Can I tow this?

[LeftmostAardvark]

I've seen a Bailey senator twin axle that I like the look of, but it seems to be a bit on the heavy side. Would I be foolish to go for something so capacious?

Tow car is a 2.0Td estate mondeo (115hp), which tips the scales at 1555kg and has a towing capacity of 1800kg. Caravan has a miro of 1290kg and a mtplm of 1500kg ish.

With it being a twin axle, I assume the 85% guideline isn't so important but will it just be too much hassle hauling that monster around?

Thanks,

[shovelheadrob]

It depends on what the Gross Train Weight displayed on the vehicle says & what licence you have. There may be a weight given on the V5

[LeftmostAardvark]

Gross train weight is 3750kg, so that should be ok. My question was more around how practical it would.be to tow that size of caravan, will the car struggle as soon as it gets to an incline etc, will fuel economy drop like a stone, will I go through clutches every couple of weeks?. legally, I believe I'm fine.

Edit: thanks for response rob.

[Chrisgr31]

I'd be interested in the details of the caravan, age cost etc as looking for a 2nd hand twin axle one! Obviously either after you have bought it or rejected it!

Not sure if I would be happy towing a big caravan with a Mondeo but I guess some of the Mondeos are quite big.

[littlebasher]

I wouldn't class 1500kg as a monster van.

I towed happily at that weight with a convertible Saab 9-3 Tid - admittedly it had 150bhp but unless you're planning on towing in the alps, i wouldn't worry about it.

Only down side i can see, is the longevity of your DMF !

[LeftmostAardvark]

Chrisgr31 said:

I'd be interested in the details of the caravan, age cost etc as looking for a 2nd hand twin axle one! Obviously either after you have bought it or rejected it!

Not sure if I would be happy towing a big caravan with a Mondeo but I guess some of the Mondeos are quite big.

http://caravans.autotrader.co.uk/used-caravans/bailey/senator/2000-bailey-senator-california-halfway-cfpa-8a6aebac383625ba0138376c197e2958

Help yourself if you want to, I'm not in any hurry.

[Chrisgr31]

LeftmostAardvark said:

http://caravans.autotrader.co.uk/used-caravans/bai...

Help yourself if you want to, I'm not in any hurry.

Its OK really want a 5 or 6 berth! Looks quite nice though

[R0G]

LeftmostAardvark said:

I've seen a Bailey senator twin axle that I like the look of, but it seems to be a bit on the heavy side. Would I be foolish to go for something so capacious?

Tow car is a 2.0Td estate mondeo (115hp), which tips the scales at 1555kg and has a towing capacity of 1800kg. Caravan has a miro of 1290kg and a mtplm of 1500kg ish.

With it being a twin axle, I assume the 85% guideline isn't so important but will it just be too much hassle hauling that monster around?

Thanks,

If GTW is 3750 and towing capacity is 1800 then GVW is likely to be 1950

1950+1500=3450 so within the legal towing limit for a B only licence

If the car when loaded is about 1800 and the caravan can be kept down to about 1400 then that would be a match difference of about 75 to 80%

The CC 85% advice uses a worse case scenario by using the empty weight of the car against the fully loaded caravan but that is unlikely to be the case in reality

[AyBee]

I'd be more worried about the 115bhp than the weight if I'm honest. Do caravan places usually let you take their vans out for a test drive so you could take it to a hill and see how much it struggles?

[hornetrider]

AyBee said:

I'd be more worried about the 115bhp than the weight if I'm honest.

Yeah same although being a TDi it's probably a bit torquey so he'll be alright. As mentioned, as long as he's not climbing an Alp it'll be fine, no major dramas.

[LouD86]

Weight wise your fine, have you thought about a BlueFin remap? Should help you towards 140hp, which would be nice with the torque increase when towing

[Fastchas]

Just my opinion, you're concerned about the weight but looking at the 'van you're really dragging around a quite large bathroom there and not really benefiting in 'living space'. Will you really use that space or are today's (perfectly acceptable) on-site facilities more likely to be used?
With a big end on a van like that I'd want a permanent end bedroom.

[LeftmostAardvark]

Purposely want a large bathroom, for hosing down small children and washing mountain biking muck off children and adults. So, I'm fairly sure we've picked the right layout. Never could see the appeal of a fixed bed, seems to take up a huge amount of space without being much more luxurious than he spec in the advert,

[IanMorewood]

Adequate, max speed 67mph, max gradient 17%. I wouldn't want to try and stop in a rush and if you where fully loaded and given a tug by French Plod you could have a nervous hour or two.

[LeftmostAardvark]

Silly question probably, but what would the French have an issue with, is it just the perception of twin axle or is there a weight issue that is different from uk I need to know about? I was planning to load e car and keep caravan light anyway as Rog alluded to.

[IanMorewood]

Speed limit and stickers required changes on gross train weight and total length, a twin is likely to get you pulled for a vehicle check more than a single axle. Also worth taking into mind several sites (in France) will not be very welcoming to twin axle vans as they tend to be used by 3.142 keys.

[Rosscow]

OP, check this website out:

http://www.towcar.info/basic_index.php

As has been said, 115bhp seems pretty low for a large caravan like that. I'm sure it will tow it but you aren't going to break any speed limits!

I tow a twin axle Ace which has a MIRO of 1430kg and a MTPLM of 1700kg. My tow car is a 3.0tdi Quattro Audi A6 which has 230bhp. If I'm honest I wouldn't want to tow it with much less.

[GreatGranny]

I tow a Bailey Pageant, MTPLM of 1420kg with a Avensis Tourer with 124bhp and 310Nm of torque and it tows fine and will return 30mpg.
But as well as when we had the XC90 D5 :-)
The Alhambra TDi 130 before that was an excellent towcar.
Very stable with the short overhang.