Hi All,

After with what is happening I do plan to go away and thought it would be good to get a caravan to have a bit more freedom of when I can go away with work but will my car cope?

This afternoon I have been searching to see what other people think on towing a caravan with a 1.2ltr engine on here. I had seen that Bas1234 posted about possibly towing a caravan with his 1.2ltr yeti about 3 years ago. But I have a lower spec engine...  (His engine I believe was the 110PS - 81KW).

 

My Skoda Fabia (2017) has the family code of CJZC and is specced as follows: 90 PS (66 kW; 89 hp)@4400–5400 - ((160 N⋅m (118 lb⋅ft)@1400–3500)) - 5-speed manual, FWD - 182 km/h (113mph).

 

Just to be clear I haven't got the towbar yet and if I do get one I will make sure its properly fitted as llanigraham said in that post that has disappeared and I can't find.

 

I have been looking on what is on the market to get an idea of what is around for price etc... I had seen a Lunar Ariva GTS (950Kg) and I had seen Eribas as well but are a bit out of my budget. But after finding out I have a lower powered engine I have been thinking of a Freedom leisure caravan or even a folding caravan. But I don't see the point in a Folding caravan because its only a quarter of a caravan with a tent on the top! But they are extremely lightweight 😐

 

The final question really is will my car tow legally a 2 berth caravan that is roughly 800 to 900kgs or any of the other caravans/trailers I have mentioned?

 

Many thanks for the feedback,

Andy

 

The other page I have been reading on here (excluding Llanigraham's message that I can't find):

 

 

It will tow a caravan that weight.  It can tow one. 

Take into account the weight of what is going in the caravan and in the boot of your car.

1 hour ago, KangarooReviews2014 said:

My Skoda Fabia (2017) has the family code of CJZC and is specced as follows: 90 PS (66 kW; 89 hp)@4400–5400 - ((160 N⋅m (118 lb⋅ft)@1400–3500)) - 5-speed manual, FWD - 182 km/h (113mph).

Do you need to update your profile from the MK1?

9 hours ago, john999boy said:

Do you need to update your profile from the MK1?

Yeah, I did need to, ta.

One thing you should be careful with is the noseweight. I think it is 50 kg for the Fabia and that can be quite restrictive. For example if you are towing a van with MTPLM of 1200 kg a good rule of thumb is to have the noseweight at an absolute minimum of 5% which is 70 kg which is way over the maximum for the Fabia chassis. I always tried to work to a minimum of 7% when I towed.

 

See below for some good general advice taken from the ‘Caravan Talk’ forum. I would advise you to limit your hunt to a caravan maximum weight of 1000 kg.

 

“Some general, if somewhat dated, advice is available on our website - here.

 

There are three limits that must never be exceeded.

The A-frame limit of the trailer or caravan.

The noseweight limit of the towing vehicle.

The noseweight limit of the towbar itself.

 

Ideally somewhere between 7% and 10% of the trailer / caravan's mass should be supported by the tow hitch. Unfortunately this may well be higher than the three limits highlighted above and so you must not exceed the lowest of these three limits. The noseweight should be adjusted by moving the payload within the caravan remembering never to place heavy items towards the rear of the caravan as this can cause instability and a pendulum affect. Also keep the load as low down as possible for maximum stability.

As many caravans have a noseweight limit of 100kgs, if the towcar can take this load then this is often a good figure to aim for.”

As I mentioned in a PM, we had a mk1 Fabia 1.9 TDi 105bhp, which towed very well, we ran upto the weight limit of the car. It was had getting the nose weight down to 50kg, but with careful packing could be achieved.

we did a couple of trips away, but then swapped for a then new mk2 Octavia 2.0 TDi which was so much better.