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     hi i am a camper at this present time but i am considering changing to a caravan

     in the near future, my problem is i dont want to change my car,i have a renault

     scenic 1.6 16v. would this tow a 4 berth, does anyone use the same vehicle you

     your help would be great

hi gefnmaz

I have the scenic 1.9tdi and I find it tows my swift corvette very well.

looking  in the hand book your engine should have no problems at all with towing a caravan but it all depends on the weight of the caravan,

kerbweight on the 1.6 scenic 16 v is 1250 kgs towing limit 1300(you have to stick to kbw)

85% of  1250 = 1062 kgs thats your mptlm

you can obviously tow up to 100% but its not recommended,have a look here lunars are one of the lighter vans

http://www.lunarcaravans.com/

             thanks for your help people much appreciated

                                                          geoff

I also have a 1.6 scenic. Funtime's figures are right, with any load greater than the driver the max tow is 1000kg. I tow an avondale perle ulysses 850kg unladen. The scenic towed the van over the alps last year no problem with 5 of us and all our gear. we did try to be careful to keep the weight of what we stowed in the van to about 150kg and put some heavy stuff, like the awning in the boot of the car. There are probably a few vans which will suit your purposes weight wise - you'll need to do a bit of research - or does anyone else out there have suggestions?

One other thing. When towing, the fuel consumption is about 25mpg, so be prepared to watch the needle of the fuel guage fall as you drive!

Hope this helps

Simon

Hiya'  gefnmaz

If you want to take a peek at my profile pics on here you will find that I pull an Elddis Tornado 4 berth caravan with the new Renault Scenic 1.6 and it handles okay........ but the Tornado was built as a light caravan for people with 'standard' family cars.  It has a maximum loaded weight of 1200kg which makes my ratio about 91%  but with modern cars having disc brakes all around and computerised handling I think you will find it manages the job okay.  Just watch the weight of the van if you are looking for a 4berth.........there are still one or two available at a low max weight.

Good Luck,

Les Wilson

               thankyou all obviously im going to have to look at this in more detail

                                                                              gefnmaz

And watch out for the sting in the tail with Renault, as mentioned previously.

If you're going to have any sort of warranty on the car, It's worth bearing in mind that the towing limits drop dramatically if you have anymore than just the driver on board!!!

Have you considered a folding camper like a Pennine Pullman?

It has a very low weight, 640 kg, and low drag but has a king sized bed AND a double with interior sprung mattresses.

Another advantage is it needs no pegs and guy ropes. Gas assisted struts make folding very easy.

I've managed to (eventually) find a topic that could fit the bill for my own enquiry so sorry to hijack this thread. I have a folding camper on a Renault Scenic 2.0 petrol (almost 3 years old) and have been looking at caravans as an alternative as I approach my 50th year and the back is creaking. Bailey Ranger 500/5 seems to fit the bill on layout and price (quality is another topic). Could (should) I buy/tow one of these without risking life and limb?

Cheers!

We were advised by a local dealer to look at second-hand vans as these are much lighter than newer vans with all the added mod-cons. When we looked we were amazed at how many vans we would be able to tow - we also have a Megane, it is a 1.9tdi and max tow weight of 950kgs. We found Swift, Coachman, Avondale were all well within this range but we ended up buying an ABI with unladen weight of 850kgs which does not give us much weight left to add in the extras but the layout was by far the best and the fact it did not smell bad and came with everything needed to tow away and play!!! 

Happy hunting.