C5 2Ltr Petrol

[dipaul]

what would be the fuel consumption when towing a caravan?

[coastline taxis]

Depend on what engine you have is it 1.8 or 2.0 litre is yours auto or manual ( 5 or 6 speed), Will you be going fast or slow. Is the caravan a big twin wheeler or a little single axle 2 berth. Youl need to put more info into your question before you can get a informative answer

[paul.h]

Without the detailed info requested by coastline taxis the following is just based on my experience. Additional questions are what year C5 are you thinking of - a 2001 to 2004 mark 1, a 2004 to 2008 mark 2 or a newer model, is it a hatchback or estate and on the caravan, if you already have it, what is its MIRO and MTPLM.

 

I have towed a caravan with various manual petrol and diesel cars and the extra fuel used has usually been about a third - eg a diesel normally giving about 45 mpg drops to about 30 mpg and a petrol normally about 35 mpg dropping to about 25 mpg. These are driving sensibly within normal speed limits, so about 55 mph on a motorway towing vs about 65 mph not towing and no quick accelerations/hard braking etc which would increase fuel consumption. Also the caravan has not been loaded up to its limit but rather nearer the MIRO and the caravan weight well within the cars towing ability, probably about 80% of the car kerb weight. Taking the caravan to 60 mph will increase the fuel use quite a lot with it not being aerodynamic.

 

From a 2003 brochure for the mark 1 C5 hatchback for the 2.0 l petrol fuel consumption it gives for the manual 24.6 / 44.1 / 34.0 mpg urban / extra urban / combined and for the auto version  21.2 / 46.3 / 32.5. Both have max towing weight braked of 1500 kg but the kerb weights not inc driver are given as 1318 and 1325 kg for the manual and auto. So a suitable caravan MTPLM at 85 % of these would be about 1100 kg. Based on my experience if fuel use increased by about a third when towing, these cars may give about 22 mpg. The mark 2 fuel consumptions for the 2.0 litre petrol are similar but the car is a bit heavier - 1394 and 1448 kg for the manual and auto hatchback kerb weights, so a suitable caravan MTPLM would be about 1200 kg.