Budget tow car required. £2.5k budget.
Budget tow car required. £2.5k budget.
Author
Discussion

Chicken Chaser

Original Poster:

9,000 posts

251 months

Wednesday 16th May 2012
quotequote all
I'm exploring the possibility of buying a caravan getmecoatpaperbag

I've not towed before, and can only have a max of 3500kg towing weight of the full outfit.

I thought my Mk1 Focus estate would have been sufficient but it appears to be too light to pull the average 2 berth.

The budget is fairly measly, but I'm trying to balance the cost of buying a caravan into my budget. Something reasonable on fuel would be preferred (no v8s please). I dont do a massive commute but dont want to be staring at ridiculous mpg when driving...

Any ideas? Anything with kudos would be an added bonus!

HustleRussell

26,380 posts

187 months

Wednesday 16th May 2012
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My Mondeo TDCI makes very light work of a 900kg sports car trailer.

EDLT

15,421 posts

233 months

Wednesday 16th May 2012
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Mercedes E430
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3831167.htm

Loads of money left over to get a tow bar fitted and apparently it does 25mpg.

harryowl

1,114 posts

208 months

Wednesday 16th May 2012
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Volvo
/thread

Aids0G

569 posts

176 months

Wednesday 16th May 2012
quotequote all
Bit of a wallowy old barge but you could get a very nice Discovery 1 V8 or tdi for that ammount, lots of power in the V8 stable and the fuel economy in the tdi can be surprising!

cptsideways

13,865 posts

279 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
Tdci Mondeo will win this hands down, decent tow limit, lots of go & handle the towing bit very well with good mpg's too. They tow quite a lot better than many 4x4's with not much greater tow capacity.

uk_vette

3,336 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
cptsideways said:
Tdci Mondeo will win this hands down, decent tow limit, lots of go & handle the towing bit very well with good mpg's too. They tow quite a lot better than many 4x4's with not much greater tow capacity.
.
I would very much agree on the Mondeo 130 TDCi
I would even suggest the estate.
Some thing around "53" reg onwards to about "55" reg offers great value.
When running solo on a run, you can expect a solid 45 mpg.
Towing a sensible 2 person caravan, probably towing at 37 mpg or better.

vette

Chicken Chaser

Original Poster:

9,000 posts

251 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
quotequote all
Mondeo sounds ideal actually. Noticed the Golf TDI got tow car of the year in 2010, but cant see where a Golf would be heavy enough even to tow a 2 berth unless it was particularly light? The vans i've looked at are about 93% of the weight of the car (and these are only 2berths).

Also thought about an E46 3 series. Moon miles on some of them and probably higher running/maintenance costs of the Mondeo.

crosseyedlion

2,380 posts

225 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
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MX5?

Garett

1,678 posts

219 months

Thursday 17th May 2012
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Volvo S60/V70 D5. I think the max trailer await is around 1600kg which is a fairly hefty caravan.

MGJohn

10,203 posts

210 months

Friday 18th May 2012
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Available well below your budget. I have been using one of these ( 620ti ) to tow for six years now :~





The engine for the silver Rover 45 being towed is in the 620ti's boot.

Fuel consumption is worth a mention. On a 286 mile round trip including 30 miles of crawling traffic speeds and lots of stop-start stuff towing the smaller Rover 45 on that form of madness known as the M25, the 620ti returned over 29 mpg ~ that's with a brim fill to brim fill fuel consumption measurement check.

Search patiently and you can get a nice, well cared for example for around £1000, often less if you are really patient.

Yeah, I know, poor form recommending a Rover on PH ... wink

He who dares ....

R0G

5,035 posts

182 months

kambites

71,207 posts

248 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
Chicken Chaser said:
I've not towed before, and can only have a max of 3500kg towing weight of the full outfit.
Be wary of that - if you've got a recent licence (the change was in the late 90s, I believe), that limit is MGW not actual the weight of the rig.

R0G

5,035 posts

182 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
kambites said:
Be wary of that - if you've got a recent licence (the change was in the late 90s, I believe), that limit is MGW not actual the weight of the rig.
The 3500 limit is the Vehicle GVW added to the trailer MAM or caravan MPTLM

HorneyMX5

5,677 posts

177 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3882707.htm

Luxury interior, good MPG, looks smart, can haul 1600KG. I bought one (all be it a saloon) for £2250 to tow my track car and I proper love it.

nick

Mr E

22,962 posts

286 months

Friday 18th May 2012
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Ah, another "recommend the car you've just bought in order to justify the purchase to yourself" thread.

Lotus.

No, no - hang on. The other one. Swedish. Big. Drinks fuel a bit. Doesn't handle. Heated seats.

Saab, that's the one.

Saab 9-5 then.

pherlopolus

2,185 posts

185 months

Friday 18th May 2012
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sharan/galaxy diesel 110bhp or above smile incredibly stable

R0G

5,035 posts

182 months

Friday 18th May 2012
quotequote all
HorneyMX5 said:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3882707.htm

Luxury interior, good MPG, looks smart, can haul 1600KG. I bought one (all be it a saloon) for £2250 to tow my track car and I proper love it.

nick
http://www.amberleaftrading.com.razsor.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/mg-zt-t-2-0-cdti-135-5dr-birmingham-201206449240291

Kerb 1585
GVW 2090
towing 1600

For a B licence the max MPTLM of the caravan must not be more than 1410 kgs

PaperCut

640 posts

174 months

Friday 18th May 2012
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Skoda Octavia TDi Estate? or perhaps a Superb, if they're down to that sort of money yet?!

chrisispringles

893 posts

192 months

Friday 18th May 2012
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