New Here: Max 800kg Towing Weight, Advice?

Can I ask what model car you have, VZ? 800kg seems very low.

The caravan/trailer weight you need to consider is the fully loaded on the road weight and I assume that’s what you’ve based your shortlist on.

Working back from the towing weight using the 80% rule, your tow vehicle is about 1000kg.  So there are things to consider to do with the load it can carry when towing. There will be a figure in the handbook for maximum load, so remember to deduct passengers and such associated paraphanalia to see what is left.  Then take off the nose weight of the possible caravan to see if you can carry any kit at all in the vehicle.  The water and waste containers have to go somewhere!

That 800kg has to include all that you load in the caravan so calculate roughly the weight of bedding, crockery, and all that stuff, gas, toilet (if not fitted). So it may be difficult to get down to your 800Kg unless it is a very light caravan to begin with.

There would be a weight saving with a trailer tent but these come with a lot of faffing around and almost no insulation.

You might be encouraged by the photograph inside the back cover of this month's Caravan Club Magazine.

Towed a freedom Jetstream club class with a citreon 1.4 zx with ease.

Hi, it's a Fiat Panda.  Thanks for the replies so far, most appreciated.  I won't be taking a huge amount of kit, just enough for a long weekend or two. 

The Go Pod, perhaps? Very low MIRO of 490 kg, allowing you to take more equipment than you're likely to need!  But then again, perhaps with such a tiny van you'd need an awning, chairs and table for outside............. etc., so you might just use up all your weight allowance after all.

According to my research, 800kg is the max the Panda can legally tow and is also about 85% of its kerb weight.

You won’t want to hear this, VZ, but I wouldn’t contemplate towing a caravan, however small, with a Panda. Sorry.

I wish you well but may I suggest that, if you go ahead, you avoid the hilly Westcountry and similar areas on your travels.

Agree tinwheeler. VZ bite the bullet and upgrade the vehicle first then give yourself a wider choice of van that can be towed.

I count myself as a newbie too my last caravan holiday was 35 years ago my first one in 1947. A lot has changed since then but the physics remain the same.

You could consider the French Triango Silver, previously called a Rapido Florette and the La Manche is similar. Roughly the same size and weight as the Freedom but with a very nice pop up roof that allows it to be stored inside your garage hight under 2 metres roof down which makes it toll free on French Autoroutes. It is claimed 30% less wind resistance probably exaggerated but it will definitely save some petrol say an extra 3 mpg compared with towing the Freedom. The Dutch Kip has a good reputation and is light. Never sold here, the Dutch like them and the second hand price is high compared to the Predom the name Freedom's are sold under in Holland but lower than the equivalent Eriba.

In 1947 my father took us on holiday with a caravan probably the same weight as yours, towed by a 2 cylinder Jowett car with about 20 bhp. I do remember Yes Tor near Bodmin we camped overnight on the summit, I remember it because the car could not pull the caravan up a very steep hill, the passengers 3 adults two children had to get out and walk up the hill, which my three year old legs found very steep. I have not been back since to check the gradient but Google Maps shows it as unnamed Road.

My fathers advice was if you are going to have to use bottom gear to get up a hill put it in low gear at the bottom of the hill don't try changing gear on the hill. Due to a slight navigational mistake, you don't need a Sat Nav to make them, I found myself facing a 1 in 4 gradient and no where obvious to turn. I followed his advice and put it into bottom and there was no problem. I could reach max revs if I wanted to. I had 85 bhp.

I am not advocating towing a trailer heavier than the towing vehicle, the tail wags the dog is the problem, but you can. If I remember my first highway code, it said if the trailer was heavier you were limited to 30 mph otherwise 40 mph. A Land Rover can pull a 7 tonne truck for instance but you need to be in low range to get moving and then you can only reach 30 mph and that's plenty fast enough, some similarity to driving on ice, change directions slowly and be prepared for the back to step out. So not for pleasure motoring.

It would seem to me that the heavier the nose weight and the greater the distance between the tow ball and the trailer wheels the less likely the caravan will sway at speed. In North America they sell tow bar extensions, and there is the Kurt Weight Distribution hitch, only available for pick ups. This in effect attaches the tow ball to the middle of the vehicle and the nose weight goes up a couple of hundred pounds, so then you need a strong man to hitch up.

The car manufactures maximum nose weight is calculated on each passenger in the car weighing 75Kg with 40 Kg of baggage. If you don't have a full load in the car you might be able to increase the nose weight a bit. Knowing the hight of the ball above the ground when the car was fully loaded and with the maximum weight on the tow ball could be a gauge. With the car only part loaded increase the nose weight until the ball is the same hight,

The gross train weight of the vehicle is calculated as the the mass it can get in motion up a 1 in 8 gradient going forward. You might have to restart on a steeper gradient than this or an unsuitable surface like gravel. The solution is Jack knife the trailer as near to right angles to the hill as possible and the car at as much angle to the hill as you can and you will get going. The last time it happened to me was in Canada, the hill was quite steep, I was told pre-war cars had to go up in reverse and every one get out and walk so say 30%. There was a temporary gravel surface a truck had spun its wheels making a gravel trap for me, I used the down hill side on my second successful attempt.

The car was a Yaris and the trailer with its load about 1,000 pounds. Now the point of this anecdote. The Yaris is rated to tow 2,000 pounds in Europe, 1,500 pounds in Australia, 1,000 pounds in Canada and nothing at all in the States. A common superstition in the States is that you need a pick up to tow, not a sedan. Here we have something similar the 85% rule, the 90% rule. These are not rules they are sensible guidelines, drive carefully and sensibly within these guidelines and you will not have many problems. Above these guidelines you will be in area that few people have much experience of, not really for novices like us.

My final observation. I was told to load a caravan with the weight low down above the axle, weight at the ends made the caravan into a see saw. Now we have gas bottles etc. at the front kitchens at the back putting weight at the ends making the caravan a see saw. The only thing that damps the oscillation is the cars rear shock absorbers. Why are shock absorbers an extra for the caravan. Are we abusing our cars rear suspension without them?

Hi, 

we had an Eriba puck for 13 yrs. and it was a very stable tow. Best place for information and sometimes to see vans for sale is on the Eribafolk forum. Its free to join and you can ask any questions you like. www.eribafolk.com One gentleman on there tows his Eriba with a Fiat 500.

Eribas are not cheap but hold their value very well. We store our Triton in the garage so no storage charges. Also they are very economical to tow. If you take an awning its surprising how much space you can have. Hope You enjoy your van whatever you get.