Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol?

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 09:28
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

Hi, i'm after buying a caravan and need a car that'll tow upto a decent weight for my 8k. Thinking large estate or possibly an SUV. I will use if for towing, weekly 30 odd mile drive and the occasional long motorway run. The mpg of a diesel is appealing but everything i look at people warm me off for DPF, EGR, etc. issues. I was looking diesel versions of Subaru Outback, Rav4, Avensis, CRV, V70 2.0. These all have about 80k miles for around 8k. Am i asking for trouble? Should i just get petrol and stomach the bad mpg in the hope of good reliability? What petrol car would suit my needs that might have decent mpg? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 09:47
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - elekie&a/c doctor
If diesel is your preferred option, Mondeo estate with the Psa 2.0 engine and a manual gearbox are one of the best of the bunch with not many issues. The 1.5 and 1.6 eco boost petrol engines are fragile.
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Fri 15 Jul 2022 09:50
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris79

What sort of weight caravan are we talking here? Once we know the MTPLM we can narrow it down a bit more. As a rule 85% of the cars kerbweight is considered a good guide for max towing weight.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 10:27
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

I've not picked one yet but would need a 4 birth or bigger so i don't wan't to restrict my choice with an undersized car. Thanks

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 09:59
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

First of, AFAIK the Subaru diesel doesn't have a great reputation for reliability full stop. Toyota's?, age related, but while older ones are very reliable, the younger ones (I think it was a BMW collaboration?) are not great. The Honda's are pretty good with the 1.6 DTEC being one of the few modern diesels to be recommended, but I doubt your budget would stretch to one of them (also, the standard 118bhp version might struggle with a bigger caravan. There is a twin turbo version in the CRV but this will be well out of your budget), so you'd be looking at the older 2.2. Still reckoned to be good, but obviously getting on a bit.

I'm no expert on towing caravans, but my advice would be to get something with a big, relatively unstressed and relatively low tech diesel, something that has been well looked after (not necessarily low miles). Something like a Toyota Landcruiser!

But you need to bear in mind that an SUV man enough to handle a big caravan is not going to be that efficient full stop, regardless of whether petrol or diesel. A car, because of better aerodynamics, will likely return a higher mpg when not towing, but probably won't be much different to an SUV while hooked up to the caravan.

But you need to suss out what weight of caravan you are after as this will determine what you need to tow it.

Edited by badbusdriver on 15/07/2022 at 10:00

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 10:33
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Adampr

The first question is how many miles you'll do in total per annum. There's not a lot of point chasing MPG with a diesel if you're only doing 10,000 miles in it.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 10:59
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

The first question is how many miles you'll do in total per annum. There's not a lot of point chasing MPG with a diesel if you're only doing 10,000 miles in it.

yeah i would be doing less than 10k. Currently petrol and diesel are about the same price but petrol cars are about 30-35mpg and diesel look about 45-50 on a run.

If petrol was the route to go down i'll have to start searching for the best option. I'd been looking at diesel mainly.

Cheers

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 13:48
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Andrew-T

The first question is how many miles you'll do in total per annum. There's not a lot of point chasing MPG with a diesel if you're only doing 10,000 miles in it.

Although we are used to paying anything up to 12p/litre more for diesel, I passed a station yesterday where prices for petrol and diesel were equal - so your argument may be very thin just now. Maybe you can predict what will happen in the next 6 months ? A diesel may give 20-30% better consumption than a petrol, and it may be more suitable for heavy towing.

The argument about possible repair cost is much stronger IMHO.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 10:56
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

Thanks for the advice. I've not picked a caravan yet but want to keep my options open with a decent size car with a good towing capacity.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 11:19
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - veloceman
Kia Sorrento won a few tow car awards when it came out.
Should get a 2013 model for your money.
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Fri 15 Jul 2022 11:51
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Adampr

Or perhaps a Ssangyong Korando.

For cars, I would be looking for something unpopular like a Hyundai i40 or Toyota Avensis.

Also worth considering MPVs as they're unfashionable, so cheap. Maybe a Ford Galaxy.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 11:56
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - _

Or perhaps a Ssangyong Korando.

For cars, I would be looking for something unpopular like a Hyundai i40 or Toyota Avensis.

Also worth considering MPVs as they're unfashionable, so cheap. Maybe a Ford Galaxy.

