Petrol Tow Cars - Octavia or Superb?

See what others say but I would not like to stop on a hill with either of those cars.

Cannot help with petrol engines; however, I am in no rush to change, will be keeping my Octavia Estate 4x4 2.0TDi CR (2012), the engine is Euro 5, with an efficient DPF and it has had it's emission 'fix' done!!! Caravan mtplm is 1,318kg, get good mpg when towing, retired now so most of my mileage is towing, always going off.

Don’t assume the scrapage deal is the best option financially. The deals available with finance are possibly even better but you cannot combine them. Even if you don’t want or need finance it is often better to go with the deal and pay it all off after 6 months. And, a 10 year old car is hardly scrap! 

I'd immediately rule out the petrol Octavia and also have doubts about the Superb.

You can't beat a diesel for a tug and that's what I'd go for despite the current rumblings.

The Superb is a large car for such a small engine in my opinion.

Have you considered the bhp and torque for each, and where in the rev range the max is? 

As I am sure you are aware, max torque at low revs is why diesel engines make such good tow cars.

Thanks to everyone who replied so quickly, all really useful comments and mirror my gut feelings (and the fact that diesels make better tow cars). I think my best bet is to find a more suitable second hand diesel tow car which has a better euro rating if we want to be more environmentally conscious...or stick with what I have for the time being and see what announcements regarding diesels are made in the coming months.

thanks again to all!

Any EU6 diesel is perfectly legal and unlikely to be affected by forthcoming legislation. In reality EU6 diesel is as clean as EU6 petrol but why let the truth get in the way of a good story. If unsure why not go used diesel hybrid with a Volvo V60 estate or E class bluehybrid estate?  Best of both worlds! As an aside my EU5 VW is now using 10% more fuel after the emissions fix so how is it possibly cleaner? 

We tow with a Superb, and also have a caravan which weighs 1300kgs.  It tows very well and is perfectly stable, aided by the long wheelbase of the car.

However we do have the 170bhp diesel version, so I can't comment on the petrol version.  The diesel certainly copes very well with the caravan on the back.

We have a van with a similar weight to yours - wouldn't want to risk towing with either of your suggestions. Last 12 years we've been towing with 2l TD Octavias. Now gone for 2l petrol Subaru, but still running in so no towing yet. If you're committed to Skoda (& can't blame you for that) Octavia vRS & top of the range auto Superb both come with 2l TSI engines.

I would recommend a Euro 6 diesel in either of your Skoda options.  Obviously the heavier Superb will be the better towcar.  The present diesel hiatus has been caused by journalists who cannot be bothered to gather the real facts and just reprint the garbage spewed out by other lazy colleges. 

As has already been mentioned in a previous post the particulate matter & Nox of Euro 6 is now as clean as petrol and greenhouse gas CO2 is still much lower than petrol.  Plus MPG will be much better with diesel.