I have a 2006 Polo 1.4 TDi hatchback which I've just fitted a towbar to. This was done so that I can use my trailer to take the contents of our loft to the skip prior to having a new roof on the house - saves all the dust and mess getting in the car.
We also own a caravan which we haven't been able to use since my tow-car died a couple of years ago - it's just stood in storage, costing us money.
The caravan is quite light in weight - about 675Kg. It's a Silhouette Swift Diamond which has an aluminium chassis and was easily towed by my Peugeot 306 2.0 Hdi. I don't believe the Peugeot was much heavier than the Polo, which itself weighs nearly 1100Kg, but the Polo's engine only develops 70 BHP versus the 90 BHP of the Peugeot.
Apparently a VW Polo won the 'Tow-car of the Year' award for a couple of years running, but I can't find any details of this. More likely the 1.9 Tdi in my opinion . . .
So - my question. Has anybody any experience of using a Polo to tow a caravan please? Technically, the car/caravan weight ratio is do-able but are there any 'gotcha's?'
Have you looked at this site which I find very useful to get an idea of car/caravan matching and corresponding performance expectations all based on manufacturers published data re engine characteristics, laden weight of car, caravan and payloads etc:
www.towcar.info/outfitmatch.php
In essence it seems to suggest that even limiting your gross train weight by keeping no more than 150 kg passenger payload in the car and a maximum laden weight of 800 kg for the caravan, the likely performance of the outfit is not promising and you will be driving in 3rd and 4th gear at between 50 mph and 60 most of the time.
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