Towing A Caravan

[winnie]

Hi all, I am thinking of buying a caravan next year but have my doubts on my car being up to it, why, I had a 5 berth van and towed it with a 1800 petrol Audea, this was a automatic and I done the gearbox in after a couple of trips.

The C5 is a diesel 1900 automatic 2001, has always been serviced.

Would this be man another to tow?

  

[paul.h]

The C5 is one of the best towcars you can get due to its suspension (and size for carrying all the stuff). Check in your handbook for the allowed towing weights and hitch down load but from a 2003 brochure it gives for the hatchback 2.0 hdi (a 1900 hdi was never made) 110 hp automatic

- unladen weight 1410 kg which will give a mass in service of 1485 kg to use in any caravan to car weight ratios. This will also be on the car registration V5C document. The estate is 54 kg heavier.

- max towing weight braked 1500 kg (sometimes in the handbook this is reduced when going up hills)

- max tow hitch download 75 kg. (estate 85 kg).

 

Depending on what your handbook says, the above implies you should be able to tow a caravan of up to 1262 kg at 85% of the car mass in service weight, so one that has a MTPLM of 1300 kg should be ok.

 

With the C5 being such a cheap car, if the gearbox did fail after pulling a caravan, then another one may be cheaper than a gearbox repair and unless you must have an automatic, then try a manual gearbox.