Who tows with petrol?

I tow a 1200kg Eriba Triton pop-top with an Audi A3 1.5 petrol. 150bhp and 250N/m torque. It tows better than my previous tug, a 2L Diesel Skoda Yeti with 110bhp and 250N/m torque. The torque is available across a wider rev range, the engine very flexible and she will sit happily in cruise control in 6th on all but the steepest of inclines. 

On a good long motorway run at a true satnav 50/55mph I usually see 37/38 mpg, 40mpg occasionally and a low of 34mpg on a 2,500 mile trip through France with car and van fully loaded in 2019 when the car only had a few thousand miles on it.

Colin

That's impressive. The last petrol I towed with was a 1994 Mk1 Mondeo 1.8. The figure you quote are what I got solo. Towing was in the mid to high twenties.

I think the developments in petrol engines over the last 10 years or so have been immense. The technology and development that had gone into diesels seems to have been directed towards petrol engines with the result that economy figures are now nearly the same. In everyday non rush hour driving that 1.5 engine achieves 48/52mpg and on the same slow speed 50/55mph run as above recorded nearly 70mpg when the tank was re-filled. My wife's 2014 VW Up does no better.

I think with lighter weight caravans a petrol engine really is a viable option. You are also not stuck with a large and heavy everyday vehicle or the need for a second runaround at home. Once weights increase and/or you are in the realms of a twin axle a diesel is still the way to go. 

Colin

We have a Seat Arona with a 95bhp 1litre turbo triple and on a long fast motorway run is no better economy than my almost 2 tonne Volvo diesel hybrid. Around town both are also similar…. Our caravan is just on 1500kg which is the limit of only a few hybrids although disappointing to find the Kuga hybrid tow limit is only 1200kg’s. A lot of petrol cars are too light and many hybrids have a tow limit below 1 tonne, indeed some cannot tow anything…. and yet their petrol or diesel counterparts can…. Bizarre. 

I tow a Lunar Delta with a Lexus 350 RX ,it is an effortless drive. Fuel returns doesn't bother me, if it did I would not pull a Caravan. Peace of mind, safety, reliability and comfort were foremost when I chose my vehicle.

The Lexus is a good tow car but too big for SWMBO! 

Then she must take preference Flatcoat. In my circumstances it was my dear wife that help influence me.

SWMBO lost that argument many many years ago .... I buy the car that I want, (I'm still puzzled about how a car can be too big🙄🙄😉)  but she chooses her own car and never wants to drive my ML

We are reverting to one car. I will be wfh more or less permanently until I retire and some weeks my car doesn’t move. the boss is already retired and it is too much dead money having 2 cars. However the boss has a perception about car length (and by her own admission not the most confident driver) so compromise we must! Happy wife = happy life and all that…. However I may have found that compromise in a Cupra Formentor. just have to convince the wife now…. If not it is new Hyundai Tucson, MG HS or Tiguan - all plug-in hybrid versions save for the Tucson which is self/charging. 

I tow with a jaguar xe 2.0 petrol auto with 250bhp engine and to be honest towing our sterling elite emerald is pretty much effortless, last time we were away coming out of dundee there is a long hill heading out of dundee and i was in the left lane towing the caravan and i wasnt pushing  hard on the throttle and i was out accelerating a golf in the outside lane until we reached 60mph and then he was away