(W210) E240 Auto as a Towcar?

[AdrianDW]

I'm about to part with my E240, and my wife's grandad is interested in buying it. However he has a caravan to pull and is worried about whether its ok as a towcar. Anyone (i.e. M-B owning caravanners!) give me some thoughts bearing in mind:
- He tows maybe half a dozen weekends a year
- Uses a small site with few access problems and good drainage (rarely ruts)
- Its a smallish two berth van, so I imagine well within gross and noseweight limits.
- The car has the tipshift box, so can be locked down if required
- I had the box fluid and filter changed 9k miles ago (70k), so don't imagine it should suffer overheating problems.

Help and advice much appreciated as I don't want him to have the car if its not going to be suitable.

 

[jberks]

The 240 isn't the gutsiest thing on the planet but a 2 berth should be well within it's capabilities. Clearly the fuel consumption will suffer and he'd be better off with a 220cdi for this purpose, but assuming he's interested because it's your car, known history, better deal etc (I sold my C to my dad for similar reasons) then I see no reason why not.
I never actually towed with mine, the 210 is certainly heavy enough to cope with the weight of a caravan so I'd expect it would make an excellent towcar.

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

if it's your dad you're talking about, why not just hook the caravan up and see how it goes? You may need to buy a specific hook (i'm guessing the one he has wont fot to your car but I confess to knowing nothing about caravans...not really my thing) but that must be cheaper than buying the car and then finding out it's not fit for purpose.

 

[television]

Funny things caravans, years ago I had some when the kids were young, in spite of the fact that the Volvo's were one of the best recommended tow cars, I had to use what I had in stock. the best car back then that I used was an Alfetta, it would out perform an XJ6 and Volvo by Far, with an engine half the size of the Jag. it needs something with a high torque band at 30-50 MPH. I believe that the E240 is quite good. Its worth reading this link on coolers.

http://www.fedauto.co.uk/

Malcolm

 

[Bolide]

What does the caravan weigh?

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk