306 2.0HDI Estate as Tow Car

[Laurence7]

I need to replace my ageing, high-mileage ZX Turbo-D with something newer and a bit more capable.

I tow a race car and trailer, with a combined weight of about 800kg - towing it with the ZX was okay, but always a bit marginal on the motorway on long up hill drags, plus the back end did tend to sag somewhat under the nose weight I needed if I wanted to avoid snaking at high speed.

I'm currently looking at a 306 2.0HDI Estate, which apparently has some kind of load-sensitive rear shock absorbers.

A few questions :-

Does anyone know how good a tow car the 306 2.0HDI Estate is?

How effective is the load-sensitive rear suspension? How does it work?

Does the Estate model have beefed-up torsion bars compared to the Hatch?

Any feedback gratefully received .

Cheers

Laurence

[Uberloin]

Sorry if this sounds completely irrelevant, but we have used a kia sorrento 2.5 TD as a tow car and it is very good and very reliable. you can pick these up fairly cheap with 100k on the clock.

It depends how attached to peugeot you are. Any modern 2litre TD should cut it. The 306 HDi I believe has only 90bhp which may cause it to struggle. A Citroen xantia 2.1TD would be a cheap upgrade. The citroen xm 2.5 TD pulls like a train and they will not be worth much now. With regards to load-bearing suspension I can't comment on the 306 estate, but i would expect the slightly larger citroen's that I ahve mentioned would be better up to the job and come with self-levelling, height adjustable suspension. Hope this helps. Charles.

Edited by Uberloin on Thursday 10th July 22:32

[screwloose]

You'll struggle with the 306. Not a great tow car. As already said you'd be better off with the likes of a xantia TD or Pug 405/406 TD.

J

[sniff petrol]

screwloose said:

You'll struggle with the 306. Not a great tow car. As already said you'd be better off with the likes of a xantia TD or Pug 405/406 TD.

J

My Xantias used to tow great, the perfect combination of a very short rear overhang and stable rear suspension.

[Laurence7]

Whoops! Only just noticed the replies to my initial posting - thanks all.

I've repaired the axle on my aging TD Volcane, which'll do as a stop-gap.

Longer term, I'm looking for a low mileage Xantia 2.1TD or 2.0HDI - a bit more power, a bit more weight and, as suggested, short rear overhang and self levelling ssupension - its gotta be the way to go!

Cheers

Laurence