Very popular with the towing (caravan) fraternity.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 11:46
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - SLO76
Forget the Subaru, the boxer diesel is a fragile thing. For towing at this money a large diesel estate is probably the best bet as you’ll be looking at big miles with an SUV, worse economy and more complexity. A Mondeo 2.0 TDCi manual (don’t touch the auto!) is a good bet along with the pre-facelift Toyota Avensis 2.0 D4D (leave the 2.2 and the later BMW 1.6 diesels) and also a Honda Accord 2.2 diesel. All can be robust if looked after but as with any modern diesel you can suffer a number of problems with the emissions control equipment such as the DPF and EGR valve. Buy on that’s been well serviced and continue this.
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Fri 15 Jul 2022 11:54
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

Another thing to consider is that buying an older diesel engined car may mean you cannot drive into some cities or towns, which would need Euro 6 emissions or above.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 14:41
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

A quick search suggests an average 4 berth caravan will weigh circa 1300kg, so going by the comment earlier that the caravan should be no more than 85% of the car's kerb weight you'd need to be looking at a car weighing around 1550kg or more unladen. For reference, the figures I can find for a Mondeo 2.0TDCI say it is around 1600kg.

But that average weight goes up to 1800kg for a 6 berth, which would require a car weighing around 2100kg or more. Which would mean a sizeable SUV like a LWB Shogun or Landcruiser (circa 2300kg). I looked at the figures for a Hyundai Santa Fe (itself quite a big SUV), but it wouldn't do tipping the scales at just under 2000kg.

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 17:13
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Andrew-T

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

If you look like needing a two-tonner, you might as well get a complete 'motorhome' ? Takes away the worry of jack-knifing, anyway.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 17:50
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

If you look like needing a two-tonner, you might as well get a complete 'motorhome' ? Takes away the worry of jack-knifing, anyway.

I've had a camper van before and didn't like the fact i felt a bit stuck on the site or needed to pack everything up to nip out. Also going into town can be a pain in a huge motorhome. The other big issue is cost. I'm hoping to get a decent car and caravan combo for 15k. OK they wont be brand new but they would offer loads of space for my family at an affordable price. A motorhome of decent spec/condition/age would be about 25k. This would likely be much older than a caravan and i'd still need a decent size family car on top.

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Sat 16 Jul 2022 10:16
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Engineer Andy

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

If you look like needing a two-tonner, you might as well get a complete 'motorhome' ? Takes away the worry of jack-knifing, anyway.

I've had a camper van before and didn't like the fact i felt a bit stuck on the site or needed to pack everything up to nip out. Also going into town can be a pain in a huge motorhome. The other big issue is cost. I'm hoping to get a decent car and caravan combo for 15k. OK they wont be brand new but they would offer loads of space for my family at an affordable price. A motorhome of decent spec/condition/age would be about 25k. This would likely be much older than a caravan and i'd still need a decent size family car on top.

I'm presuming that you'll be using the caravan often enough to not think about just owning the smallest (petrol) car you can afford and just hiring a bigger, more powerful (diesel) car and even the caravan for your holiday jaunts?

I've thought about that for myself sans-caravan for my next car, buying a small, highly fuel efficient city or supermini car for everyday use and hiring a bigger one if I need to for holidays.

I also note that some people - including a former work colleague - these days buy (or perhaps hire) a motorhome and their partner drives their normal everyday runaround car down to holiday as well to use when there. Again, I don't know about the economics on that generally and specifically for yourself (and the practicalities).

Perhaps worth looking into, especially if you subsquenty have to move, change jobs or go off caravanning.

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Sat 16 Jul 2022 11:30
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

If you look like needing a two-tonner, you might as well get a complete 'motorhome' ? Takes away the worry of jack-knifing, anyway.

I've had a camper van before and didn't like the fact i felt a bit stuck on the site or needed to pack everything up to nip out. Also going into town can be a pain in a huge motorhome. The other big issue is cost. I'm hoping to get a decent car and caravan combo for 15k. OK they wont be brand new but they would offer loads of space for my family at an affordable price. A motorhome of decent spec/condition/age would be about 25k. This would likely be much older than a caravan and i'd still need a decent size family car on top.

I'm presuming that you'll be using the caravan often enough to not think about just owning the smallest (petrol) car you can afford and just hiring a bigger, more powerful (diesel) car and even the caravan for your holiday jaunts?

I've thought about that for myself sans-caravan for my next car, buying a small, highly fuel efficient city or supermini car for everyday use and hiring a bigger one if I need to for holidays.

I also note that some people - including a former work colleague - these days buy (or perhaps hire) a motorhome and their partner drives their normal everyday runaround car down to holiday as well to use when there. Again, I don't know about the economics on that generally and specifically for yourself (and the practicalities).

Perhaps worth looking into, especially if you subsquenty have to move, change jobs or go off caravanning.

I'd be hoping to use it a few times a year. I work shifts so have quite a bit of time off. I do own a small cheap to run car which we try and use for most trips. I need another car though as I go off on my days off and my wife needs the other for work. Hiring a camper is really expensive. The cost of hiring one a few times would be the same as buying a caravan.

