personjim oldham
03/8/2016 at 9:47am
 Location: Wigan
 Outfit: VWSharan. Sport 442. View jim oldham's Profile View Profile   Reply to jim oldham Reply   Quote jim oldham Quote  
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There aren't many cars with the volume of the Mondeo, but for £3,000, you will need to shop around a lot for a good one. Best of luck.


PersonAndyDW
03/8/2016 at 11:20am
 Location: Lincs
 Outfit: Coachman Wanderer 19 View AndyDW's Profile View Profile   Reply to AndyDW Reply   Quote AndyDW Quote  
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If you are looking at the likes of Rav-4, & Freeloader etc, have you considered a 2ltr Suzuki Grand Vitara ?

Old fashioned basic 4x4 system but very reliable.

...............
Andy


PersonDannyh9
03/8/2016 at 12:21pm
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Thanks for all the suggestions. Xtrail seems to be the fave at the moment.seem to be lots of them around. Anyone with any exp of RAV4? Seems to be highly rated on reliability?
I like the Honda CR-V but they seem to keep their value better than Toyota and Nissan and therefore slightly out of my budget. Well the ones local to me are anyway
Do like the mondeo but was looking for something with a little more height


PersonJG1971
03/8/2016 at 12:57pm
 Location: Lancashire
 Outfit: Nissan Xtrail & 2010 Swift Charisma550 View JG1971's Profile View Profile   Reply to JG1971 Reply   Quote JG1971 Quote  
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I bought a 2005 XTrail in May this year from our local Nissan dealer. It's a one-ownder car and was sold new by the dealers who have done every service on it since.
It's a great towcar and is reasonably economical but.....
it's already had a new turbo & actuator and a track rod end, luckily all covered by the 12 month warranty I got with it.
I can thoroughly recommend the XTrail, but make sure you test drive it on a motorway and accelerate hard through 4th & 5th - if it doesn't pull normally then it's likeley to need a turbo.
Having said that, i towed down to London & back with a faulty turbo and it managed ok.
The other thing is that it's surprisingly cheap to insure too!


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PersonDannyh9
03/8/2016 at 1:37pm
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Brill.. Great advice thank you


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Personskipp66
03/8/2016 at 9:47pm
 Location: Essex
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Due to my last car being hit head on by a white van man ! My insurance paid out £4500 . I picked up a full history with waranty Kia Sportage 2006 CRDI manual.
Had a few things to sort out under the waranty, but tows our Van 1250 KG brilliantly and im getting nearly 40 mpg solo, plus a big boot and very comfy on a long run .
A lot of car for the money.
Do not buy a freelander unless you have very deep pockets !!


PersonDannyh9
03/8/2016 at 10:56pm
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Sportage looks interesting! Anything to look out for?


PersonDannyh9
04/8/2016 at 1:08am
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Just a couple of cars locally I may go and have a look at. Feel free to have a look and any comments will be appreciated

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607216045354?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201608016374193?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607035493437?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201605204140380?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607145835574?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201606285332586?atmobcid=soc4

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607085657159?atmobcid=soc4


PersonJG1971
04/8/2016 at 11:54am
 Location: Lancashire
 Outfit: Nissan Xtrail & 2010 Swift Charisma550 View JG1971's Profile View Profile   Reply to JG1971 Reply   Quote JG1971 Quote  
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All of them seem ok apart from the Touran, I had a 2008 Touran 2.0tdi with low mileage and it was plagued with problems both mechanical & electrical.

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PersonDannyh9
04/8/2016 at 12:18pm
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Great thanks for looking!


PersonJG1971
04/8/2016 at 12:30pm
 Location: Lancashire
 Outfit: Nissan Xtrail & 2010 Swift Charisma550 View JG1971's Profile View Profile   Reply to JG1971 Reply   Quote JG1971 Quote  
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Oh, and if you want to find out what mpg people are actually getting in the real world, then have a look at http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/ and search for the cars you're interested in.
Obviously, the figures shown are without towing a caravan!

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