Caravans aren't the only types of trailer.

It's not uncommon for vehicles to safely pull well over their own weight if it's a stable trailer with a low centre of gravity and the weight in the centre.

Caravans are about the least stable type of trailer there is - the centre of gravity is high up, the weight distributed around the outside give a high polar momentum and the high flat sides can be badly affected by crosswinds and turbulence from other vehicles.

I've towed goods trailers at 120% and caravans at 100% - the goods trailers were much more stable - but having towed caravans at 100%, which can be a handful in extreme conditions, I fully realise why some authorities recommend that newcomers to towing caravans should limit it to 85%.

The other factor is the Skoda's gross train weight limit. A fully laden car plus 2tonne trailer would be north of 4 tonnes which seems a lot.

AIUI the 85% rule is based on kerb weight which includes a 75kg driver and 75% fill of fuel. On that basis a 1300kg van would be do-able. That would allow say an Adria Altea or various Eldiss/Xplore models the biggest 1300kg Adria has 6 berths. A lot of Baileys or Swifts would be out of scope unless you went to 100%.

According to caravan dealers a trend back to lighter cars (after getting heavier in nineties/noughties) is not reflected in vans which get heavier year on year.

Having recently bought an Xplore 304 to tow with our Berlingo I've done a fair amount of thinking. The 'lingo will tow 1300kg (well below 85%) but it's max GTW is full car plus 1000kg so any partt of the van's load over that has to come off car's load. MTPLM for the Explore is 1087kg which we can live with.

Edited by Bromptonaut on 17/07/2014 at 10:36

Caravan makers are trying.

I've just been looking at some van specs and as a for instance the Bailey Unicorn Madrid S1 of around 2011 weighed an eye watering 1596kg when loaded. Fast forward to the Madrid S2 of 2012 and the weight had reduced to 1484kg and with Bailey about to launch the S3 Unicorns it will be interesting to see if the Madrid has lost even more weight.

My current van is a 2012 Lunar and their Quasar range are the lightest around from mainstream makers and I've got 4 berths with a loaded weight of 1235kg. Probably the lightest 4 berther around.

The Octavia VRS is capable of 150+mph, that's often quoted by motoring journalists, doesn't mean that you have to drive at that speed.

The towing weight of a braked trailer for the Scout is 2000kg, likewise, you don't have to pull a trailer that heavy.

Some drivers will speed regularly, some drivers will tow trailers that are too heavy. Whose fault is that? Not the motoring journalists or manufacturers who make the figures available.

European regulation say that a car’s towing limit is the maximum weight at which: “The motor vehicle towing a trailer must be able to start the vehicle combination – laden to its maximum mass – five times on an uphill gradient of at least 12 per cent within five minutes.”

"Surely a responsible journalist......."

Ha, good luck finding one of those. Probably be with the honest politician, morally upright estate agent, celibate priest and bargain solicitor.

"who is supposed to inform caravan buyers who have no interest in appropriate forums on the web"

It still sounds as though you want us all to be "nannied". How often do journalists and manufacturers say " It will top 150 mph, but the maximum safe speed is ............, it corners like it is on rails, but you wouldn't drive it like that on the A701 ...... it will stop on a sixpence, but we advise leaving three seconds between moving vehicles" ?

What would the extra footnote you suggest read? Would you quote the "85%" rule, the no more than the mass of the car guidance, or car + XX%? How would you determine the absolute safe towing weight for a caravan? You would have to consider the length, breadth, height, nose weight, weight distribution, ambient conditions, driver skill and experience, tyre size, pressure and other variables. The alternative is to take the worst case scenario in all variables, in which case the outcome would invariably be - don't tow anything.

We don't have speed limiters on cars, though it's entirely practicable, we allow people to make their own minds up and make their own mistakes despite the consequences for themselves and others. Why can't the same be applied to towing?

You obviously have little faith in other peoples' judgement. Do you wonder if other people have as little faith in your judgement? Or would you like to see us all wrapped up in cotton wool for our own protection?

Very thorough and good common sense what you've copied and pasted there MT, i'm impressed that the handbook is is written like that.

Its funny this experience thing, if you look at modern car transporters they are basically the same as being discussed here, short prime mover towing a trailer nearly twice as long (but not a semi trailer, as the hitch is behind the prime movers chassis) and can be considerably heavier when loaded, subject to the instabilities being discussed here sometimes leading to severe tail wagging the dog syndrome which if indetected by those lacking seat of the pants feeling can result in rollover (there have been many)...whats surprising is that even some old hands, let alone the new drivers now untaught the crucial aspects of lorry control, have not the slightest concept of loading the combination for stability.

For about 6 years I towed a race car on a trailer about 12 times every summer. The car and trailer were just over 1000 kg, add on a few spares and it was probably close on 1100 kg. The car I used was a Mk 2 Golf GTi. The max towing weight quoted by VW was 1200 kg so I was just inside that. By the time the tool boxes were in the car plus 2 people it would have been close to the weight of loaded trailer, certainly over it.

Did I ever have an issue. Certainly not, it towed beautifully. Has a simple friction stabiliser fitted (it was fine without it originally but for a few pounds it was daft no to) and it would simply drive all day at the relevent national speed limits.

ng a fully loaded Scout diesel as a comparator at 2096kg towing 2000kg of van means you'd be operating at 96%. Compare that to my 67% which is the sort of ratio that's safe.

I agree it's a concern that somebody might unwisely think they could tow 2000kg at 60mph (legally) downhill on the M5 in a crosswind while passing a car transporter...and somebody probably will. I've seen lots of twin-axles pulled by Mondeos with soggy suspension too that I wouldn't want to be driving.

I wouldn't want the Scout + 2000kg combination myself either. But it wouldn't worry me, I'd just load carefully (as I do anyway), minimise the caravan contents weight, and drive at an appropriate speed, which would be inconvenient for me.

At least you'd need to have passed a trailer test, or passed your car test before 1997, to do it, so a driver should have some experience or training (though I wonder how many people know this too).

I have no interest in large caravans anyway, but I'd like to try it out to see how bad it really is. I suspect it won't feel good - a 1200kg Eriba jerks the 1700kg Outlander about quite enough for me, even if it's never shown any inclination not to follow the car.