THE Caravan Club has recently announced it's winners of the Tow Car of the Year awards. Overall the Škoda Superb Estate Elegance 2.0 TDI CR came out on top.
And in their respective classes, the club also gave the nod to the Škoda Fabia Elegance 1.6 TDI CR, Fiat Doblò 2.0 MultiJet, Volkswagen Golf Match 2.0TDI 140, Mercedes-Benz E350 CDI BlueEfficiency Avantgarde Estate, Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2 DI-D Juro SST, and Range Rover Sport TDV6 HSE.
Which is fine for new car buyers, but for used car buyers in the future, you need to take extra care when buying these motors. Or any model with a towing history, come to that.
The UsedCarExpert.co.uk research programme continually throws up reliability problems related to towing - because the extra weight puts the engine and transmission under extra strain. Which is something that you might expect. But what you may not expect is problems because of the equipment required for towing.
For example, BMW X3s when fitted with unofficial tow bar and power sockets for the trailer's lights start having all sorts of electric problems.
On the Toyota Land Cruiser there appears to be consensus that while it is made for the job from a mechancial stand point, the choice of tyres make a difference. Eighteen inch (or larger diameter) rims, with a low profile stiff sidewall all make the car more stable for towing but may impact off-road ability. And those that are used heavily tend to need things like differentials replaced sooner than if they haven’t been towing.
In our fault-check guides we pride ourselves on giving the consumer advice on each common fault - rather than just saying, "walk away".
But if there are two cars of a similar quality, and one has a tow bar but the other doesn’t I would walk away from the one with the tow bar.
If you really don’t want to – or need a tow bar – then our advice is to make sure you don’t overpay, buy low mileage and make a judgment about whether the towing has been light or heavy.
Occasionally towing a small caravan is probably better than towing a horse box every weekend. Finally, budget for repairs, or look at buying break down insurance.