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Superb estate rear suspension height towing.


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I was thinking of fitting some doughnut rings to help with the sag or maybe even Monroe ride leveller struts. Our unicorn doesn't have front locker storage so maybe it will be ok without any mods.

I tow a 1400 kg caravan and yes there is a slight sag, but if you keep the nose weight of what you are towing to the maximum 75 kg it is not a problem.

How do you find it performance wise as a tow car ? I

I've towed with 3 Passat 140 cr tdi and I'm thinking my 170 will be even better.

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I tow a 1350Kg Swift with our Superb Estate (170 DSG) and there's a slight sag with the noseweight at 75-80Kg with a little more if we put the 85Kg mobility scooter in the boot.  That's with me+passenger+small dog and various heavy items in the rear footwell.   I've seen other cars with much worse on my travels.

 

According to my caravan holiday spreadsheet  :nerd: I've towed just shy of 5500 miles and the towing stance has never been an issue.  I've only had one occasion where I lost front wheel grip and that was on a damp road with loose gravel when pulling away uphill on a roundabout.  Speed bumps have never been a problem either if taken slowly enough - it's the pitching between caravan and car that causes bottoming out if going too quickly.

 

Keeping the tyre pressures up (I run fronts 36/rear 47) helps as there's a measured inch or so difference between the road/bodywork with higher pressure in the tyres.

 

I've never found the 170 wanting for power either and have even surprised lesser cars who thought they could overtake me crossing roundabouts onto dual carriage-ways. Being a good caravanner though I do eventually let them get past  :giggle:

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Hi Kevin,

There really is not a problem. I have towed our Coachman Pastiche 460/2 (MPTLM of 1420kg) with my 2010 Superb SE 170CR Estate ever since i bought it in December 2011. We typically tow 5k+ miles a year - including long tours of France and a trip to the south of Spain and return, as well as many UK excursions. I have never been concerned about any rear end sag. As others have said, I am careful to keep the noseweight to 75kg, but I also take a lot of stuff on the rear seats and seat wells (the dog has the boot area!). I put the tye pressures up to 36psi front and 40psi rear.

The car is by far the best towcar I have ever owned - plenty of torque and power in reserve when required and absolutely stable on the road, even in some pretty vicious side winds.

Cheers

Paul R T

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Hi Paul, uncle richly and niveketak Thanks for your input ,very reassuring. I'm expecting it to be better than my insignia estate which is a really good car too.

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HI Kevin, I tow a 1500KG mtplm swift with my 140 TDI Superb estate And although it didn't present as a major problem I wasn't overly happy with the slight sag. I previously towed with the Octavia estate and I bought a set of Auxiliary Coil Spring Assisters from Graystons, the type which sit inside the existing spring. Fortunately they are also suitable for the Superb so I took 20 mins and fitted them. I notice zero difference in ride comfort and handling when driving solo but they have helped with the ride height when the caravan is hooked up. In my opinion, for the circa £80 that Grayston charge for the kit it is money well spent.

 

http://www.springassisters.co.uk/Auxillarypage.htm

 

Regards

 

Ray

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  • 3 weeks later...

After first towing trip today, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to add some form of suspension aids

Even with a light boot load , correct tow ball load and a full tank of fuel, the sag was worse than I suspected it might be.

Looks like Grayston aux springs may be my choice. I do have a set of Grayston rubber inserts from a previous Passat so may fit these first

Anyone know how insurance companies view these products ?

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Hi

I also had my 1st full trip today with caravan, boot loaded right up and kids in ( had done a short run just to try the other day) yes there was sag in the suspension but not enough to bother me not like my old Volvo estate which I had to fit Monroe levelling suspension because of the sag and the way you turned of the housing estate the jockey wheel would always catch and you always looked way over loaded. But the skoda looked ok sitting loaded with caravan on

I've the CR170 and all I can say is wow, it's like a dream to pull the caravan and relaxing in doing so as the 2.5ltr 20v Volvo (petrol) I had, you had to work it really hard to keep it going but the Superb made it effortlessly coming over the A66 to York, plenty of torque and felt really stable as I think the Monroes used to make the back of the Volvo feel spongy and best of all the saving in fuel.

Absolutely fantastic tow car

Edited by Snapper1725
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Probably passed you today! We were on A66 scotch corner to Penrith on our way to Strathclyde park. Totally Agee with you on the car as a tow car. I only got 22mpg towing around 1450 kilo but hoping that when the car is run in it will improve. Today was a very windy tow and I'm sure that would have affected mpg.

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That would be us towing a bailey unicorn 3 Vigo

I did mention to my wife that a superb had just gone past heading east.

I'm hoping my towing mpg improves on way back, we seemed to be into a head wind all the way up here. You probably had the wind behind you.

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It's got to get better, that's my old volvo mpg figures maybe just better. It is a hard slog up the M74 at times, sometimes used to find it hard to keep the car going but would think the skoda would make easy work of it after my 1st experience towing with it.

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27.6 mpg on the return journey today. Car has done less than 600 miles so I'm thinking that as it gets a few more miles on that the towing figures will improve. It's already marginally better than the Insignia 160 it's replaced. Again it was very windy today and we've climbed s lot of hills on the m74 and a66.

Great car for towing in terms of performance but still think I will need to add aux springs to keep it up a little further at the rear end.

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That's about the same mine averaged on the way back from York over the A66. Had a problem on top of Bowes when caravan side window decided to delaminate ( outer glass split from inner ) so had to drive back a lot slower after a quick fix so was a bit surprised about the Mpg.

But I was well pleased how the car performed

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That's about the same mine averaged on the way back from York over the A66. Had a problem on top of Bowes when caravan side window decided to delaminate ( outer glass split from inner ) so had to drive back a lot slower after a quick fix so was a bit surprised about the Mpg.

But I was well pleased how the car performed

On a less hilly route I'm confident nearer 30 mpg will be achievable.

Guess you will be looking for a new window this week. I've never had that problem but lucky that you spotted it in your mirrors.

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