anyone help me with this, how bad for a car/engine is towing a caravan occasionally?

does it add a lot of extra wear? can the bigger octavias 1.8T's, diesels handle it ok?

cheers eddie

I don't think you would damage your engine at all, perhaps an extra bit of clutch wear if you were slipping it whilst pulling away or something

As long as you don't try and tow something far too large or expect to be able to accellerate as well at low revs you shouldn't cause any problems , especially if it's only a few times a year.

People on here who have towed caravans say that the higher output diesel engines are better than the 1.8T

The Octavia 1.8T 4X4 Estate was voted Towcar of the Year in in its price category in 2002 by The Caravan Club.

If you can tow on an old citroen BX witha 1.9 diesel, yes thats right no turbo and the engine still goes on for 250k miles I don't think you will have any problems as long as you don't pull anything over the max towing wieght and take it easy when towing.

Don't forget the limit when towing is 60, and if it's a caravan you should always tow it in the opposite direction to the way i want to go or between 3am and 6am :P

Do not tow anything over 85% of the kerb weight of the towing car.

Ignore what the 'max towing weight' says on car handbooks... that's the max weight it can pull away towing on a certain incline (ie the max the engine can handle).

85% of the car's kerb weight is the safe limit for towing, otherwise you risk 'snaking' from the caravan/trailer which is extremely dangerous.

It bugs me that manufacturers dont tell you that, and advertise their max towing weight, which although possible, could get people killed.

Diesels are better for towing.....more low down grunt and better mpg....I have towed the same caravan with a 1.9 sdi octy estate, 1.9 tdi pd 130 octy hatch, a vrs octy estate and am about to tow with a Superb pd 130 .....the petrol vrs will tow it fine but will require more gear shifting and the mpg goes down so far you will need to open a mine to find it.

1.9 sdi not really reccommended ....car tows fine but so little power it's hard work

1.9 tdi pd 130 octy tows abosolutely magic about 28 mpg and very secure on the road....if remapped it can actually accelerate uphill with the van

Superb, I am hoping for good things from this, loads of power, long wheel base and the fact that along with the Octy Superbs are previous towcar winners.

Does it wear out the car ? in short yes ....you are dragging about a ton of dead weight behind it so extra strain is put on most theings, but for only a small percentage of its life so it wont do that much damage.

People who tow caravans usually change their cars more often....say every 4 years instead of five .......but it is just a precaution.

any more questions just ask away

I've towed a camping trailer, car trailer, caravan and a boat many times with my old Octy I (a 150bhp 1.8T) without any problems. The boat (approx 1.5 tonnes with trailer) was towed to the south of France in less than 24 hours and the car did miss a beat.

Never had any instability problems even without a stabilizer - just need to load the trailer/caravan correctly. That said, car transporters at motorway speed do create some interesting turbulence.

Clutch was still fine at 70k miles when I sold the car even though I

It's national coaches you have to watch out for.....they just glide slowly along the side of your van, as close as possible and then when the front of the coach and your van are level they turn sharply away to suck the van sideways .....if you have time to watch you can see the drivers eyes glued to the mirror to how much hassle he has caused.......doesn't affect my van any more because I am ready for them and the van is loaded for maximum stability .......but would love to know how many accidents they are responsible for

Have no trouble towing with my 2.0tdi, Just have to remember that the 'van is on the back. For some reason it is recommended to disengage the traction control when reversing, to stop the clutch burning.More info on

www.caravantalk.org.uk/forums

Lol @ National Coaches... sounds hilarious!

I always thought that the PD130 in a Galaxy or a Superb would wear a lot quicker than in the Fabia... I'm really not sure this is the case.

Just a thought.

Also, don't go in the inner (fast/overtaking) lane on the motorway towing.

My friend got three points recently for doing that, cos he didnt realise. He was overtaking a police range rover at the time, admitedly well within the speed limit.

My friend got three points recently for doing that, cos he didnt realise. He was overtaking a police range rover at the time, admitedly well within the speed limit.

Yes, too few drivers realise this, often see smaller trailers being lugged behind big 4x4s in particular in any lane that's available.

I'm sure one of the requirements of holding a driving licence is that you should have read something called the Highway Code at one time or another.....:rubchin:

well thanks very much for all of your informative replies.

one thing then - will my car be worth less after say 4 years with a tow bar on it than without to any prosepective buyer?

Some buyers may prefer that it has a towbar... but you could always remove it when you come to sell, should cost more than

I've towed a camping trailer' date=' car trailer, caravan and a boat many times with my old Octy I (a 150bhp 1.8T) without any problems. The boat (approx 1.5 tonnes with trailer) was towed to the south of France in less than 24 hours and the car did miss a beat.

Never had any instability problems even without a stabilizer - just need to load the trailer/caravan correctly. That said, car transporters at motorway speed do create some interesting turbulence.

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Without a stabalizer? :eek:

Sod that.

My Nan and Grandad used to ignore the 85% rule... tow with whatever. They towed for years without an incident, until one day they were towing a caravan (22ft I think) with a Nissan Bluebird. The carvan overtook them on the motorway when slowing down... then flipped, jumped the car up in the air, smashed the hell out of itself and the car.

Towing something heavy with something lighter is just suicidal IMO.

Oh, and if it's any help... http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/dl_towing_trailers.htm

As for engine wear, towing requires using much more torque than you would under normal driving. Yes, this will cause more engine wear. It'll be better in a diesel though, as the torque is accessible at low revs.

The main problem with caravan is the aerodynamics are crap. A lot of horse trailer on the road will weigh more than the car towing it but they have pointed noises, hence are very good to tow as wind resistenace keeps it in a straight line. Never had any problem without a stabiliser but probebrly a good idea on a caravan.