I think this is perhaps a daft question but anyway - as far as I can gather my felicia can tow up to 750kgs....I could really do with it maybe towing another 250 on top of that...is there *anything* I can do to tweak the engine so it can tow more (legally and safely!)?

I tow a box trailer on my 1.3mpi felly with no problem, max load capacity of the trailer is 1000kg and I have on occasion filled prob close to that. I tows quite well considering it's size etc. I added rubber spring assisters just to stop bottoming out under load which has improved the ride hight once loaded. I did hear others suggest gas adjustable springs although you'd have to get hold of some from another vehicle, not sure if they change the load capacity legally.

Edited 1 August, 201114 yr by Ben Cordy

Official figures for the Felicia are:

750 kg Un-braked

1000 kg braked.

I towed a little caravan for years, at just under the limit. Not very easy with a 1300!!

There's no way you'd increase the capacity - it's part of the vehicle's design and type approval (hence needing towbars fitted to type approved mountings these days) - it's a function of more than just the engine power

VOSA are getting more stringent on these sort of things - I've heard of a number of people who've been done for overloaded trailers or towing outside their capacity limit, etc. And if you have an accident, could be a financial nightmare if your insurers use it as an excuse to not cover you...(or rather, persue you for costs).

Also to add to this, you are putting much more stress on the mechanical components. The engine has to work much harder to shift the mass,thus running hotter, the clutch is under much more strain than normal. You try and tow too much, something will give, expensively.

I remember when working at a Skoda franchise, whenever a Favorit came in as a part ex that had a towbar on, the first job was to remove it.

Hi

I used to tow a caravan with a little mazda 323 1.3 it did 160K and was still going strong on original clutch.

This I know as got the car new and sold it at 15 years they don't make em like that, well I have got high hope's for my new Skoda.

My advice is when towing plan your drive, look ahead don't stop when going up hill in fact don't

stop,keep it moving.

Load your van or trailer carefully weight over axle and low down.

After a few miles stop and check round.

To effectively increase the train weight the way you're asking about, I would:-

1) Uprate the brakes. More weight means more kinetic energy, means more work for the brakes to do, and Ke rises as the square of speed, and we're about to tune the engine!

2) Uprate the rear suspension. See post #2 above, but Ben slightly mis-understood me. The air springs I was suggesting were available as aftermarket uprating parts, like his rubber spring assisters, rather than being robbed from something else.

3) Uprated clutch. The extra mass will make the clutch work harder, as will point (4).

4) Tune engine, but with an emphasis in increasing peak torque and mid-range power rather than peak power.

I'd ignore everything above, it won't be legal, regardless of that making a practical difference to the towing capacity of the vehicle.

Exactly djaychela. If someone wants capacity like that, buy an old Ford Transit! VOSA will impound any vehicle that is overweight, and you will end up in court and your wallet will get a damn good raping. You will also be uninsured (thus while it is impounded, the possibility of it being crushed), and could find it almost impossible to get insurance again. When you think of how much it would cost to 'uprate' and make illegal, you could easily pick up a cheap Transit from e-bay.

Also fannying about with uprated springs will seriously screw up the already dodgy handling of the Felicia when empty, especially on crappy roads.

My friend bought a caravan which I suspect is over the cars max towing capability. He has a 2l focus, since using this to tow his large caravan it has developed a very slippy smelly clutch and a rather nasty oil leak. Could be incidental, but I doubt it. If you want to tow something big, buy a landrover!

http://www.towcar.info/

I'd love a landrover for towing of course, all my problems solved, but it's waaay out of my budget and I desperately need to tow as part of my job. Can anyone point me to where it says 1000kg braked for a felicia? My trailer is braked. So far I've only found 750 in total, not just unbraked. I think 1000kg would make sense, as the car weighs as much, but i need to make sure it's legal.

However, it does struggle to tow anything at all (runs hot, just seems to work very hard), so I don't think I'd be happy to go up to 1000kgs without some kind of engine/car adjustments, but if that's not possible then so be it!

A few non (trad) PC...

A 'chip' may be obtained.Aint tried it myself.

Shell extra makes a difference (with me anyway)

Asta 3000 makes a difference (with me any way)

ref:-

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Asta+3000&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Broquet makes a difference (with me anyway,used it for years..)

ref :-

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=broquet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

A dollop (little dollop) of Acetone makes a difference (with me anyway),not tried it with Shell extra.

ref:-

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=acetone+diesel&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

40% Kerosine NO NO didnt say that its illegal..

I really shouldnt be saying these things ..

Edited 3 August, 201114 yr by iansmith

I'd love a landrover for towing of course, all my problems solved, but it's waaay out of my budget and I desperately need to tow as part of my job. Can anyone point me to where it says 1000kg braked for a felicia? My trailer is braked. So far I've only found 750 in total, not just unbraked. I think 1000kg would make sense, as the car weighs as much, but i need to make sure it's legal.

However, it does struggle to tow anything at all (runs hot, just seems to work very hard), so I don't think I'd be happy to go up to 1000kgs without some kind of engine/car adjustments, but if that's not possible then so be it!

750/1000(braked) is in the handbook. Don't forget though that it's not just about pulling power. Moving off is optional- stopping isn't.

What are you towing?