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 Topic: Towing with smaller car
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04/2/2024 at 3:10pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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As Rob and Tina have mentioned above, check weights CAREFULLY to your SPECIFIC car, there can be significant differences between similar models/trim specs/engines/gearboxes/years etc etc. DON'T rely on websites doing 'what you can tow' or 'caravan-car matching' type services, one in particular is fairly notorious for using non-UK car specifications which can be quite erroneous!
Assuming your weights turn out OK, 148bhp is perfectly adequate for a lightish van, the recommended industry figure is a minimum of 40bhp/GTW Tonne (Gross Train Weight, that's Car plus Caravan), on that basis you should be OK up to around 3.6T GTW, but that may be in excess of your permitted towing capacity!
I tow a 1310Kg MTPLM caravan with my 1.2 litre (130bhp) petrol engined car, have done so for 6 years and thousands of miles all over the country, it's perfectly fine, never had a problem, it's fast enough to pull out into traffic, will cruise at the speed limit (and a LOT more!!), climbed every hill I've encountered, and returns a fuel consumption that many a diesel driver would be envious of!
As to how good a tow car the Astra is in terms of stability etc., that's always a bit of a gamble and can be dependent on what you are towing as much as anything. General principle of keep the van as light as possible, and load the car instead of van wherever you can, usually gives the best towing experience.
Modern petrol engines are a world apart from years ago, much more power AND often torque than past engines, so much of the prejudice you'll hear against towing with a petrol engine dates back to a past era experience. No doubt that a diesel is often better as generally more torque, but that doesn't mean petrol can't do the job.
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05/2/2024 at 9:34am
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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Quote: Originally posted by birdman101 on 05/2/2024
If you are only doing short trips and reasonably flat travelling then the Astra should cope but not much power in reserve,if any and as Colin said a strong headwind you will know it. If your plans are such as Devon and Cornwall with the hills I think you will struggle unless low gears and engine revving its nuts off. My experience of years of caravanning you can never have to much power for a good relaxed towing experience with no worries. You still cannot beat a diesel automatic for towing..
I couldn't agree more, I like to have plenty in reserve, which is why I tow a caravan weighing less than a ton with a 2 litre Turbo-diesel X Trail automatic. I don't hardly know the caravan is on the back. Yes a small low-powered petrol car can very often tow, but it's not an experience I would want. Certainly not on a long motorway journey or up and down lots of hills. I used to do a lot of towing for a living, all kinds of different trailers, and a heavy low trailer can be easier to tow than a caravan because of the effect of wind on a caravan. Headwinds can seriously impede your progress, and side winds can blow you all over the place. A bit of power and weight in the tow car is what you need for stability and to make good progress in varying conditions.
My X Trail does virtually the same mpg whether it is towing my caravan or not, but a small, light, petrol car's consumption is likely to rocket when towing a relatively heavy caravan, especially in strong headwinds.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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05/2/2024 at 12:45pm
Location: East Herts
Outfit: 1992 Elddis Wisp 450CT + X Trail
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Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 05/2/2024
Quote: Originally posted by birdman101 on 05/2/2024
If you are only doing short trips and reasonably flat travelling then the Astra should cope but not much power in reserve,if any and as Colin said a strong headwind you will know it. If your plans are such as Devon and Cornwall with the hills I think you will struggle unless low gears and engine revving its nuts off. My experience of years of caravanning you can never have to much power for a good relaxed towing experience with no worries. You still cannot beat a diesel automatic for towing..
Simply nothing like my experience with my petrol car!
'Power in reserve'! - I have to use the Cruise Control or Speed Limiter otherwise the 'car' tends to run away with itself and seriously break the speed limit, I've hit near 75MPH when attention to speedo has lapsed, the car is certainly not struggling and has plenty more to go! With a top speed of 128MPH, it's a very relaxed ride at 75MPH, so not much sensation of speed! It's a very stable well behaved outfit, so not really any handling clues that the speed is too high! Happy to cruise in 6th gear (manual gearbox) on flatish roads, with engine just pootling along, never red lined it yet to deal with anything!!!!!
I guess all cars vary. My X Trail is a 6 speed auto, and I can't use 6th gear when I'm towing without breaking the caravan speed limit. If the speed drops below 60mph, whether I am towing or not, it will drop back to 5th even if left in manual mode. In 5th gear that equates to just under 2,000rpm, about the same as 70mph in 6th. 6th gear seems almost like an "overdrive". My car also has a claimed top speed of 128mph, although I've never actually tried it. 
At the end of the day though, it's all about personal choice and I really like my car.
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Best Regards,
Colin
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05/2/2024 at 3:01pm
Location: London
Outfit: Lunar Cosmos 524
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Well Birdman, the world speed caravan towing record is just a tad under 142MPH, so 128MPH is quite tame! .... but it won't be me doing that, with my car and my caravan and on public roads! The 128MPH quoted was for reference as the solo car's top speed and that 75 was only about 60% of its potential performance and well within its performance 'comfort zone'. The way the car enthusiastically pulls, given free rein, reckon 85MPH plus is a realistic possibility as a top end, and not entirely beyond the scope of the caravan to cope with such speeds, BUT I have no intention of finding the limits personally! The realisation of accidentally hitting 75 is alarming enough, not really anything to get overly concerned about I suppose, legalities aside, it's all behaving itself perfectly well!
Colin, I've towed a lot of different things behind a lot of different cars over the decades, and towed the same trailer behind several different cars, and every situation was different! No doubt, some cars are far better than others at towing, and it's no where near as simple as power and torque figures alone! Gear ratios matched well to power bands is probably just as important, and manufacturers don't always get that right for a solo car, let alone when towing, driven some horrors that you'd think had been cobbled together in relative ignorance from assorted salvaged bits in a back street garage, not the product of a major multi-national car manufacturer!
I didn't buy my car with towing anything more than a camping trailer in mind, the caravan came along later as a real change in direction regards camping. TBH, half expected to find the car inadequate towing the caravan, and was prepared to change it for another one, but it's been an absolute star, and I'm very happy with it, concern now would be if I changed the car, would the new one be anywhere near as good as current one!
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