hi all,our very first post on here.we have been tent camping for 25 years with family,thinking about jump towards touring caravan, i have company vauxhall astra estate 1.7 diesel 2011 model. have found website on here to match cars to new caravans, but they are well out of our price range, so my first question is. is there a website out there that lists lots of 2nd hand caravan specs, ie length width height and the mind boggling list of 3/4 letter acronyms you need to make a match.i would have thought that the amount of knowledge,manuals,experience of people on this site a very comprehensive list of older caravan specs could be amassed quite quickly.that i think would be very useful to members.perhaps it could be a post on forum that would be a set format of relevent info needed for matching, would appreciate any feedback.thanks glynn
If you are looking for a cheap older caravan, condition is everything, mainly you want one that ain't half rotten with damp. So its not really practical to look for particular model you want & then try to find a servicable example of that. You need to find a caravan that more or less meets your requirements & that is in also servicable condition.
hi to jack and jon. many thanks for feedback, but no i don't want a £500 pound piece of damp rubbish, but if members do then so be it, what i was thinking was is there a site that has older specs of touring vans, so it can be matched to newer cars
hi to jack and jon.for instance advert to right of posts here now http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/forsale/v/Herald-Gleneagles-400/2/17332 too dear for year in my opinion but how do i match it to my vauxhall astra 1.7l diesel....no info on specs height,width,length, weight mysterious acronym
I dont think there is a specific site that gives the info you require i.e list of all caravans with all there specs. All I can suggest is if you find a caravan you fancy go onto Whattowcar.com put in your car details and van details and it will bring up all the specs and tell you if it's a match. Hope this helps.
It has the info you mention but you need to put in the car and caravan choice to see the match rather than it giving a list of suitable caravans. I think that's because there are so many caravans and you need to decide the layout.
My suggestion would be that you find out the kerb weight of your car, work out the max weight you can safely tow, then you decide a layout you like. From a site like
The problem with such a site if one did exist is that you could not trust the information to be correct anyway so you would be unwise to buy that caravan based just on that information. The way forward here is to establish the max loaded weight that your car can safely tow. A guide for this is caravan all up weight of around 85% of kerbweight of car. You don't have to be exact but for safe towing caravan does need to be a bit lighter that car.
So with kerbweight of around 1500kg go for max loaded caravan weight of around 12-1300kg max although if you have eco version with 110bhp it will struggle a bit uphill so stick to about a tonne for good performance.
Once you find a suitable caravan you need to find some proper way of establishing it's weight, it should be marked on plate at front of chassis, or see manual that came with 'van if seller has it. You can't really take any verbal info from seller or on internet sites as gospel.
Quote: Originally posted by glynnwi on 21/6/2013
hi to jack and jon.for instance advert to right of posts here now http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/forsale/v/Herald-Gleneagles-400/2/17332 too dear for year in my opinion but how do i match it to my vauxhall astra 1.7l diesel....no info on specs height,width,length, weight mysterious acronym
MIRO is the current term for unladen weight but in road trim, ie with gas bottles/battery. You will also see term MTPLM this is you max loaded weight of caravan which is the figure you want, but as I pointed out you would need to establish that it is correct.
With this caravan I would estimate that max weight of it would be just over a tonne so ideal for your car but you would need to see manufacturer literature or plate on chassis(unfortunately sometimes unreadable on older caravans)to establish correct figure beyond reasonable doubt.
You don't need a car and caravan match website to do your own homework for a specific match. All you need to do is find out the details of the towcar ie. minimum kerbweight etc. and then check the MIRO and MTPLM of any specific caravan and then use a percentage calculator to calculate the match accurately. This method is far more accurate than relying on any website figures and it can be endorsed to matching old and new cars and caravans likewise too. Below is a typical online percentage calculator which is easy to use both ways.
hi to jack and jon, and all, many thanks for replies. the one to caravan finder very useful with images of layouts as well, once again many thanks all.will take all you say onboard
What tow car. Com seems a bit of an odd site.
My vauxhall astra 2.0 diesel with 165 bhp is not even on.
Went for closest match which said my car will pull my amara 640/6 with ease.(even though it is far too heavy for an 85% match, more like 118%)
So I put in a caravan which was 300kg lighter and apparently my car would really struggle!
Maybe the site needs an update.
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Topic: 2nd hand caravan specs
