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Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 03/6/2021

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I would agree with Navver about wind resistance, a lot of people don't always take this into account. Weight is not the only consideration when towing.

Not quite so applicable in this case, but when people talk about towing with small, low-powered cars, wind resistance is even more important. Often a relatively small, lightweight caravan has the same frontal area as a large twin-axle one, so wind drag has a huge effect.

Coming back to the Mercedes, this is quite a substantial vehicle. I don't know the relative weights of the viano and the caravan, but I would imagine the whole outfit is quite heavy for a 2.2 engine.

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Quote: Originally posted by Pappa583 on 03/6/2021

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Thats a fair point about wind resistance and the overall weight of the whole rig, just didn't think it would seem to struggle as much.
The 2 declines I mention were on the same journey last week, one it startedbto slow down and the other it speeds up. Felt like I was pulling a different caravan. That's why I checked the heat at the brakes of the caravan and it felt like they must have been on and dragging me back?
I did have a ford transit several years ago and a buccaneer argosy caravan which was prob heavier than my current caravan and towed this all the way to Devon from North east. Cant seem to remember like that van struggled as much, buy maybe it did?
My viano pulls away through the gears with ease its just maintaining the speed at 60 with slight inclines that I thought would be easier, with less gear changes....... and the mpg.... does 40mpg on a steady run normally, with the caravan I'm lucky if its getting 17mpg. Maybe that's also normal?

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