towing

[Davidfbmw]

does anyone tow with a2017 e class estate, thinking of buying one but will be towing a 200kg caravan now and again

 

[Blobcat]

200kg caravan?

 

[sonic]

I had a Sprite 400 caravan in the 70's, weight 400Kgs! Towed it with a Renault 5TS, a lot of time in 3rd gear.

 

[JDPEClassUK]

does anyone tow with a2017 e class estate, thinking of buying one but will be towing a 200kg caravan now and again

Not towed a caravan, but doubt there is one at 200Kg??

I tow a heavy trailer at over 1000Kg no problem. Don’t really notice it is on the back.


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[John Laidlaw]

Not towed a caravan, but doubt there is one at 200Kg??

I tow a heavy trailer at over 1000Kg no problem. Don’t really notice it is on the back.


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Must be a tent

 

[JDPEClassUK]

Must be a tent

No - just a big trailer, usually full of stuff!


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[keefysher]

Obviously he means 2000Kg

The 'rule' (commonly understood and accepted advice by the tugging community) for inexperienced tuggers is 85% ie the caravan should not exceed 85% of the kerb weight of the tow car. At 2000Kg the requisite kerb weight is 2354Kg or thereabouts. Even the E Class All Terrain is only 2010Kg which gives a 'match' of 99.5%. Above 100% tail wags the dog, literally.

A caravan is unlike a trailer, where a trailer has a low CofG and no high sides, front end and rear.

Further a 2000Kg caravan is likely to be a twin axle jobby. Hence why most tuggers of those use larger 4x4 type tugs. Several of us on here use GLE/ML and R class to tow. I tow a 1900Kg single axle, EmilysDad tows a twin axle, Craig tows a heavy Germanic single axle. GrayB uses an E Class estate for a smaller caravan.

There tends to be experiential learning applied to the art of tugging rather than just reading books.

A poorly matched 'outfit' (not yer clothes) makes a mess when the tail wags the dog and annoys other road users with the wreckage strewn all over. Yes its fun to watch an outfit roll as once seen on the M4 J15 where the driver left it too late to exit, swerve, and the tug went one side of the armco as the caravan rotated on the other spreading splinters (all that was left of the caravan) across the motorway.

The E All Terrain is a fully loaded tug c/w tow bar as standard. There are some very low mileage ones about. Nice 3L V6 diseasel, 9g box if you are happy with the weight ratio.

 

[grayb]

The only thing one might find fault with the E-Class estate as a tow car is that the rear overhang is quite long. This means that the distance from the tow hitch to the rear axle line of the car is quite long. This could mean extra leverage for the van to wag the car. In practice, our car has been brilliant as a tug.

 

[JBell]

The first thing to check is that the car you are looking at can actually tow, there have been a couple if instances where people bought e class and they have no towing weights listed so you can't