Message Forums

We tow with my wife`s Discovery TD5 and recently bought an Elddis Avante 556 with an all up weight of around 1450kg. The van tows great with the Disco which has a noseweight limit around 250kg.

My dilemma is that I am shortly to change my company car and I would like one that would tow the Elddis. Having looked at Volvo V70`s, VW Passats etc the nosewight limits all seem around 75kg which would appear to rule out our van given the recommended ideal noseweight should be around 7% of the total weight ie 100kg!

Any comments, suggestions for a suitable car other than 4x4 option.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

The 7% is an outdated figure now apparently.  Our van is 1300kg MTPLM and 7% would be 91kg, but we tow at 75kg without problems.  The max for most caravan hitches is 100kg, but of course you should never exceed the car manufacturers figure.

Not sure what the kerbweights of the vehicles you are considering are, I would think if you want to stick to the 85% ideal then you will be limited in choice.

7% is not outdated as such it's just becoming impossible to achieve given the ever increasing weight of caravans!!. 85% of the kerbweight of the car is also becoming critical for the same reason.

The whole study that through up this 7% 'guideline' to my mind wants re-examining, there are to many 'ifs' based on what they thought might be the case but had not followed through to find out if they actually did!!

Having said that, 1450kg is a lot of weight which few 'normal' tow cars are going to cope with, unless that it is you can tow it a lot less than fully loaded?

I tow with a VW Touran 1.9 TDI.   Max. trailer weight 1,500kg  Max. nose weight 75kg.    Caravan 1430 kg MTPLM.  No problems.

The VW Sharan has a 2000 kg max. trailer weight, and 100 kg nose weight, but I believe this model is being phased out.   Perhaps it will be replaced by a similar vehicle.

Bertie.

We're in the same boat.

Mr Ulti-mates has a Company Mondeo Estate (kerbweight 1587kg) and maxtow 2000kg.

We've just ordered at van with an MTPLM of 1560kg - so we will be towing at almost 100% - if fully loaded.

We've examined all the stats and looked at (and rejected) running a 4x4. 

We're planning to keep our loading as judicious as possible to keep under the MTLPM and to balance out the noseweight as far as possible - by using the gaslight gas bottles for example, carrying the awning in the car and all that sort of stuff.

Mr Ulti-mates, who is a stickler for safety, assures me that our outfit will be safe and stable provided that we excercise best practice.

Incidentally, if you are a member, the Caravan Club has a downloadable pdf showing the towball noseweight limit of most cars on their website - saves you trawling through the manufacturers figures for each model.

With our second row of seats folded, we put the awning poles across the floor of the car, but the awning canvas rides in the rear end bathroom of the van. We manage to keep the nose weight to 70-75 kg. (we aim for 70 kg indicated, because we do not know how accurate the purpose-bought gauge is). The car is 75kg max. to spec'n.

The van is equipped for 2 gas bottles in the front locker.  We carry one (6kg propane), as two would make nose weight unacceptably heavy, even though the spare wheel rides on a carrier behind the axle. 

Investigation put us off the Gaslight bottles; cost and limited number of outlets. This may change in the future.

Bertie.

Quote: Originally posted by Eddie12 on 09/1/2007

---

I'm in a similar situation, as far as finding a car which can take 85-100 kgs. noseweight.  The new Passat has a max. of 85Kgs., and my next choice choice appears to be the new Honda CR-V, though I'd prefer to stick with a saloon if I could.

---