I think Tango 55 tows with a V50 so hopefully he'll see this thread.
There have been loads of previous threads on various Volvo models so it might be worth having a quick search on this forum for anything relevant.
Which engine are you thinking of? There are petrol versions and several diesels ranging from around 110 to 200bhp and will have a great impact on the car's suitability and there are also manual and auto gearboxes available.
Thanks for reply Rob. I was thinking 2 litre diesel but only a manual gearbox. I do like auto but prefer manual for towing, Maybe year 2006 - 2008 ish Mick.
There are several 2.0 diesel engines from about 130 to 180bhp so still a few options open to you. Horton Cars near Aylesbury are Volvo specialists and often have older cars available especially if they have serviced the cars themselves, many of the cars seem to have covered inter galactic mileages but are still good, reliable cars.
Have you checked the weights of your caravan and any possible purchases?
I had a 2009 V50 D5 manual. It was my daily driver, but came with a tow bar and the self levelling suspension. It was a great solo car, and was the backup tow car to the XC90 D5. The down side was the relatively low nose weight (75kg) (Unicorn Vigo S3, max nose weight 100kg).
I used the V50 mainly for moving the van to and from storage. It towed ok, though felt the weight of the caravan more than the XC90. It had about the same power and torque (180ps?) but only FWD not AWD so was a bit more "scrabbly". It got changed for a 2016 V60 D6 which was much more capable.
If my memory serves me correctly these cars were sold with a range of diesel engines, and some were much better than others.
Volvo's own 5-cylinder engines (badged D3 or D5 depending on model year) were very good although given the age of the cars now, you should check the service history to be happy that they've been looked after.
However, the cars were also sold with 4-cylinder engines (badged 2.0D) sourced from Peugeot, which were notorious for turbo failure.
Bear in mind also that these cars are relatively lightweight - they share much of their running gear with the Ford Focus - so the choice of caravans you can sensibly tow with it may be smaller than you think.
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