Towing with a 4Motion - what is the heaviest you have towed?

[Trebor]

As stated in my Introduction, I am considering a 4Motion as a tow vehicle to replace a VW Touareg, which is a pretty good towing vehicle.

We have a 2 Tonne Hymer Nova 580 which we use for longer breaks of a week or more, but it is a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out and hitched up just for an over night or weekend trip.

Last few vehicles:

Autosleeper Trident HiTop based on VW 2.5 water cooled rear engine.
Hymer B544 A Class - 6 metres long.

Both these were used as commuter vehicles and for short trips out as well as long ones. The main disadvantage was no car parks with height barriers.

When we found that we were stopping for a week or more in one place, putting the awning up then hiring a car for local trips we decided to switch to a caravan.

The caravan works well but we miss the spontaneity of a camper van/motor home.

So one option is to get a camper which can also tow the caravan.
We picked the Touareg because of the towing capability and the 4WD which in theory makes pulling a very heavy caravan off a wet and muddy site a little easier.

If we did go for a 4Motion it would have to be the top engine specification (204 PS, I think) and an automatic gearbox as that set up works well with the car/caravan at the moment and is also easy for long non-camping journeys.

So I am asking for experience from current owners.
Which 4Motion set up do you have, what is the maximum that you have towed with it, and how does it behave off road?

Hi

As stated in my Introduction, I am considering a 4Motion as a tow vehicle to replace a VW Touareg, which is a pretty good towing vehicle.

We have a 2 Tonne Hymer Nova 580 which we use for longer breaks of a week or more, but it is a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out and hitched up just for an over night or weekend trip.

Last few vehicles:

Autosleeper Trident HiTop based on VW 2.5 water cooled rear engine.
Hymer B544 A Class - 6 metres long.

Both these were used as commuter vehicles and for short trips out as well as long ones. The main disadvantage was no car parks with height barriers.

When we found that we were stopping for a week or more in one place, putting the awning up then hiring a car for local trips we decided to switch to a caravan.

The caravan works well but we miss the spontaneity of a camper van/motor home.

So one option is to get a camper which can also tow the caravan.
We picked the Touareg because of the towing capability and the 4WD which in theory makes pulling a very heavy caravan off a wet and muddy site a little easier.

If we did go for a 4Motion it would have to be the top engine specification (204 PS, I think) and an automatic gearbox as that set up works well with the car/caravan at the moment and is also easy for long non-camping journeys.

So I am asking for experience from current owners.
Which 4Motion set up do you have, what is the maximum that you have towed with it, and how does it behave off road?

hi LittleGreyCat Just wondering if you ever got a Cali 4 motion for towing your Hymer caravan and if you did how did it cope ? I’m just looking at a hymer luxus 540 at 1800 kg all up .

As stated in my Introduction, I am considering a 4Motion as a tow vehicle to replace a VW Touareg, which is a pretty good towing vehicle.

We have a 2 Tonne Hymer Nova 580 which we use for longer breaks of a week or more, but it is a bit of a hassle to get it all sorted out and hitched up just for an over night or weekend trip.

Last few vehicles:

Autosleeper Trident HiTop based on VW 2.5 water cooled rear engine.
Hymer B544 A Class - 6 metres long.

Both these were used as commuter vehicles and for short trips out as well as long ones. The main disadvantage was no car parks with height barriers.

When we found that we were stopping for a week or more in one place, putting the awning up then hiring a car for local trips we decided to switch to a caravan.

The caravan works well but we miss the spontaneity of a camper van/motor home.

So one option is to get a camper which can also tow the caravan.
We picked the Touareg because of the towing capability and the 4WD which in theory makes pulling a very heavy caravan off a wet and muddy site a little easier.

If we did go for a 4Motion it would have to be the top engine specification (204 PS, I think) and an automatic gearbox as that set up works well with the car/caravan at the moment and is also easy for long non-camping journeys.

So I am asking for experience from current owners.
Which 4Motion set up do you have, what is the maximum that you have towed with it, and how does it behave off road?

hi LittleGreyCat. Just wondering if you ever got a cali 4 motion and if you did how did it cope towing the Hymer ? I’m looking at a Hymer 540 with max 1800kg all up . Thanks

 

[CaliforniaPhil]

Hi

hi LittleGreyCat Just wondering if you ever got a Cali 4 motion for towing your Hymer caravan and if you did how did it cope ? I’m just looking at a hymer luxus 540 at 1800 kg all up .

hi LittleGreyCat. Just wondering if you ever got a cali 4 motion and if you did how did it cope towing the Hymer ? I’m looking at a Hymer 540 with max 1800kg all up . Thanks

I use our 204bhp 4motion to tow our single 1400kg caravan. The Cali tows the caravan better than our BMW X5. Its rock solid on the road, don't know if this is a function of the vans 3t weight, the BMW is around 2.2t.
I tend to take my time towing but the 4motion doesn’t looses traction, even in the wet when you want to pull off in a hurry.