We have a 2010 VW Golf IV 1.4TSI petrol and are thinking a buying a folding camper (6 berth), we have towed caravans before but with a bigger car. Is this going to be okay? slightly concerned re petrol consumption, weight balance looks ok at 1000kg. Other forums seem to be saying all good and with a 6 speed manual I think it should be okay but don't want to go the expense of towbar fitting then find it's no good.
Thanks for any advice.
You may find you need to change gear fairly often on the motorway inclines and hills in general.
Its OK weightwise if the max laden weight of the trailer is 1000kg. Cars approx 1200kg?
Everyones opinion on a cars towing ability varies, some will say a cars brilliant where another person will say its terrible with too many gearchanges needed to maintain speed which just makes towing a chore.
You may need to keep the revs up on that combination, but that doesnt hurt the engine, they are designed to rev.
I had a petrol Mondeo and the powerband was arounf 4000rpm and on the hills i would drop gears to keep the revs around that to avoid labouring the engine which is bad.
The diesel model tows a lot better though. I can do one end of the M5 to the other with the cruise set to 60mph and not change gear once.
The good news is that a folding camper has a lot less wind resistance than a caravan so should be a doddle to tow. Even on hills it will be better than towing a caravan of the same weight.
Wind resistance starts making an impact above about 40mph.
Double check the towing capacity of the car, as most of the big 6 berth campers come in at around 1000kgs.
My Mini Clubman has 120bhp and has to be changed down to 4th gear(6speed) on some bigger hills when towing our 4 berth Conway Challenger which weighs 600kgs
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Topic: Towing folding camper
