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Quote: Originally posted by SamandRose on 07/6/2018

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If you regularly do a 15-mile commute (so about 25-30 minutes journey time)? you should be fine with diesel. The key is that to avoid the DPF from becoming clogged, the engine needs to spend a reasonable amount of time running at normal operating temperature, which it can take 10-15 minutes to reach. So if your journeys were rarely longer than that, petrol would be preferable.

As you say, if you buy a car second-hand you don't know how its been driven, but for a diesel engine in particular it's probably a safer bet to go for a higher mileage and a full service history than a lower mileage with no evidence of how its been looked after.

With respect to the caravan, 750kg unloaded and 1000kg loaded is lightweight in caravan terms and can be towed by most cars from about VW Golf-sized upwards. Around 100-110bhp should cope with it but the more power and torque you have, the more comfortable towing will be. The key things you need to consider are:

- Any car approved for towing will have a manufacturer's maximum towing limit. This will be on the V5 document. In many cases (particularly for powerful diesel engines) this is well in excess of the weight of the car itself, however, it's illegal to tow more than that.

   - Specifically with respect to towing caravans, it's sensible to keep the towed weight less than the kerb weight (essentially the unladen weight with factory fitted accessories) of the car. Most guidance suggests a ratio not greater than about 85% for those new to towing, but this is advisory only and is very crude - a few kg either way will make no real difference in reality.

- If you obtained your full driving licence after 1997, the maximum authorised (i.e. fully-loaded) weight of the car and caravan combined cannot exceed 3500kg unless you take a separate 'B+E' licence test.

The final thing to bear in mind is that a front-wheel drive SUV such as the Qashqai is no better at towing in any way than a conventional hatchback or estate car, apart perhaps from being a bit heavier.

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