Caravan and Motorhome Club Towcar of the Year 2019

I had a 24v Senator which I think was tow car of the year in its day ..... I remember they had it at 100+mph with a caravan on the back 🤤

Agree with point above and myself and Lutz had agreed on this before, you buy a tow car on your own set of parameters, but I think the comment by one judge sums it up;

"Towing just got cool!"

Judge's comment

Is it just me (probably) but since when does cool (unless it's talking about the air con?) a viable benchmark for a towcar? Above weight, pulling power...

I would like to know If any of the testers tow a van and what vehicle they drive. I bet not one has a towcar winner.

I'm never likely to tow myself but as a complete novice I think I would look at this type of result for guidance. After all the club claims/is a leading one on caravanning. Thus I would expect to visit their website, these days but publications of theirs too, for a minimum of a starting point. I would naively assume that they tested ALL cars available on the market before coming up with winners. I certainly didn't realise I was THAT green 😂😂. 

I know enough not to start with a car salesperson, but I fear these results are as bad!

Just my humble green opinion. After all if I want advise on a subject I go to what I consider to be an expert in that area 😲😲

Same old, same old.

I'm sorry, but I cannot take these results seriously when there are errors in the test vehicles performance, the same bunch of 50-60 year old testers and such a limited field of tow cars.

Before giving an award as TCOTY, where are the vehicles of Landrover, Toyota, Jeep, Hyundai, Kia, Jaguar, BMW and Mercedes? Are the club seriously suggesting a Volvo is a better than all the others I've just mentioned? Granted, it's an ok vehicle - but it's not in the same league as a Discovery, for example! (I don't own one by the way!)

Come on Club - let's have a fair playing field 

I feel the field of vehicles is now so small it’s really not worth bothering with the competition at all.

It used to be the case that it was down to manufacturers to enter their vehicles into the competition so only those cars put forward were judged. I wonder if that’s the way it works today?

I've just got my copy of the magazine with the towcar supplement. I actually thought it was a bit better this year as the vehicles were grouped by weight rather than price.

Jonray, there's several vehicles of the makes you mention but like all these things it's the opinion of the judges that give the final winner.

At the end of the day however, as has already been mentioned, it's your own criteria and judgement that count. 

Bought an XC60 D5 R Design a couple of months ago, so can heartily agree it is a great towcar.  The best?  In my eyes yes because it suits my needs down to the ground, but that is a very personal thing!

how many cars did you test before you found that this met all your needs.

Regarding the selection of cars being tested. My understanding is that to be included in TCOTY a car has either got to be a new model or had a substantial upgrade since it was last tested. Also some manufacturers don't always put their cars forward. This might explain why cars you expected to be there are not? 

David