Petrol engine for towing

A diesel engine will nearly always be better for towing as it's not all about bhp but about the power band and where it develops most power. You need to consider power and torque.

I'd not willingly consider a petrol and, if I did, the 190 would surely be the winner. 

Mid size caravan is very vague.

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I had a 190hp diesel DSG Superb, until recently.   Mine was 2wd and in my opinion the power exceeded its grip it was possible to spin the wheels on a dry road.  If I had one again and it was a great car I would look at either the 150hp or the 4x4 version.  It would be interesting to know what the comparative torque figures are as torque is in my opinion at least as important as raw bhp. 

For two thirds of my towing we had a petrol, it was fine as we didn't know any different but when we got a diesel we realised what we had been missing and wouldn't go back to petrol.

There is is not a black and white diesel is better than petrol answer, unless you are towing a large and heavy caravan in which case I would say diesel as a V8 petrol would drink fuel.

I'm more open minded as I have a lightweight low profile Eriba weighing in at 1200kg. 

I moved from a 2.0L 110bhp diesel Yeti to a 1.5L 150bhp petrol Audi. [similar to what you are looking at] They have the same max torque. The difference lies in modern diesels having a narrower power band than diesels of 10+ years ago as most if not all are turbo engines. The peak torque on my petrol is available across a rev range of near twice that of the diesel sold. The engine is more than capable of towing my van. I cover about 8,000 miles a year of which half is towing.I plan in a couple of years to buy a 1500kg Eriba Feeling which I plan to tow with the same vehicle. Admittedly I doubt I will be near the 1500kg max as this includes a 500kg payload figure.

Have you looked at the whattowcar website?

 

Colin

What fraction of your expected mileage will be towing?

I can't see there being much, if any difference in running costs between the two engines, the more powerful engine isn't working as hard. I never considered the ML250 compared with the ML350 that I bought. (I know they're diseasals .. not petrol, but same principal) As above, towing isn't all about bhp.

As for Boff's wheel spinning .... just don't press the loud pedal as hard 🙄🙄)

I have never had a problem towing with a petrol car, if need be just use the gears a bit more . I tow with a petrol car at present and would not swap for any other. So many people seem to have a downer on petrol cars for towing, as I have had many of both ( Sales Manager/ Rep) I have never quite understood the reason. All the figures say the torque in the diesel is better but if a petrol car uses it's gears earlier or more efficiently other than fuel cost I fail with the performance issue. Just my opinion.

I tow with a Mazda CX7 which has a 2.3litre turbo petrol engine and tow a 1500kg caravan with no problems at all

You are bettr of going for the 187bhp (190ps) version due to the extra torque.