Hi.

I have a 2012 1.6 TDI Superb estate and I was wondering if anyone has any anecdotes or any other related experiences about carrying significant loads in this model of car.

 

Myself and three friends are thinking about travelling from Nottinghamshire to the Lake District later this year for a camping event in my 1.6 diesel Superb estate. All four of us are probably above average in terms of bodyweight, and we plan to mount a fairly big roofbox to the car. The combined extra weight of the roof box and the other camping related equipment we might be taking could be over 100 kg, and the combined bodyweight of all four of us would probably be about 320 kg.

Our drive may well include going up some fairly steep hills in Cumbria.

Do you think the car would be able to handle the journey, or am I being unrealistic using the vehicle above? I appreciate there potentially could be issues relating to speed humps and bumpy dirt tracks, but I'm also trying to plan for how well the car would deal with steep roads and gaining speed on the faster roads.

 

 

I have the 2 litre version so cannot speak from direct experience but I have driven some pretty heavy, under powered "rigs" such as a 1.4 petrol fabia loaded plus towing a 800-1000kg trailer (close to 2.5 tonnes in total with 85hp). Whilst I was lucky enough to not encounter any really steep hills what I found is you just have to exercise patience, reduce your speed and drop a gear or two or three...

 

 

 

Considering your superb has 20 more horsepower, slightly less weight and nearly double the torque I do not think there is much reason to worry. Also I should stress the importance of treating even modest speed bumps and dirt tracks with caution as if your superb is anything like mine it will be almost literally dragging it's backside when fully loaded.

 

 

11 minutes ago, fabia88 said:

I have the 2 litre version so cannot speak from direct experience but I have driven some pretty heavy, under powered "rigs" such as a 1.4 petrol fabia loaded plus towing a 800-1000kg trailer (close to 2.5 tonnes in total with 85hp). Whilst I was lucky enough to not encounter any really steep hills what I found is you just have to exercise patience, reduce your speed and drop a gear or two or three...

 

 

 

Considering your superb has 20 more horsepower, slightly less weight and nearly double the torque I do not think there is much reason to worry. Also I should stress the importance of treating even modest speed bumps and dirt tracks with caution as if your superb is anything like mine it will be almost literally dragging it's backside when fully loaded.

 

 

Thanks for your response.

Think I underestimated the weight of my passengers somewhat. We'll probably weigh around 400 kg altogether.

Yes, I've already had some difficult encounters with dirt tracks and speed humps in my Superb, so now I treat those sort of obstacles with more caution than I used to.

1.4Tsi taking 5 adults to Bruges this weekend.  I'm 6ft5 and my friend is 6ft7.  No issues at all. Fully loaded boot, as we will come back with beer chocolate and more (3 ladies coming as well who will buy most of the chocolate).   Not that fast, but plenty of enough power in with 125hp. It will pootle along at speed limits and do the job nicely. Just been fully serviced, so ready for a nice drive.

With those numbers you're running very close to (if not over) the car's MAM/DGVW. Looking at the manual, your max weight is 2102 kg and unladen weight is quoted at 1539 kg, so you have about 560 kg to work with at best. Also note that the maximum permissible roof load for the Combi is 100 kg.

The engine will handle this just fine. You're not even towing a caravan!

The biggest problem will be the total weight. With four over-size adults, a full boot and a full roof box, you will almost certainly be over the max weight of the car.

Suggestion: Use a small trailer instead of the roof box for the extra luggage.