I am thinking of changeing from a conway crusader fc to a caravan but not sure if poss because my car only has a max towing weight of 1300kg and a kerbweight of 1358kg and a noseweight of 52kg it is a 1.8 petrol .with 121bhp . is it poss and if so dose anyone know whitch caravan would suit. i would need 3/4 berth many thanks dave
Look for a caravan with a MTPLM of upto 1155kg. Not sure which one? Go along to a dealer and see what they have got. You don't have to buy one there just get some advice and then compare on the open market. Nose weight is not sucha problem as this can be adjusted by how you load the caravan. There's loads of good advice on here for how to load your van.
By the way, don't dismiss Ebay. We bought a cracker on there but you really ought to go and have a look first.
My Adria Optima 400b (4 berth) has an unladen weight of 750kg & 1000kg fully loaded, so that would be well within your limits. I don't know the noseweight off hand but it's such a lightweight van it can't be high.
When I was browsing the market I found the older vans tended to be lighter. If you have a look in the back of Practical Caravan Magazine they list the new vans with details of weights & layouts.
Be warned, (I've a Dandy FC too) although the Adria doesn't weigh much more than my FC it's not as easy to tow. I can certainly feel a difference in stability & visability isn't as good. I'm planning on getting a stabiliser to see if that helps.
Anne
I am currently looking to buy my first caravan and have been looking at the ACE Jubilee Courier, 6 birth single axel (mass running order 1238kg) and the ACE Jubilee Equerry, 6 birth twin axel (mass runing order 1376kg).
I currently have a 3-series BMW tourer 2 Ltr but am changing my car soon. I have been looking at a Ford S-max, new Mondeo estate, AUDI A4 plus a few others. Could anyone possibly advise if these would pull the caravans in question (i would hazard a guess at not for the Equerry)
Also could anyone make any suggestions of Cars/4x4's that would
Quote: Originally posted by superscout on 11/7/2007
I am currently looking to buy my first caravan and have been looking at the ACE Jubilee Courier, 6 birth single axel (mass running order 1238kg) and the ACE Jubilee Equerry, 6 birth twin axel (mass runing order 1376kg).
I currently have a 3-series BMW tourer 2 Ltr but am changing my car soon. I have been looking at a Ford S-max, new Mondeo estate, AUDI A4 plus a few others. Could anyone possibly advise if these would pull the caravans in question (i would hazard a guess at not for the Equerry)
Also could anyone make any suggestions of Cars/4x4's that would
Can you tell me what percentage bracket i should be aiming for. With my current car im around the 100% but as i said am changing soon and need to know what to look for.
My last vehicle was a 1997 VW Golf 1.9 TDI estate. It had a max trailer weight of 1200 kg, and noseweight of 50 kg. It towed our then van of 1100 kg MTPLM effortlessly. My one problem was the 50 kg noseweight. At this weight, the van was a bit skittish. Increasing the noseweight to about 75 to 80 kg produced excellent stability.
I spoke to VW Customer Services about this, and asked if the higher noseweight could be detremental to the vehicle. Their response was that stability was more important but, of course, I could not obtain written clearance in this respect. I towed without problems for 5 years, up to my decision to change the vehicle.
At its last service, the dealership found the main bushes in the rear suspension to be in need of changing. That service cost just over £800 in total. When I asked if towing with a 75 - 80 kg noseweight had caused their failure I was told that this was unlikely, but I often wondered about this.
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Topic: can I tow a van
