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Caravans and Caravanning - Caravan Towcars and Towing Advice

Topic: Towing for the first time - HELP!

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John Boy Paddy

28/10/2012 at 10:40am
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I had a diesel Mondeo at 150hp, a good tow car for the Abbey I use to have.

Keep an eye on the caravans nose weight. I experiment with loading a new outfit to see what gives the most stable ride. Doesn't half up-set the missus :)

Make sure the van doesn't push the back end of the car to far down, so that the front end traction of the steering is compromised.

Most of all, enjoy!

DaveCoaches

01/11/2012 at 6:16pm
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I recently changed from a large 4x4 to a Mondeo, going from around 70% up to 92% of the cars kerb weight.

The Mondeo is at least as steady a towcar as the 4x4 was although the power to weight ratio is almost double that of the 4x4 on the Mondeo which helps make for a less stressful drive.

I was concerned about the weights at first, as I have never towed over the 85% rule. When I changed the caravan a year earlier we went from 60% up to 70% and the difference was quite noticeable.

It does highlight that the actual vehicle has a greater influence over stability than a figure that is used and applied to every scenario.

The Mondeo is a damn good tow car, even in excess of the 85% guideline but the same may not necessarily have been the case for the Audi or the Citroen.

The slight downside with the Mondeo is that the figures are misleading. If you were to tow a trailer weighing the plated maximum towing weight then the gross train weight would be exceeded if you loaded the car up to it's limit.

In reality, you would be mad to try and tow an 1800 kg caravan behind a Mondeo, but it tows my 1450kg caravan very well indeed.

Mine is the earlier 130 hp model although plenty of people here swear by the 115 hp model too.

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