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Quote: Originally posted by hankakampa on 22/9/2013

Quote: Originally posted by ChrisPolly+Oscar on 22/9/2013Interesting question there sir;I would say, as a design engineer myself, that every vehicle is designed to be a jack of all trades, with certain emphasis on key requirements.

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Large vans and proper heavy duty 4x4 (not the artificial posey type) are designed to spend there lives hauling heavy loads and essentially been tortured, but they are thirsty and slow compared to a diesel estate, which wasn't designed primarily for towing...

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Would you consider my transit 100/t300 to be a large van? It's a medium wheelbase, medium roof model with a 2.0 turbo Diesel engine.

It's surprisingly nippy away from the lights and if I sit at 60 on the motorway it will do 40mpg although that tails off if I do 70 or 80 ( not sure what it maxes out at but I reckon it's license losing! )

I think that's not too thirsty considering what it can carry! And that's without the roof rack and towbar - both of which are available from Ford as approved accessories for it!

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Quote: Originally posted by ukmarc on 22/9/2013

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At the moment we've got the smallest Mitsubishi Shogun

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Quote: Originally posted by ukmarc on 22/9/2013

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We do get whichever car we're using serviced before we go (condition of insurance, usually)

It's for our trips abroad, yes. It used to be a condition of taking out Europe Assistance (sp?) that your car was kept in a properly serviced condition and had been serviced recently  so we got into the habit of scheduling it's regular service within a month of going away. This may have changed in recent years (OH reads the car insurance policy, I read the personal one) of course. It would be worth checking this point for any foreign car insurance policy I would think, one wouldn't wish to fall foul of a technicality.

Quote: Originally posted by Valk_scot on 22/9/2013

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Quote: Originally posted by ukmarc on 22/9/2013

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We do get whichever car we're using serviced before we go (condition of insurance, usually)

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Out of interest, Val, is this to do with driving abroad?

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It's for our trips abroad, yes. It used to be a condition of taking out Europe Assistance (sp?) that your car was kept in a properly serviced condition and had been serviced recently  so we got into the habit of scheduling it's regular service within a month of going away. This may have changed in recent years (OH reads the car insurance policy, I read the personal one) of course. It would be worth checking this point for any foreign car insurance policy I would think, one wouldn't wish to fall foul of a technicality.

Quote: Originally posted by ChrisPolly+Oscar on 22/9/2013

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Quote: Originally posted by hankakampa on 22/9/2013

Quote: Originally posted by ChrisPolly+Oscar on 22/9/2013Interesting question there sir;I would say, as a design engineer myself, that every vehicle is designed to be a jack of all trades, with certain emphasis on key requirements.

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Large vans and proper heavy duty 4x4 (not the artificial posey type) are designed to spend there lives hauling heavy loads and essentially been tortured, but they are thirsty and slow compared to a diesel estate, which wasn't designed primarily for towing...

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Would you consider my transit 100/t300 to be a large van? It's a medium wheelbase, medium roof model with a 2.0 turbo Diesel engine.

It's surprisingly nippy away from the lights and if I sit at 60 on the motorway it will do 40mpg although that tails off if I do 70 or 80 ( not sure what it maxes out at but I reckon it's license losing! )

I think that's not too thirsty considering what it can carry! And that's without the roof rack and towbar - both of which are available from Ford as approved accessories for it!

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Indeed I would!! We used to use an 02 plate 125/T350 LWB to move a race car & trailer around the country; never got 40mpg though, but it did return 30mpg quite happily. Think it had a 2.4 litre turbo diesel; tough old bird though, had 1000's and 1000's miles of abuse on it.

We were offered a race box converted 1969 AEC Reliance coach with Plaxton Panorama bodywork; big 13 litre diesel slowly chugging away, no more messing with trailers or vans; just 10 boys (& the odd wife) away for the weekend. Only cost £1000; needed some work to get it through MOT, easy though. Only does 18mpg, but spread between 10 of us, cheap enough. Kitchen, bathroom, beds, workshop. Its just like a BIG motorhome...
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Post last edited on 22/09/2013 19:36:21

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Quote: Originally posted by Campernic on 23/9/2013

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I have been offered a small aluminium trailer, for free (yipee!), so would towing it with camping gear in it be better for the car than packing the back of an estate with the seats collapsed down? Which is less strain?

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Quote: Originally posted by Campernic on 22/9/2013Funny this post should come up, I've just been checking under my car thinking that this camping trip I'm just back from has really done some damage this time. Last week it had a new ball joint and a rear caliper. but today coming home with a fully laden car with three people, two dogs, a family sized pop up tent, and assorted gear has left my estate car very low to the ground. My drive is on a slope and to get out of it you have to go over a crest and my car is long too and the bottom of the car lightly scrapes over the crest at the best of times. When it's loaded up with camping gear, the kids (teens) have to get out and I ease the car over the crest. Today it scraped along more alarmingly than it has done in the past on our return home. I wonder have I buggered the suspension now!

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I've been offered a little trailer so that might help the situation.

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