I've had a Scout 2.0CR manual on order since December 2010 and its due for delivery sometime between now and eternity. The brochure that I ordered it from was the Model Year 11 (effective August 2010) version and it listed the kerbweight as 1570kg which is ample for towing my caravan. When I look at the kerbweights listed on Autotrader for recent Scouts they are listed as 1480kg for the CR's and 1510kg for the last of the PD engined cars.

Does anyone know the correct figure for the car I will eventually get? No doubt there is more than one definition of kerbweight, including or excluding the driver, fuel etc.

Thanks

I've had a Scout 2.0CR manual on order since December 2010 and its due for delivery sometime between now and eternity. The brochure that I ordered it from was the Model Year 11 (effective August 2010) version and it listed the kerbweight as 1570kg which is ample for towing my caravan. When I look at the kerbweights listed on Autotrader for recent Scouts they are listed as 1480kg for the CR's and 1510kg for the last of the PD engined cars.

Does anyone know the correct figure for the car I will eventually get? No doubt there is more than one definition of kerbweight, including or excluding the driver, fuel etc.

Thanks

I too have had a Scout 2.0CR manual on order since very early December, but I've today been advised that its now a confirmed build for week 24 (i.e. week commencing 13th June) so yours may be being built at the same time. Worth checking with your dealer.

In regard your kerbweight question, I too tow a caravan and so have an interest in such things. The handbook for the Scout I downloaded from somewhere on this site states that the "unladed weight, ready for work" of the Scout with the 2.0CR 103 kW TDI EU4,EU5 engine to be 1570kG. As I recall from a very long time ago there are 746watts/hp, so this engine calcs to be 138hp, which is a far bet to be the 2.0CR diesel we know as the 140hp as fitted to the CR Scout. I'm basing my towing ratio calc. on this kerbweight. Incidentally, the same handbook refers to the PD engine to be a 1.9TDI.

Hope this helps. Just the challenge now of fitting a towbar and coupling up the Skoda 'legal requirment' wiring to the 'towbar preparation kit' I included in the order even though nobody could tell me exactly what I was getting for my money. I think with the right Skoda part the 'legal requirement' wiring will be plug and play, although the CanBus controller will need a tweek to prevent the reversing parking sensors from sounding with reverse gear engaged and the caravan coupled. As far as the fridge wiring is concerned I intending to run a fused 10mmsq cable straight from the battery to the aux. trailer socket via a voltage sensing relay/contactor in the ususual manner. I'm not expecting the Skoda wiring parts to support the caravan power accesories such as the fridge.

Incidentally, the same handbook refers to the PD engine to be a 1.9TDI.

...which is worrying as it is a 2.0 TDi.

Thanks HighVoltage. My build week is 29 and not confirmed yet!

After some further googling there seem to be several different definitions of kerbweight so I reckon the only way to know for sure is to take the car to a public weighbridge and ignore anything printed in the brochures and handbooks!

I didn't go for the towing preparation when I ordered - the dealer didn't have a clue what it was and after reading various threads on this forum I still don't know what it is. I've already bought a second hand Witter detachable towbar which came with the usual multi-bypass relay and split charging relay for the fridge. This had worked fine for the previous owner (57 reg. Scout) so I am not sure I want to spend £180 on a cable loom from Skoda and still need to pull half the car to bits to fit it. The cost of doing the towbar "properly" appears to be excessive so I'll probably get mine done by an independent fitter. There is an awful lot of scaremongering about frying CANBUS systems and invalidating warranties on the internet but a well installed multi-bypass relay is perfectly OK in my opinion.

My towbar was fitted by a local specialist. He had to change the kit he had already ordered, as the car I actually received, was not what I thought I ordered. The parking sensors are still enabled but can prove useful when connecting to van. Everything works exactly as expected for the past two years. As far as kerb weight is concerned, I've never weighed the car or van, but then we don't take the kitchen sink and the handling causes no problems.

The 2008 Scout I had weighed in at 1630 kg (including driver and 90% fuel) when I checked it on a weighbridge. The V5 document said 'Mass in Service 1530 kg'. At that time I don't think the figure from Skoda included the 75 kg allowable for the driver. By the time you add the weight for the towbar itself you are up to about the 1630 kg figure.

I don't see the new Scout with CR engine being far from the figure I had. And I can confirm that it is an excellent towcar!

I am not sure I want to spend £180 on a cable loom from Skoda and still need to pull half the car to bits to fit it. The cost of doing the towbar "properly" appears to be excessive so I'll probably get mine done by an independent fitter. There is an awful lot of scaremongering about frying CANBUS systems and invalidating warranties on the internet but a well installed multi-bypass relay is perfectly OK in my opinion.

From reading the posts on here I believe the 'Towbar preparation' to bring the required wiring for the 'legal requrement' connections to the boot of the car, and terminate them in a connector in which Skoda part EEA 600 002 CE4 plugs into. This part has the modern 13 pin socket, but with only the 'legal requirement' wires connected (I think!!). The advantage is that it (hopefully) will work without need of any bipass relay, and all the functions will work as designed (this includes trailer brake assist - although my trusty old Swift can't use this...) I'm not worried about frying the CanBus ( I already have bipass relays in my present company car and that has CanBus) I just prefer to do it all the way it was designed, but I may be both disappointed and a lot poorer for having these views! I'll wire the aux power wire via a voltage sensing relay (so called split charge , although that was just an ignition-live activated relay in the old days) into the correct, unused, 13 pin socket and change the caravan wiring and plugs to suit. Alternatively, I'll cut off the 13A socket and wire out a 7S and 7N socket to match the existing caravan set up. I'll have to wait and see what the car and the above part number actually are when they arrive, becuase nobody can accurately tell me... The frustration is that the dealer said he was unable to order a factory fittted towbar and I should just take it to a local fitter. Well having used several local towbar fitters before, and been horified by their wiring skills (and even their care in doing the mechanical work, I've decided to do it all myself (just like I did 30+ years ago) and agreed up front that the dealer will tweek the CanBus controler to suit the towbar wiring for reversing sensor compliance FOC when I'm done..That is if the tweek has'nt already been done as part of the 'towbar preparation'

The lack of real technical knowledge by the dealer and even Skoda UK about this area is rather pathetic, and makes me worry about other areas; do the main agent technicians do it all 'by (computer generated) numbers' rather than actually having a fundamental understanding of how things like the CanBus system works? Surely not at THOSE labour rates?

I had the towbar preparation added to the order for my Scout, the dealer then sub contracted out the towbar fit. According to my dealer the towbar prep added an additional cooling compared with other Scouts. I havent seen under the bonnet of another PD scout so can't really confirm if this is the case.

Mark

Skoda seem to change their published kerbside weights on a whim.

The current set, the lightest so far, don't seem to include 75Kg for the driver which most other makers include in their kerbside weight figures.

It makes it difficult for us caravanners when weights APPEAR to reduce drastically between ordering and actually getting the car. Whether the cars are actually lighter is doubtful but who knows.

Regarding towbars/electrics, all my Octavias (vRS's in my case) have been wired by a local speacialist prior to me collecting the cars. No problems so far powering fridge, battery charger and in the case of my current Swift powering the Alko ATC stability system. The current car has a 13 pin socket to match the current Swift, previous ones had twin sockets.

My 60 plate vRS tows my 1310Kg 2010 Swift perfectly, looking to change the 'van next year and likely to be a bit heavier, while still keeping below Skodas 1400Kg limit for my car, have no doubts the vRS will cope well.