Tow cars
45 replies
Cornersteady replied on 15/10/2018 14:48
Posted on 15/10/2018 14:14 by LutzYes, but it doesn't follow that the percentage of caravan accidents relative to all other traffic incidients is any higher in France, just that in absolute numbers there may be a higher accident rate there. Therefore, the data doesn't really tell us anything or that the absence of any weight ratio recommendation has any bearing on the result.
Cornersteady replied on 15/10/2018 14:55
Posted on 15/10/2018 14:42 by flatcoatI drive more miles each year on the continent towing than I do in the UK. On occasions I also drive abroad solo. In 8 years since I first ventured abroad by car (with or without Caravan) I cannot recall seeing any incidents involving a Caravan other than a puncture.
However to get back to OP, the Kuga sounds as if it will be fine in respect of power, the weight issue is upto you. My Passat has 177 horses with DSG, probably more in practice. I get mid 20’s mpg towing and low 40”s solo. Whatever you get I strongly recommend you fit all weather tyres.
Having had my Caravan on the weighbridge it is around 1760kg when fully set up for our main hols, probably a bit less when weekending.
Lutz replied on 15/10/2018 14:59
Posted on 15/10/2018 14:48 by Cornersteadyonce again I never suggest anything of the sort. If there was comparable data kept we would be able to make a comparison, there isn't so we can't
KenofKent replied on 15/10/2018 15:19
Posted on 14/10/2018 21:46 by TonyBurtonI have a 180ps AWD Kuga. It is an excellent towcar. According to my V5 doc the Mass in service is 1773kg. So it would give you a ratio slightly better than 100%. I recently recorded 36mpg when towing when most of the journey was at a speed of around 58mph on a motorway. The cruise control is really useful and I like that cruising speed because I don’t have to overtake too many lorries. On that occasion I think I probably had the wind behind me. It really can make quite a difference. If I drive faster the towing mpg can drop to around 28mpg. For solo driving it is possible to achieve 50mpg but with any amount of stop start motoring it drops to around 43mpg.
Cornersteady replied on 15/10/2018 16:05
Posted on 15/10/2018 14:59 by LutzWe don't even know what constitutes a 'serious accident' in the UK data or whether the caravan was the actual cause of the accident in which a towing outfit was involved.
Posted on 15/10/2018 16:05
If you read my posts carefully I never mentioned serous accidents for the UK and caravans, just serious accidents involving cars in the UK and EU only and used that as a basis for extrapoltaion (which I know is dangerous). On the Uk roads accidents involving a caravan are at about 0.008% at worst per year. What is it in the France, Germany...
I'm not really bothered what caused the accident but it shows that towing is really a relatively safe thing to do in the UK.
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lornalou1 replied on 15/10/2018 16:34
Posted on 15/10/2018 16:34
Nobody know if the accidents in france were all french drivers, or UK accidents were all british drivers so why argue the fact. The post was about pulling a certain caravan with a specific car. Ony he will know in the long term wether it is a good match or not, but its his choice after all.
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TonyBurton replied on 15/10/2018 16:54
Posted on 15/10/2018 15:19 by KenofKentTony,
I have a Freelander 2 which on my V5 shows a mass in service of 1958 kg, however my kerbweight is only 1785 kg. I think things are getting a little mixed up if you are looking at the 85% guideline.
Ken
Posted on 15/10/2018 16:54
Hi Ken.
That's a big difference between mass in service and kerbweight. I know that one figure includes extra weight for a driver and some fuel. Where is your kerbweight recorded? I use mass in service because it is on the legal v5 document. Sales ltierature is unreliable and the outfit matching service is even worse. Of course 85% is quite a vague guidline anyway. So many other factors contribute to a good stable combination and here we have a driver with at least 10 years towing experience. I'm looking forward to hearing about his new Kuga.
Rgds
Tony
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KenofKent replied on 15/10/2018 17:15
Posted on 15/10/2018 17:15
Tony,
The kerbweight came from Land Rover. Obviously it changes slightly with the model variants. The point here is that as I understand it the 85% guideline works on kerbweight and not the newer and much heavier Mass In Service. If the MIS is used of course in theory much heavier loads can be pulled, but not within the guidelines, which some now believe with modern vehicles and safety systems is ok.
From what I have witnessed out on the road, my personal choice is to keep as close as possible to the guideline percentages.
Ken
cyberyacht replied on 15/10/2018 17:32
Lutz replied on 15/10/2018 19:41
Posted on 15/10/2018 19:41
If anything, mass in service will be less than kerbweight because by definition, apart from the 75kg for the driver and sundry items it includes less than what is included in kerbweight, so something is wrong somewhere.
Kerbweight is specific to each and every car so it must be linked to the respective chassis number. Mass in service is generic for all vehicles of the same model.
mylo