Anybody tow with a petrol engined car

[spdpug98]

I am just about to order my new Co Car and really want a change from diesel, and with the new ED on the BMW’s it means a 320 petrol is cheaper on tax than a 320 diesel

I will be using the car to tow my MR2 racer and wondered it anyone else uses a petrol for towing, and have you had any issues. I guess off the line it will be slower as it won’t have the torque of the diesel but apart from that I can’t see any issues

[Graham]

I used to tow with a v8 discovery and these days i've got a td5. towing with the v8 was much easier and more refined. A lot of modern diesels have bugger all torque until the turbo kicks in..

[spdpug98]

Graham said:

I used to tow with a v8 discovery and these days i've got a td5. towing with the v8 was much easier and more refined. A lot of modern diesels have bugger all torque until the turbo kicks in..

I guess a V8 petrol has a bit more go than the BMW 320

[RobbieL]

We used a BMW 320 last year and it did the job with no moaning and nothing broke. It wasn't the quickest off the line but that's not a problem if you're towing - just be wary of it.

MPG did suffer a lot though - less than 20........

[HiRich]

Moved from an Audi 100 petrol to Alfa 147 diesel last year, towing a similar weight to yours.
No real difference in driveability, but fuel consumption has dropped dramatically - makes a big difference on the Cadwell or Oulton runs.

[spdpug98]

Thanks for the feedback, just been up to BMW and may now go for the diesel but also popped in and looked at the Merc C Class Estate Sport on the way back, that has a much bigger boot for tools etc so even though I left the house thinking I was going for the BMW - now I can't decide

[ojo]

Get an ML55 great tow car and cost next to nothing these days ........... wouldn't even notice an Mr2 on a trailer

[spdpug98]

Well I have gone full circle again, I will be putting in an order tomorrow for the petrol 320 - mpg not a major issue as it is a company car

[Al Weyman]

I tow with my 4.3 litre V6 Chevrolet Blazer SUV which is converted to gas and I like it. I much prefer an LPG gasoline engine to diesel.

[jellison]

Volvo T5 V70 mostly - mega.

Mind motor home with a chipped modern Tdi rocks too.

[Cpt_Crustacean]

We tow with an old 2.0 litre toyota Avensis. Its pretty good actually once you get it up to speed, can bool along at 70+mph on a private road and is suprisingly frugal. Dont have any mpg figures but the gauge appears to move very slowly.

[TorqueRacing]

V10 Tdi Toureg works well for us when towing our MR2 - you can pick one up easily for 320i money. It does 22mpg towing, 25mpg on its own and has 550 lb/ft torque.

You can also sleep in it

[spdpug98]

TorqueRacing said:

V10 Tdi Toureg works well for us when towing our MR2 - you can pick one up easily for 320i money. It does 22mpg towing, 25mpg on its own and has 550 lb/ft torque.

You can also sleep in it

Has to be new as it will be a company car otherwise I would have something like the Toureg

[surrey7er]

last year I towed my 7 with a petrol 3 series BM, albeit a 335i. I had no probs whatsoever.
tomorrow, I will find out what towing with a petrol Impreza is like, however, as it has 300hp, I'm not expecting too many issues

[thunderbelmont]

I tow with my petrol engined vehicle (Motorhome).

454 cubic inches of Chevrolet V8.

All up 9 Tonnes.

What trailer? (have to keep checking the mirrors to see if it's still there! and it's a 3.5Tonne max trailer.

In days gone by.... I used to tow with a 3.0i Senator, fabulous!

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

I've also been looking for a tow vehicle, for a few weeks now.
The biggest problem I've found is the limit most vehicle's can tow legally, also its not the weight you are towing, but the max weight of the trailer, and if you want to tow more than a 1000KG car, most trailer max weight will just to 1,800KG. which is more than any car will tow, and even a lot of vans.
Not sure if anyone has the full facts or any know of any cars that can tow 1,800 KG.

[HiRich]

You are correct that the car needs to be plated as able to tow the max (with payload) plated weight of the trailer.

For options, try looking at the caravan magazines. A browse in WH Smith library will find the right one. Wear a mac and dark sunglasses, just in case you are recognised.

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

HiRich said:

You are correct that the car needs to be plated as able to tow the max (with payload) plated weight of the trailer.

For options, try looking at the caravan magazines. A browse in WH Smith library will find the right one. Wear a mac and dark sunglasses, just in case you are recognised.

Thank you,
This site its quite useful also, as long but you have to check every make.
http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1
had a look at BMW's and was quite surprised.

Edited by TVRleigh_BBWR on Friday 9th April 17:21

[RogueMotorsport]

I also tow with a motorhome - mine has a 7.4 litre V8 Chevvy in there... You really don't notice that there's a trailer on the back!

I tow with various diesel vehicles but the one petrol car that has surprised me recently is the Mitsubishi Shogun Pinin. It's got the 1.8 litre GDI petrol engine but seemed totally unfazed towing ~1000kgs of race car and 500kgs of trailer (it's max towing weight). It even returned 22mpg between Coventry and Bedford Autodrome. You can pick one up for under £2k - we bought one just to get around in the snow recently

This site appears to have an extensive list of vehicles and towing capacities:

http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp

[jellison]

http://www.uktow.com/towing%20capacity.asp#tab1 - good stuff - all ok with what we have used for last 15ish years then (T5's).

Mind my first tow car was the most unsuitable thing imaginable Alfa Sud Sprint (1.5 Green Cloverleaf), pulling an 850kg race and about 1/2 ton trailer - the slightest hill was struggle, and the big one before Cadwell just killed it! Had to roll it back a mile or so and gun it to death to get it up! Changed it soon after for a GTV6 (the read ones (RWD)) - Perfect.