D4d Powerful Enough For Towing?

[Geordie Mick in Wigan]

Will my 126hp D4D Tourer be any good for towing a caravan? Think the car can pull 1600Kgs but will it be as slow as I think it will. This is a new company car and the company is becoming more stringent on CO2 emissions and whilst I could of had a powerful and clean BMW I wouldn't of got any toys in it, or anywhere near what I'll get in T4SN variant, so I had to go for the 126 horse version.

Anyone pulled a large caravan with one?

We've not bought a caravan yet but if we can tow one with my company car it's better as a) it's an estate B) my fuel;s free and c) our other option is the wife's V6 turbo Saab convertible which would easily tow it but we'd need shares in Shell :o

[Cyker]

When towing stuff, torque is better than horse power and if there's one thing diesel cars have its spades of torque! :D

By law you can't do more than 60mph when towing something and I'm sure that car could do that. Acceleration will be a bit slower and you'll have to shift later than you'd usually, but I'd have thought it'd be okay...!

[bumley]

Should be fine, we tow a 5 berth with my wifes Seat Altea 1.9 TDI, only 115 BHP. As long as you stick to the 85% rule you will be ok.

Try this link to find out which caravans are suitable.

http://www.whattowcar.com/

[joe59]

Should be fine, we tow a 5 berth with my wifes Seat Altea 1.9 TDI, only 115 BHP. As long as you stick to the 85% rule you will be ok.

Try this link to find out which caravans are suitable.

http://www.whattowcar.com/

hi,

I bought a 2.0 diesel 126 bhp Avensis Tourer and was assured by the salesman that I would not notice the difference between the 2 litre and 2.2 litre 150 bhp model.

Stupid of me but I believed him and bought the 2.0 litre.

I tow a caravan with laden weight close to 1500kg and find it inadequate. I have to work the gears all the time and rarely get it into 6th gear on the motorway.

No difficulty maintaining 60 mph, but that extra torque from the 2.2 would have made all the difference.

One of the caravan clubs recently tested the Avensis for towing and considered the 126 bhp adequate but recommend the 2.2 for towing.

I also ended up with a smoking clutch trying to manouvre it on a hilly farm site.

If I could, I would go back to a 4 wheel drive torquey diesel for towing - nothing beats a hi lux.

[caveman_si]

Should be fine, we tow a 5 berth with my wifes Seat Altea 1.9 TDI, only 115 BHP. As long as you stick to the 85% rule you will be ok.

Try this link to find out which caravans are suitable.

http://www.whattowcar.com/

hi,

I bought a 2.0 diesel 126 bhp Avensis Tourer and was assured by the salesman that I would not notice the difference between the 2 litre and 2.2 litre 150 bhp model.

Stupid of me but I believed him and bought the 2.0 litre.

I tow a caravan with laden weight close to 1500kg and find it inadequate. I have to work the gears all the time and rarely get it into 6th gear on the motorway.

No difficulty maintaining 60 mph, but that extra torque from the 2.2 would have made all the difference.

One of the caravan clubs recently tested the Avensis for towing and considered the 126 bhp adequate but recommend the 2.2 for towing.

I also ended up with a smoking clutch trying to manouvre it on a hilly farm site.

If I could, I would go back to a 4 wheel drive torquey diesel for towing - nothing beats a hi lux.

If you are towing something I would expect to be working the gears, to ensure you stayed in the torque band. But as for not using 6th gear when towing thats fine, as my understanding is that 6th is set up for 75-80mph ish cruiseing at 2k revs, doing 60mph and its barely 1.5krevs (well it is on mine). Which is out of the torque band and therefore not great for towing.

[toyboata]

We tow a 1450 KG (loaded) caravan with a 1.9TDI ford galaxy which has 115 PS and 310NM of torque - max torque is @1900rpm.

Its an automatic with "tip-tronic" and it tows our caravan very well.

