At the moment we are using our tent every second weekend (trying for every weekend) and we are looking to move to a caravan. We are looking at cheap caravans but are unsure which cars would be the most practical for towing and transporting 2 adults and 2 small children. looked at vectra and mondeo but are still unsure. Any advise would be most appreciated. Thanks.
Hi and welcome to UKCS.
The Mondeo consistently gets good comments from members.
It should suit a growing family for many years and will pull upto medium weight caravans giving you a good selection of models to choose from.
There are plenty around so you should be able to pick a secondhand model up fairly cheaply.
The Mondeo is definately on my shortlist when its time to change vehicles.
We have a vectra 1.9 Diesel (150 BHP) and that tows fine.
Plenty of grunt and is spends most of its time in 5th very rarely have I had to drop it down a cog.
I can vouch for a diesel Mondeo as a towcar, and I can not imagine that the similar Vectra would not do the job in a similar fashion. My 115bhp mondeo tows my 1450kg caravan with ease and great stability and like the above message about the Vectra once in 5th gear I seldom have to drop it down to fourth.
------------- Bill
For a licence dated 1997 or later you must add together the plated max weight of the caravan and trailer, if the total is 3500 or less you can tow it. You may even tow a caravan with a MAM greater than the cars unladen mass the restriction was removed in 2013
each to their own i had bmw 320 td 150bhp .got caravan steerling eurpa 500 max weight 1375 . car limit was 1600. when towing i hated it if road just bit rough car would bounce, didnt like hills and clutch burning when reversing . changed to warrior loads better
I've not seen any reviews that concluded any particular vehicle is a bad tow car.
So I would suggest picking any German or Japanese car that has the towing capability that matches your chosen van and you won't go far wrong; solo and towing.
I agree with the previous posts recommending the Mondeo; excellent car all round. I have a Skoda Octavia and can also recommend that.
PS Don't worry if you prefer an automatic gearbox, modern autos tow just as well as their manual counterparts.
I have a 115bhp TDCi estate and tow a Swift Charisma 550 at 1404kg MTPLM. It is very stable and a fabulous towcar.
People slate the Mondeo for clutch and Dual Mass Flywheel failures and also injector problems. I drive mine sensibly, anticipate traffic lights on hills etc to look after the clutch. It is looked after and serviced properly. It has now done 145000 miles on the original clutch etc.and has suffered non of the 'supposed' common problems. It still looks and drives like a 50 000 mile car
I have uprated the rear springs with heavy duty one s though. It still sits at the same height, isn't hard at the rear and drives much better towing and solo.
I too will highly recommend the mondeo,I have a bailey pageant champange 4 berth and the 130 tdci ghia estate and the car is stable and has no problems with power at all, as with dual mass flywheels other cars suffer from this problem as well so I have read, most cars have their own list of issues I think it is a case of finding the car that best suits you
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Topic: Which car and caravan
