The day came last year when we had to say goodbye to our much loved caravan and 4 wheel drive due to unemployment. Hubby has now been in employment since last Christmas. We managed to buy another car,a 2008 Renault megan dymanique petrol 1.6 estate, this was bought with a view to towing a folding camper, hence the engine size. I know you can get a very lightweight caravan (used not new) 2 berth, but its the engine size that is bothering me, 1.6 may not be enough. Has anybody out there had any experience with this car or can anybody recommend a lightweight van.
We recently bought a 2006 megane 1.9 diesel and could no longer tow our bailey caravan. We did not want to go back to trailer tents as OH feels the cold. We ended up buying a folding caravan... it is a 3 berth rapido orline. So easy to tow, its the same width as the car when folded and goes up really quick and easy (can be put up by one person). Just got back from taking her to France and we are so happy with her.
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We tow a 1990 Avondale Wren (MLW 950k) with a Renault Scenic 1.4. Our last folding camper was no lighter than this. We tend not to load too much in the van as there are only two of us but find it OK.
IMHO you should have plenty for a small van. I have a 2.0L HDI and the beauty of any turbo diesel is they have plenty of room to be tuned as they are tuned to run on any old grede of diesel. So if you always use quality fuel then a tune up is ok This means I have almost 180php compared to almost 140bhp and a shovel load more of torque. So find a van that is ok weight wise, chip the car and hey presto.
Quote: Originally posted by saz121299 on 19/8/2013
cardiff camperz, i would have thought a 1.9D would have pulled a caravan, i am a newby so not knowledgable atall but that has shocked me x
Hi Saz... It was a 5 berth bailey pageant. OH checked weights and stuff and it turned out to be not a good towing match (don't understand the technical stuff much sorry) If it had been a smaller caravan then it would not have been a problem.
Thanks for replies. We will probably look for something circa 1990's as the older ones seem to be lighter, also not as wide so we can get it to go in front of garage. unfortunately we were spoilt with the Kia Sorento, amazing tow car, but it had to go as it wasn't cheap to run, we also had a fixed bed,it was ideal but you do need a lot of power to tow a van with all the extras in it. Its going back to a jigsaw bed for us and mattress topper I'm afraid. Will consider anything, we miss the outdoors too much.