With correct use of the gears (keeping at or above the torque range) and the correct weight ratio between the caravan and the car (85% max) - it tows fine. Obviously everything happens slower (acceleration & deceleration) but you are towing/carrying a lot of extra weight.

Our setup (car + Caravan + stuff) comes to about 3400Kgs all in all (the car is about 1900KGS!) and that 1.9tdi can tow us at upto 70mph (this was in france) without much trouble! (infact the rig felt more stable at 70 than it does at 60!! not that the police would take that excuse on our roads!)

Theres a fair bit that goes into what makes a good tow car for what caravan. Just think the heavier and more power you have in the towing car - the more control you should have over the caravan....assuming you load the caravan correctly!

[isaachunt]

I have a 2004 2.0 D4D hatch and while it's more than adequate powerwise (been up some big hills too) but it's just too light so I'm going to be changing it soon.

[tubaman]

I`m ashamed to say I tow a 1000Kg unit with my 177BHP Avensis diesel T180 and would climb a wall !

[cmia]

I`m ashamed to say I tow a 1000Kg unit with my 177BHP Avensis diesel T180 and would climb a wall !

:D :D

Probbaly in reverse :P

[tj1110]

Should be fine, we tow a 5 berth with my wifes Seat Altea 1.9 TDI, only 115 BHP. As long as you stick to the 85% rule you will be ok.

Try this link to find out which caravans are suitable.

http://www.whattowcar.com/

hi,

I bought a 2.0 diesel 126 bhp Avensis Tourer and was assured by the salesman that I would not notice the difference between the 2 litre and 2.2 litre 150 bhp model.

Stupid of me but I believed him and bought the 2.0 litre.

I tow a caravan with laden weight close to 1500kg and find it inadequate. I have to work the gears all the time and rarely get it into 6th gear on the motorway.

No difficulty maintaining 60 mph, but that extra torque from the 2.2 would have made all the difference.

One of the caravan clubs recently tested the Avensis for towing and considered the 126 bhp adequate but recommend the 2.2 for towing.

I also ended up with a smoking clutch trying to manouvre it on a hilly farm site.

If I could, I would go back to a 4 wheel drive torquey diesel for towing - nothing beats a hi lux.

You should not be towing a caravan of 1500kg with any avensis max tow is 1300kg and 85% =1105 no wonder your up and down box.if pc plod stops you gear changes will be the least of your worries

[joe59]

Should be fine, we tow a 5 berth with my wifes Seat Altea 1.9 TDI, only 115 BHP. As long as you stick to the 85% rule you will be ok.

Try this link to find out which caravans are suitable.

http://www.whattowcar.com/

hi,

I bought a 2.0 diesel 126 bhp Avensis Tourer and was assured by the salesman that I would not notice the difference between the 2 litre and 2.2 litre 150 bhp model.

Stupid of me but I believed him and bought the 2.0 litre.

I tow a caravan with laden weight close to 1500kg and find it inadequate. I have to work the gears all the time and rarely get it into 6th gear on the motorway.

No difficulty maintaining 60 mph, but that extra torque from the 2.2 would have made all the difference.

One of the caravan clubs recently tested the Avensis for towing and considered the 126 bhp adequate but recommend the 2.2 for towing.

I also ended up with a smoking clutch trying to manouvre it on a hilly farm site.

If I could, I would go back to a 4 wheel drive torquey diesel for towing - nothing beats a hi lux.

You should not be towing a caravan of 1500kg with any avensis max tow is 1300kg and 85% =1105 no wonder your up and down box.if pc plod stops you gear changes will be the least of your worries

max tow for Avensis tourer 2.0 d4d is 1600kg and 85% match is 1420kg.

max tow for Avensis 2.2 d4d 4 dr is 1800kg and 85% match is 1407 kg

I will attempt to attach my poor attempts to scan the reports from camping caravanning magazine road test reports from the current issue.

sorry the upload failed. I shall attemp again when I have time.

[revband]

As far as the max towing weight is concerned you are both right but also both wrong.