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Sun 17 Jul 2022 20:19
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Engineer Andy

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

If you look like needing a two-tonner, you might as well get a complete 'motorhome' ? Takes away the worry of jack-knifing, anyway.

I've had a camper van before and didn't like the fact i felt a bit stuck on the site or needed to pack everything up to nip out. Also going into town can be a pain in a huge motorhome. The other big issue is cost. I'm hoping to get a decent car and caravan combo for 15k. OK they wont be brand new but they would offer loads of space for my family at an affordable price. A motorhome of decent spec/condition/age would be about 25k. This would likely be much older than a caravan and i'd still need a decent size family car on top.

I'm presuming that you'll be using the caravan often enough to not think about just owning the smallest (petrol) car you can afford and just hiring a bigger, more powerful (diesel) car and even the caravan for your holiday jaunts?

I've thought about that for myself sans-caravan for my next car, buying a small, highly fuel efficient city or supermini car for everyday use and hiring a bigger one if I need to for holidays.

I also note that some people - including a former work colleague - these days buy (or perhaps hire) a motorhome and their partner drives their normal everyday runaround car down to holiday as well to use when there. Again, I don't know about the economics on that generally and specifically for yourself (and the practicalities).

Perhaps worth looking into, especially if you subsquenty have to move, change jobs or go off caravanning.

I'd be hoping to use it a few times a year. I work shifts so have quite a bit of time off. I do own a small cheap to run car which we try and use for most trips. I need another car though as I go off on my days off and my wife needs the other for work. Hiring a camper is really expensive. The cost of hiring one a few times would be the same as buying a caravan.

Fair enough - as I said, I didn't know much about it but though it was a good idea to at least check - I'm glad you did, at least in order to rule it out and to know what your viable options are. Better to ask what may seem like a silly question in case it doesn't turn out to be!

Best of luck on your search!

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 17:44
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris Doughty

A quick search suggests an average 4 berth caravan will weigh circa 1300kg, so going by the comment earlier that the caravan should be no more than 85% of the car's kerb weight you'd need to be looking at a car weighing around 1550kg or more unladen. For reference, the figures I can find for a Mondeo 2.0TDCI say it is around 1600kg.

But that average weight goes up to 1800kg for a 6 berth, which would require a car weighing around 2100kg or more. Which would mean a sizeable SUV like a LWB Shogun or Landcruiser (circa 2300kg). I looked at the figures for a Hyundai Santa Fe (itself quite a big SUV), but it wouldn't do tipping the scales at just under 2000kg.

So your car choice could be affected quite dramatically by caravan choice!

Thanks for this. Looking like a V70 2.0d might be good. 1750kg so would give me a caravan weight of nearly 1500kg. Plenty of choice at that limit. Cheers

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 18:26
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Adampr

I'd suggest maybe looking at a trailer tent. Something big and easy like a Dandy / Riva Destiny would come in at £5k and give you more for a car. You would also get a wider choice of cars and better economy as you'd only be towing 900kg.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 19:04
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - pd

I'd go for the D5 in any sort of Volvo.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 19:34
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - kiss (keep it simple)

How things have changed!. We had a 5 berth caravan in the 1970's which weighed 750kg. Pulled by a Ford Corsair (82hp) a couple of times to the south of France. We were a family of 5. Steady 50mph and 21mpg. Engine was a bag of bolts but never let us down.

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Sat 16 Jul 2022 17:48
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Heidfirst
along with the pre-facelift Toyota Avensis 2.0 D4D (leave the 2.2 and the later BMW 1.6 diesels)

A T27 2.2D will be fine & I would certainly prefer it for towing over the 2.0D

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Sat 16 Jul 2022 21:46
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - SLO76
“ A T27 2.2D will be fine & I would certainly prefer it for towing over the 2.0D”

I favour reliability over outright power. The 2.0 offers plenty of pulling power and superior economy and reliability.
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Sun 17 Jul 2022 13:07
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Heidfirst

The 2.2 is plenty reliable (especially 2010 & later), I had 2. It's not like the 1AD didn't have the same issues as the 2AD earlier, it did.

Yes, the 2.0D will offer superior economy when not towing but I wonder when it is towing ... ? Imo the 2.2 is just a nicer car to drive without a caravan (certainly for my typical motoring & driving style) & I would certainly rather have the extra power & torque when towing.

Edited by Heidfirst on 17/07/2022 at 13:09

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Sun 17 Jul 2022 20:01
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Heidfirst

I also forgot to mention that the 2.2 has bigger brakes which may be of use with a caravan in tow.

