Hi. I'm about to get a Passat or VW Touran as a company car, and would love it if anyone has experiance of towing with the Touran? My caravan has a MTPLM of 1350 kg, but isn't usually that heavy (except on the way back from France
If I get the passat, it will be one of the 1.9 Diesels.
VW TOURAN 2.0 TDi Price from £18,500 Kerbweight 1700kg Max tow weight 1500kg Noseweight 75kg VW's first midi-MPV is a belter and offers five or seven seats. Well built, good to drive and packed with safety kit. The 2.0 turbodiesel offers the necessary towing muscle.
VW PASSAT Tdi 4MOTION Price from £20,070 Kerbweight 1425kg Max tow weight 1700kg Noseweight 75kg A great mix of VW's potent 1.9-litre 130bhp turbodiesel engine and clever four-wheel-drive system gives a capable and sure-footed load-lugger for all occasions. But it's not the sharpest drive.
Judging by the stats the Touran is the beast for the job, all that extra room for the trip back from France as well!
I have a friend who has an older Touran and he loves it, must admit I had a wee shot of it last year and was well surprised with it as well, certainly comfortable enough for a long haul and plenty of room for all 7 passengers. Been a passanger in it a few times now and no matter which seat I was in it was comfortable, something which my weary bones appreciated. A little tricky for me to get into the back seats and certainly with these in place it does not leave much luggage space . Overall a very good vehicle and certainly up to the job. Have only ever seen the passat on a forecourt but going by the stats above, given the choice I would take the Touran every time.
Just looking to replace the Audi A4 Avant 1.9 TDI (130) company car and have been looking at every alternative vehicle available, including the Skoda Octavia Estate 4x4!!
All the alternatives appear to have something missing off the 'ideal list', must be the marketing people doing their work correctly. Why is it that the car manufacturers are able to produce a 'car tax friendly' engined car but not th 4x4 manufacturers. Can't get my head around this at all.
I've short listed both the VW Touran and the Passat, both for different reasons entirely, apart from the fact that they'll both pull our Avondale Argente 530/5 with ease. The Touran for the 2.0TDI DSG and the Passat for the 4Motion TDI. When I've had a test drive of them both I'll report back.
I'm hoping to get a test drive in a touran tomorrow, and will take it from there. I currently have a Zafira, so know how tricky the very back seats are for adults, but the kids love them!
I was just a bit puzzled by how the touran could tow so much more than a Zafira. They are both the same size of car. They both return about the same MPG, and yet the VW should tow a decent caravan, while the Zafira is more for the canvas brigade.
Hi Candlefish, it is the manufacturers who set the towing limits, I also found the low limit on the Zaffira a bit puzzling, I have a meriva and that is a smaller vehicle but has a rating of 1200kg compared to the recommended 10.50kg on the Zaffira! When I asked at Vauxhall they said it was because the Zaffira was a 7 seater and they had to allow for it being fully laden (7Adults) pulling away on a 1 in 7 upgrade! Thought it soujded a bit like hogwash personally!
Well, progress has been made. I took delivery of the 1.9 Touran at the end of April, (Boss said "no" to the 2.0 litre) and am well impressed. 50 mpg solo without any difficulty.
We haven't had time to get away yet, what with family illness and other commitments, but are planning to get away next month.
Thanks again to all who put in their oars, and stirred the soup. I'll let you know how it goes!
Not all zafiras have the 1050 kg limit. We have the 1.8L Elegance and it has a max tow of 1300kg. Towed our Bailey fine, better than expected to be honest. Bailey has a 1338kg MTPLM.
We changed to a Passat estate 1.9 TDI and have found this to be a better tow car. Max tow weight 1400kg, 35MPG fully loaded with the van on the back. The VW diesel is just so willing.
------------- "You can not change the wind, but you can adjust your sails"
The towing limits set by manufacturers are arbitary and ofen set by the ability to move off up a hill of a specified slope. Not much real use.
The towing limit on the road can be determined by other factors such as the maximum train weight. This is the maximum weight of the car and trailor. If you subtract the maximum weight of the fully laden car from the train weight you get the maximum towing weight for the fully laden car. This is often VERY much lower than the value specified by the manufacture. The two values with my Scenic are 1300 (maximum specified by manufacturer) and 1050kg (maximum allowed under traine weight.
Also the weight of the fully laden caravan should not exceed the kerb weight of the car. The kerb weight is specified in the brochure, in the manula and on a plate usually inside the engine compartment. Quite often all three values are differnent and it is difficult to get the manufacturers to give a definitive value.
Whatever you do NEVER rely pn any uinformation given you by the salesman, hes just trying to get you to buy a car - any car, the dearer the better.
hello new to caravaning myself bought the new vw touran 2.0l tdi 138bhp towed with it once the avondale dart 556 and there was no problems at all the caravan was empty we see the full effect in march
hello got vw touran sport 2.0 tdi 140 bhp 7 seater must admit lovely tow car makes light work of my avondale 6 berth dart and 4 bikes on the roof uphills 10 out of 10
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Topic: VW Touran for towing?
