Fabia vRS towbar?

[Mr Ree]

Today, I visted the Caravan and Camping show at the NEC.

I went to the Witter stand first and asked them about this never ending problem.

He confirmed it is NOT type approved for the Fabia vRS mk's 1 or 2, but it is for the Octavia vRS's.

He also confirmed that there are many other cars that are not type approved, such as the Focus Rs, and some of these new generation 'eco drive' cars from Ford and Vauxhall.

He reckons that it is something to do with the engines on these cars being too 'stressed' to be having the additional burden of something to tow.

I told him that sounded like a complete load of ballcocks to me, but we had to agree to disagree on that one.

he did say that they would be willing to supply a towbar for mine, but recommend NOT to fit it, as any accident would deem the insurance invalid.

So there you have it. Fit one and use it at your peril it seems.

Next however, I visted the Skoda stand that were actually and fortunately represented there today.

The girl I spoke to knew absolutely diddly squat about this issue, even though she works for SUK.

However she did in fact send an email immidiately to the Tech Services dept, requesting some defining reasoning behind Skodas decision NOT to type approve it.

She claims she will be ringing me back tomorrow afternoon with an answer,

I'll wait and see.

[Mr Ree]

4 days late, but SUK tech services did ring me this morning.

The Fabia vRS mk 1 and 2 will NOT be receiving type approvel for a tow bar,and that is seemingly final, despite my pleas with them.

It's all to do with power to weight ratio apparently, and the vRS is seemingly just too mid range torquey to cope with a trailer of any sort, so they seem to think.

So that's it then. Fit one and risk getting nicked, but more importantly being left uninsured if you have an accident, related or not it would seem.

Makes you want to weep all this nonsense doesn't it?

[Llanigraham]

And since the tow bar fitting is now part of the MOT, a car so fitted would not pass that.

Ford do not type approve the S-Max Sport and the non-Sport version is a very popular tow car, so it isn't just Skoda.

[mrski1]

4 days late, but SUK tech services did ring me this morning.

The Fabia vRS mk 1 and 2 will NOT be receiving type approvel for a tow bar,and that is seemingly final, despite my pleas with them.

It's all to do with power to weight ratio apparently, and the vRS is seemingly just too mid range torquey to cope with a trailer of any sort, so they seem to think.

So that's it then. Fit one and risk getting nicked, but more importantly being left uninsured if you have an accident, related or not it would seem.

Makes you want to weep all this nonsense doesn't it?

Seems slightly off the whole power to weight ratio thing, I have a Fiesta ST currently (looking to change to a Fab vrs) and the ST is not type approved to tow either, despite not having any mid range torque from the n/a 2.0 engine and the identically bodied Zetec S sharing the same bumpers and shell yet that can tow, if thats the case then why do bigger more toquey cars from BMW, Audi and Merc etc have no problem getting type approved? I had heard on another forum it was something to do with the ST being slightly lower, and the angle at which whatever is being towed was at when hitched up to the car.

As far as insurance goes the best thing to do is call them, my insurers were quite happy for me to fit a towbar to the ST when I explained it was only for a bike rack, finding a towbar company to fit one on the other hand was a different story!

Edited 13 July, 2011 by mrski1