A friend intends to rationalize his ownership of several vehicles by selling them and buying one durable, comfortable, used estate car. Apart from quality and comfort, his main concern is to find something suitable for towing his vintage boat. He was leaning towards a Mercedes-Benz E300 TD or the like, but has seen cautionary comments from HJ and others about the impact of towing on these vehicles, especially horse boxes. Further, there are the worries about quality problems in the first-generation new E-class (post-1996); as a W124 owner, I have been persuading him of the virtues of a well maintained older model. He's keen on a diesel and has also thought of a Range Rover.
All thoughts and suggestions welcome in terms of the MB options and the alternatives.
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You don't say how heavy the boat is, so the catch-all answer has to be the Toyota Landcruiser 4.2VX manual diesel.
HJ
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Ah, yes, details. I have now been told that the boat is 1.5 tons and its trailer has two axles.
If your recommendation is still for the mighty Landcruiser, would you be emphatically against the MB 300 TD estate on which my mate is still keen?
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Roger
Presumably the boat is 1.5 tonnes, plus the twin axle trailer? Recommended maximum towing weight for any car is 85% of the gross weight of the trailer to an absolute 100% if you are experienced in towing.
The reasoning is that you want a tow car of sufficient mass so that the "tail is not wagging the dog". Two axles is irrelevant in this context. Your friend's outfit is probably nearer 2 tonnes, assuming there's no junk in the boat. I think it's too heavy for the Merc estate.
Ian
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Sorry, Roger - that's not quite right. The trailer should not weigh more than 85% of the car towing it. It's this dyslexia, you know.
Ian
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The towing weight is not 85% of the car .We sorted this out some time back .The towing weight is in the car manual and it is that the police and insurance companies use.A land Cruiser is 2500kg aDisco is 3500kg so is the 110 ,90 and Defender,ford Explorer is 2500kg,Freelander is 2000kg(all models)the Honda crv is 1500kg.A DB or BMW would legally be allowed to tow what you are asking of it .The DB 4x4s and BMW 4X4 will do nicely
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85% is a recommendation , if the car handbook says less than this weight then that is the the max figure to work to , it is a safety margin not really to be exceeded except with caution. I've towed caravans for 20 years and believe this to be a very good guide. I would never tow a trailer to the manufactures limit , they are way to high. That's the safety side of things.
On the practical 'will this pull from a standing start on a hill test' there is no substitute for power , and i believe four wheel drive.
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Thanks, folks. I've checked my MB manual and canot find a maximum towing-weight figure anywhere. No doubt the dealers can advise us.
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The new E class has a max towing weight of 1900kg
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Unfortuneatly the Mercedes figures on your site bear no resemblance to those issued by Mercedes on their webb site
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Not my site, sunshine. I don't have a site.
However, the one car I checked it against, not a Mercedes, was accurate. If the Merc is not, there you go.
I'm with HJ on the whole caravan/trailer thing anyway.
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You have no gypsy in you Mark
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True. Neither do most of the "gypsies" in the UK.
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Ultimate Mismatch?
Southbound M1 yesterday.
2 tonnes of German traveller caravan towed by a Toyota Avensis.
rg
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The Pykies who aren't working at the coned-off road works and are block-paving someone's driveway instead all have caravan towing balls on the backs of their yellow 'motorway maintenance' tipper trucks. I guess these probably are suitable for pulling a moss green caravan with very dodgy tyres at 20mph.
HJ
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Lovely description, HJ - Pykies. Reminds me of the time SWMBO worked for Worthing Borough council and they needed to move the Pykies out of a layby.
Council trucks turned up, complete with bailiff. During all the inevitable verbal argy-bargy, hidden Pykies removed the towballs from the council trucks.
Mission impossible!
Ian
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