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Topic: Unloaded weight?

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bblondemoment

28/6/2014 at 6:24pm
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Hi, following brilliant advice from here I've found my car can only tow 800kgs.
I've been to three dealers today and no one had anything that small

however one showroom had a lunar ultra lite with a unloaded weight of 750kgs and max mass is 1000kgs.
They suggested it could be a possible to tow this unloaded,would anyone know if this sounds right?

tango55

28/6/2014 at 6:38pm
Location: Lichfield
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It may help if you said what car you are referring to and whether it's an estate, petrol or diesel and manual or auto as it can sometimes make a difference in vehicle kerbweight and pulling power etc.

bblondemoment

28/6/2014 at 6:59pm
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Thanks tango, it's a ford focus 59reg 1.6 petrol zetec auto saloon

tango55

28/6/2014 at 7:40pm
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I have got the official Ford Focus brochure for Mk3 which is what yours would be but the 1.6 petrol auto isn't listed, only 3 versions of a 1.6 with 5 speed a manual gearbox. There are only two listed with an auto box which are both 2.0 diesels but the 1.6 diesels are 5 speed manuals and one version with a 6 speed gearbox.
However, there are two versions of the 1.6 petrol, one with 105 bhp, kerbweight = 1270 kgs. and Max. towable mass = 700 kgs. and the other with 125 bhp, kerbweight = 1276 kgs. and Max. towable mass = 800 kgs.
So there is a 100 kgs. difference between the two so if you are quoting 800 kgs. as the towable mass it appears you have the 125 bhp version.
Hopefully someone may be able to offer further advice on this but the towing capability is very limited. If it had been a 1.6 manual diesel you would have most certainly been in with a good chance as I used to tow with one myself.
My advice would be to start a new thread with the car in the title as you may receive more specific answers to your question.

Post last edited on 28/06/2014 19:47:10

Grampian91

28/6/2014 at 8:38pm
Location: Midlands
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There is already a thread on the cars low max tow limit.

The issue with the unleaden 750kg van is that it may actually weigh more than 750kg.

Unladen caravans will bounce a bit more than one a laden one.

Everything will have to be loaded into your car. Gas bottles, Battery, EHU cable, Toil chemicals etc etc etc..

So the risk of overloading the car then becomes the problem.

ROG.

28/6/2014 at 8:44pm
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You can certainly tow an actual weight of 750 with a max tow of 800 even if the MTPLM is 1000

There is no law or rule which states the max towing capacity restricts the max plated MTPLM or MAM of what is being towed

There are caravans on the market with max MTPLM of 750
Just google - caravan MTPLM 750

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EX Advanced driving observer (IAM)
EX LGV & B+E instructor

neil and lena

29/6/2014 at 8:34am
Location: Dumfries
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Quote: Originally posted by bblondemoment on 28/6/2014Hi, following brilliant advice from here I've found my car can only tow 800kgs.
I've been to three dealers today and no one had anything that small however one showroom had a lunar ultra lite with a unloaded weight of 750kgs and max mass is 1000kgs.
They suggested it could be a possible to tow this unloaded,would anyone know if this sounds right?

Trailer Tent or change your Focus for a manual version

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