Message Forums

I have a Ford Focus Estate, 1.6 CL, 2002, I believe that the maximum advisable towing weight for this car is about 1200kg.

With a family of four and all that entails, I was wondering what kind of caravan I should be looking at, can I practically tow a 4 berth caravan with this car or should I look at going back to a folding camper which is what we used to have?

Any advice gratefully accepted!

Steve

Not so much a weight issue as a power issue I would have thought.  A 1.6 engine is not a particularly punchy engine.  Older vans tend to be lighter, our 5 berth Elddis Crown Regent is something like 1050 kg fully laden with a user payload of about 200 kg but I wouldn't tow it with our 1.8 Almera let alone a 1.6.  Alright on the flat but deadly on hills!

Ali

hi steve the 1200kg you spoke of is 80% of the towing vehicles weight and you should not exceed this, there are a lot of 4 berth vans under this its a matter of find one you like.

stephen

We used to tow our MTPLM 1250Kg Elddis Slipstream with a Focus 2.0 petrol.  Whilst at the time everything seemed fine, we never loaded fully to keep the weight down but still towed at 90-95%.  We have since have bought a Maverick 4x4 for towing we just did not realise exactly how unsafe towing with the Focus was.

Whislt the estate is bigger in length the Focus is not a heavy car and to be honest, Im having the towbar taken off mine now!