as with some others on here, I love my Fabia Vrs.... I bought it when commuting massive mileage and thats now changed, but the 50mpg does help.... and the performance aint bad....

but when I bought it I did expect to one day be able to put a tow bar on, but dont think about this enought to check the regulations and it aint approved.... so I`m thinking of change to something that can tow, so i can get a second car to live on a trailer to go to trips to racing circuits.....

so whats best for a towing vehicle the Octy VRS or TDI, really I`m looking at Mk1's as thats all I can afford for now, probably an estate to put all the bits in

My ideal towing car at the mo is a 2001-on A4 Avant with the 2.5 TDI engine, but I cant afford one of those!

thoughts?

andy

Whats the budget?

MKI Elagance 4x4 estate would be perfect. But dont expect more than 30MPG day-to-day.

Remapped to 215 bhp it'll be faster than a VRS and have the benefit of 4 wheel drive to get the power down.

surely a TDI 130 Elegance would be better that the 1.8T 150 4x4 Elegance, the 4x4 will be heavier etc..... 50mpg v 30mpg???

coming form the Fabia it will take something pretty good to make me go back to Petrol but I dont like the idea of "standard" spec.... I think I`d miss the sportness of the VRS...

It depends on your budget and how much you're going to be towing. The MKII 4x4 TDi estate would be perfect for you, but they only did 4x4 with the 1.8T for the MKI.

The 4x4 fitted with some aftermarket suspension and a remap will easily out-handle and out-perform the Fabia VRS thanks to a different rear suspension setup to the FWD TDi.

PD 130 tdi octy is perfect so much torque it makes towing easy ..have towed with both the VRS and a elegance pd 130 ...and I can tell you there is NO contest. Also you should get around 28 mpg towing...... or........keep an eye out for a pd 130 superb which is even better

TDI every time for towing.

surely a TDI 130 Elegance would be better that the 1.8T 150 4x4 Elegance' date=' the 4x4 will be heavier etc..... 50mpg v 30mpg???

coming form the Fabia it will take something pretty good to make me go back to Petrol but I dont like the idea of "standard" spec.... I think I`d miss the sportness of the VRS...[/quote']

something like an AMD oneclick will sort out the power although to be honest the difference in top speed and times between the Fab vrs and an octy pd 130 are very small.

AMD one click = more torque so you could travel on the M4 M5 say and not need to go below 4 gear with the van on the back

Definitely go for a diesel.

The braked towing weights are the same (1300kg) on the mark 1 (1400 mark 2 Tdi) but the difference in fuel consumption will be fairly large.

i've not had any issues towing with my mk1 4x4 1.8T as standard with a boot full of stuff, 3 adults and a trailor with about 8 bikes + kit on it easily out pulled my mates 1.1 106 in every situation and that only had him and a mate in it.(1450Kg octavia+230Kg of people+trailor+bikes+kit= easily over 2 ton with only 150bhp )

ahem, just because the vRS isn't "approved" for towing stops you fitting a towbar why?

Has to be a decent car for towing and there are people who have fitted towbars to them once they see a lack of approval means jack ****

Bengie.... 150bhp? Hmmmm

ahem' date=' just because the vRS isn't "approved" for towing stops you fitting a towbar why?

Has to be a decent car for towing and there are people who have fitted towbars to them once they see a lack of approval means jack ****

Bengie.... 150bhp? Hmmmm :rofl:[/quote']

His finger slipped when he was typing in the bhp......I'm sure it should start with a 2 .......

Not saying the petrol versions won't tow as the cars are virtually the same just towing with a diesel is more relaxed, more mpg, less gear changing, less road fund tax, and less insurance than an octy VRS, mine towed fine but the pd 130 diesel is in a different leaue as a tow car........Superb has a longer wheelbase and is even more stable

ok, cheers all, stick with a diesel sounds to be the message!

as for the Fabia.... it aint type approved.... and therefore insurance is questionable etc etc.... i aint taking that risk

will see what comes along... maybe need a test drive to convince myself.....

A nice Octy L&K PD130 estate would fit the bill very well. I gather from a friend that they can be modified to be quite quick too.

Plenty of torque for towing

Octy with PD130 or higher gets my vote, or you can drop to the PD100 in the Fabia which IS type approved, nothing stopping you remapping it etc etc to make it a bit more sporty.

Cars with a longer wheelbase are better for towing, generally, though

ahem' date=' just because the vRS isn't "approved" for towing stops you fitting a towbar why?

Has to be a decent car for towing and there are people who have fitted towbars to them once they see a lack of approval means jack ****

Bengie.... 150bhp? Hmmmm [/quote']

this was when the car was standard

tows even better/easier now