Which Tow car?

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Sun 2 Sep 2007 09:59
Which Tow car? - a.j
I am looking for a car to tow my caravan this is going to be a second car used mainly for holidays and running about.I want a diesel estate with a budjet of 2k,i have looked on autotrader and seen quite a few peugeot 406 estate and was going to go for one of these,but then a friend recommended looking at a Volvo V40,i can buy one for simular money which would make the best car regarding reliability,cost of running,insurance,street cred,etc?
ta Andrew.
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Sun 2 Sep 2007 10:11
Which Tow car? - Citroënian {P}
Sorry, street cred? You might want to forget the caravan then!

Don't know a lot about the V40, but my father ran a 406 HDi for intergalactic mileage and although the interior became tired, it still pulled like a train into the high miles. Servicing was relatively frequent (intervals) but it just kept on going. A mate has just got a S40 dual-fuel and the interior feels mich better than the Pug.
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Sun 2 Sep 2007 11:25
Which Tow car? - Ruperts Trooper
PSA vehicles, Peugeot/Citroen, usually have low noseweight limits because of their typically French, ie soft, suspension which spoils what would otherwise be good towcars.

Depending on age the V40 is a Mitsubishi Charisma or Ford Focus underneath.
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Sun 2 Sep 2007 14:01
Which Tow car? - PhilW
"PSA vehicles, Peugeot/Citroen, usually have low noseweight limits because of their typically French, ie soft, suspension which spoils what would otherwise be good towcars."

Not sure that applies to the hydraulic Cits - Xantia, C5 etc.
Our Xantia 110 HDi has just clocked up 95k and a month towing faultlessly on the continent as it has done for the last 4 or 5 summers (except when the exhaust back box fell off a couple of years ago) and has a max noseweight of 85kg other Cits are similar (XM estate is 110kg) see

www.clicreports.co.uk/
(go to kerbweights in left column and select car)

406 estate is 80kg noseweight.
V40 noseweight is not given but V70 and S70 is 75kg and on a towbar fitting site Witter quote a noseweight of 75kg for the V40. Most vans seem to have a recommended noseweight of about 70 kg, but may be higher - I think it is recommended that noseweight should be between 4% and 7% of the van's kerbweight.

Xantia HDi is an excellent towcar by the way!
--
Phil
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