Kia Sportage 2 as a tow car

chrisclimbs replied on 11/03/2020 14:42

Posted on 11/03/2020 14:42

Hello

I have just bought a 2010 Kia Sportage Titan 2.0 CRDi 4WD to tow our Bailey Unicorn 2 Valencia. Our last car was a Ford S-Max that towed the caravan effortlessly, but the Kia really struggles. The caravan is well within the Kia's towing ability, but going uphill the car nearly dies and pulling away on anything but a flat road is a nightmare of burning clutch smell.

Does anyone else use this combo and what are your experiences? It feels like there is a problem with the car but no garage seems to be able to pinpoint anything wrong. The car shouldn't be too underpowered for this caravan.

Thanks for any input.

JVB66 replied on 11/03/2020 15:58

Posted on 11/03/2020 15:58

We are on our third Sportage , present is KX4  auto 7 yrs old this year ,and is the best so far  its great with our Pegasus Verona on the hook , we had a 2ltr diesel manual  KX3, never a problem,      but the  2 ltr petrol auto KX3 was a very poor tow car , it was alright solo

 Ps just had a look at outfit match and it seems,  if info correct, you are getting towards the high end of weight with the caravan ,  the combination takes it to over 3500kg train weight, have you got the appropriate licence?

 

 

chrisclimbs replied on 11/03/2020 19:52

Posted on 11/03/2020 19:52

The Verona is only a few kg lighter than the Unicorn Valencia so it looks like we should be able to tow quite nicely. The car is gong to Kia next week for a recall on the chassis (both subframes need replacing) and they are going to do some diagnosis on it for me. I was just wondering if others had struggled with the weight etc.

The gross fully laden train weight is 4010kg and yes I have a B+E licence. I'm not asking about legality, I am asking about other people's experience with the Sportage.

Trini replied on 11/03/2020 19:57

Posted on 11/03/2020 19:57

Sorry Chris I cannot offer any pointers on the Sportage, however there is a Kia owners site where owners post questions comments that maybe of help.

https://www.kiaownersclub.co.uk/forums/kiaownersclub-co-uk-site-issues-website-help.51/

chrisclimbs replied on 11/03/2020 20:56

Posted on 11/03/2020 20:56

Hi Trini

Thank you. I am a member of that site, I just wanted to find people with experience of the Sportage when towing to see if what I am experiencing is unusual.

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