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Fri 15 Jul 2022 20:58
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - RJ414i

Ford Focus estate 2l diesel I believe will tow 1500kg.

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Sat 16 Jul 2022 17:51
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

Ford Focus estate 2l diesel I believe will tow 1500kg.

On paper maybe, but it was mentioned earlier that the recommendation is that the caravan should weigh no more than 85% of the car. The Focus (according to this website) is 1460kg, which would make the recommended caravan weight somewhere around 1250kg.

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Sat 23 Jul 2022 20:07
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Bailey Unicorn

i've been caravanning for 15 years. current van4 berth bailey unicorn valencia mtplm 1500 kg. I currrently tow with a 62 plate crv 2.2 diesel. Fantastic tow car. 2000kg towing capacity 100kg noseweight. Well put together and very reliable. Previously also towed with a couple of 2.0l diesel Mondeos, excellet towcars aslo with capacities similar to crv. Keep your eyes peeled and you should be a ble to pick up a crv in your budget range with not too much mileage. I just wish Honda hadn't stopped using 2.2s in newer versions as I'd like to trade up.

Do get a caravan, yourself and family will love it. So many places to explore in our wonderful country. But safety first! I always think it's better to be overgunned interms of engine size and car weight than risking an accident in an underpowered lightweight tow car.

Edited by Bailey Unicorn on 23/07/2022 at 20:10

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Sat 23 Jul 2022 20:52
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

Do get a caravan, yourself and family will love it. So many places to explore in our wonderful country. But safety first! I always think it's better to be overgunned interms of engine size and car weight than risking an accident in an underpowered lightweight tow car.

A lightweight car with little power is going to have a lightweight towing weight. There should be no problems (outwith the inexperience/stupidity of the driver) if the caravan or trailer being towed is within the capability of the car.

But ignoring that, I am curious to learn what caravan accident will befall you due to your car being underpowered?. I have seen plenty of videos on YT showing caravan towing accidents and by far the majority involve large powerful cars towing large caravans.

BTW, my Dad made a folding caravan and towed it with his Ford 100E, it produced 36hp and had a 3 speed manual gearbox.

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Sun 24 Jul 2022 12:12
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Bailey Unicorn

Well, you really can't ignore your first paragraph can you?

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Sun 24 Jul 2022 20:42
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - Chris79
From my experience of towing, which to be clear is limited to 5 years of towing caravans.

A lightweight tow car is fine when towing a lightweight trailer or caravan.

1500kg MTLPM is not lightweight and here I’d get the most powerful/ heaviest tow car you can reasonably afford.

I’ve just towed down to La Rochelle with a 1500kg caravan attached to a E220d
Estate. There was never a point where I was worried about the cars capability to pull the caravan. Granted it’s only a few days a year that I tow but having started with less capable cars and progressed upwards I can only encourage buying a car that is truly Upto the task
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Sun 24 Jul 2022 21:04
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - badbusdriver

Well, you really can't ignore your first paragraph can you?

Have you read the thread?

The OP is looking for a large estate or SUV to tow a 4 berth caravan. In the context of the thread, what a small light underpowered car can or can't tow is irrelevant. Outwith the context of the thread, and in response to your comment, there is no problem whatsoever (other than the driver) towing within the capability of your car, regardless of how big, small, heavy, light, powerful or not it is.

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Sun 24 Jul 2022 22:00
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - daveyK_UK
Don’t do what my neighbour did who was desperate for a big car to pull his caravan in June after his Mercedes E class was beyond economical repair.

He purchased a 9 year old Skoda Superb diesel with 170k on the clock for £3.5k.

Off he went on his holidays to Scotland, all was fine. Around a week after returning back home he had a major engine failure and needless to say his ‘bargain’ superb needed £4,350 worth of work, more than he had just paid for it.
Independent dealer absolutely useless, they have used every trick in the book to avoid responsibility.
Now a small claims court application is being drafted all while the Superb remains parked up in bits on his drive after the dealer returned it to him on a tow truck and told him it was sold as seen.

The thing is and I haven’t said this to him but I don’t think the court will give him the answer he wants in terms of a full refund.
He has admitted in writing (text message) he has put 1,150 miles on the car since buying it trouble free 3 weeks earlier until the major failure and a large chunk of those miles it was towing a caravan.

I would argue a known engine fault would have manifested itself within that sort of mileage, and any owner would accept a car with 170k on the clock may be approaching the end of the serviceable life of key components hence the price.

One for the judge to sort out.
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Sun 24 Jul 2022 22:38
Tow car for 8k budget. Diesel or petrol? - RJ414i

Must agree that 170k miles is well past the "just run in" stage. Buying any car with those miles on is a gamble.

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