The latest 2009 model has the higher towing weight but the earlier model 2008 and before is the lower weight, no idea why this should be.

If you are not sure the max towing limit is shown on your V5C registration document , check that to be safe.

[joe59]

As far as the max towing weight is concerned you are both right but also both wrong.

The latest 2009 model has the higher towing weight but the earlier model 2008 and before is the lower weigh, no idea why this should be.

If you are not sure the max towing limit is shown on your V5C registration document , check that to be safe.

I find it strange that the towing capacity of the Avensis should suddenly increase by 500 kg after what was not much more than a facelift in 2009 (correct me if I'm wrong).

I am going to assume that Toyota were setting the towing limit to 1300kg to be on the safe side and suddenly realised that they were missing out on a large market, ie the tow car market, and when they saw that the Mazda 6, Audi A4, Mondeos, Passats etc, could all tow in excess of 1600kg, they possibly did some minor tweaks to torque output etc and upped their max towing capacity to fall in line with the opposition.

What determines the maximum towing capacity anyway? Is it engine power, chassis strength, braking ability, stablity - probably a combination of all these.

I shall continue to tow in excess of the 1300kg and drive accordingly.

As for the old bill, with traffic departments depleted to pander to the public's constant ranting about wanting to see more plods on the street (things have changed since Dixon of Dock Green) my chances of being pulled when towing my caravan are as likely as becoming the next pope (can the popemobile tow a 1500kg caravan?).

[OldSkoO1]

Maybe the new avensis has a stronger clutch / gearbox and drive shaft to cope with higher inertia.

[Hati]

Engine has nothing to do with the towing capacity. It all comes from the suspension, drive train, gearbox, brakes and the rear end of the chasis.

[revband]

Just to further complicate the matter the Diesel variants can only tow 1300kg but the petrol can tow 1400kg, both with the same body Etc, I have had both and the diesel is the far superior tug.

Assuming the old bill is too busy, dont know, Etc, is all very well the real trouble occurs in the event of an accident when your insurance is void due to the excess weight behind.

My caravan has a gross plated weight of 1350kg, 50kg over the limit, I checked its loaded weight on a weighbridge and its under 1300kg so any extras always go in the car when travelling. I think this is legal, if you know different let me know.

[joe59]

Just to further complicate the matter the Diesel variants can only tow 1300kg but the petrol can tow 1400kg, both with the same body Etc, I have had both and the diesel is the far superior tug.

Assuming the old bill is too busy, dont know, Etc, is all very well the real trouble occurs in the event of an accident when your insurance is void due to the excess weight behind.

My caravan has a gross plated weight of 1350kg, 50kg over the limit, I checked its loaded weight on a weighbridge and its under 1300kg so any extras always go in the car when travelling. I think this is legal, if you know different let me know.

My caravan is 1275kg in running order and like yourself, I load as much in the car as possible. I have even bought the plastic butane bottles. I have never put it on a weighbridge, but assume that with the weight of the Battery, the fitted caravan mover etc, this would probably tip the scales over 1300 kg.

The insurance business has made me think and I will get it on a weighbridge for peace of mind and review the situation from there.

I still consider the 1300kg ridiculously low for such a car and don't consider that I'm doing the car any harm or making it dangerous by straying a few kg over.

Thanks for the advice.

[tj1110]

Just to further complicate the matter the Diesel variants can only tow 1300kg but the petrol can tow 1400kg, both with the same body Etc, I have had both and the diesel is the far superior tug.

Assuming the old bill is too busy, dont know, Etc, is all very well the real trouble occurs in the event of an accident when your insurance is void due to the excess weight behind.

My caravan has a gross plated weight of 1350kg, 50kg over the limit, I checked its loaded weight on a weighbridge and its under 1300kg so any extras always go in the car when travelling. I think this is legal, if you know different let me know.

to complicate things even further any avensis older than 05 is usless as a tow car an the nose weight is only 50kg wich is low for the size of car

from 05 onward nose weight is 75kg wich is about normal for this size of car