Hello group am in the early stages of looking to change my tow vehicle, 
currently a  December 2000 land rover discovery TD5 shape 4.0 V8 with lpg 
conversion , our caravan mlw is 1350, we do quite a few early rallies so 4x4 
is nice but not essential I am aware that in the current climate my vehicle 
is only worth about £4500. so should I run it into ground or change the type 
of car. I had thought about are, Audi a4 estate,  Mazda 6 estate or a 
landrover freelander. any comments or thoughts would be welcomed

Al C

On 18 Jun, 19:57, "Al Clarke"  wrote:
> Hello group am in the early stages of looking to change my tow vehicle,
> currently a  December 2000 land rover discovery TD5 shape 4.0 V8 with lpg
> conversion , our caravan mlw is 1350, we do quite a few early rallies so 4x4
> is nice but not essential I am aware that in the current climate my vehicle
> is only worth about £4500. so should I run it into ground or change the type
> of car. I had thought about are, Audi a4 estate,  Mazda 6 estate or a
> landrover freelander. any comments or thoughts would be welcomed
>
> Al C

Exactly the weight of our 'van. Just bought a Ford Mondeo Ghia Tdci
130 estate. Heard plenty of very good reports of it, and
what Towcar.com rates the combination highly. Haven't had a chance to
tow with it yet, but looking forward to the experience.

"Lunar475"  wrote in message 
news:6814c7a9-3ecd-40db-a2fc-0aec11217c5a@l64g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
On 18 Jun, 19:57, "Al Clarke"  wrote:
> Hello group am in the early stages of looking to change my tow vehicle,
> currently a December 2000 land rover discovery TD5 shape 4.0 V8 with lpg
> conversion , our caravan mlw is 1350, we do quite a few early rallies so 
> 4x4
> is nice but not essential I am aware that in the current climate my 
> vehicle
> is only worth about £4500. so should I run it into ground or change the 
> type
> of car. I had thought about are, Audi a4 estate, Mazda 6 estate or a
> landrover freelander. any comments or thoughts would be welcomed
>
> Al C

Exactly the weight of our 'van. Just bought a Ford Mondeo Ghia Tdci
130 estate. Heard plenty of very good reports of it, and
what Towcar.com rates the combination highly. Haven't had a chance to
tow with it yet, but looking forward to the experience.

Have got a 2003 Mondeo TDCI Xetec 130bhp myself and it's just brilliant. 
56 - 60mpg cruising and 27 - 34mpg towing a avondale 550/4 depending on the 
terain. Best car I've had, put cruise control on and just aim it.

Lofty

"lofty"  wrote in message 
news:XoydnSabsKk64cTVnZ2dnUVZ8rednZ2d@posted.plusnet...
>
> "Lunar475"  wrote in message 
> news:6814c7a9-3ecd-40db-a2fc-0aec11217c5a@l64g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On 18 Jun, 19:57, "Al Clarke"  wrote:
>> Hello group am in the early stages of looking to change my tow 
>> vehicle,
>> currently a December 2000 land rover discovery TD5 shape 4.0 V8 with 
>> lpg
>> conversion , our caravan mlw is 1350, we do quite a few early rallies 
>> so 4x4
>> is nice but not essential I am aware that in the current climate my 
>> vehicle
>> is only worth about £4500. so should I run it into ground or change 
>> the type
>> of car. I had thought about are, Audi a4 estate, Mazda 6 estate or a
>> landrover freelander. any comments or thoughts would be welcomed
>>
>> Al C
>
> Exactly the weight of our 'van. Just bought a Ford Mondeo Ghia Tdci
> 130 estate. Heard plenty of very good reports of it, and
> what Towcar.com rates the combination highly. Haven't had a chance to
> tow with it yet, but looking forward to the experience.
>
> Have got a 2003 Mondeo TDCI Xetec 130bhp myself and it's just 
> brilliant. 56 - 60mpg cruising and 27 - 34mpg towing a avondale 550/4 
> depending on the terain. Best car I've had, put cruise control on and 
> just aim it.
>
> Lofty
>


We have an Octavia 1.9TDi 130 and it is a superb car - goes like a 
rocket, solo.

However whilst it is a good tow car when running, the power actually can 
cause problems starting off, especially on any kind of upward slope. I 
have to admit that I suspect the lower power version (which can be 100, 
105 or 110bhp depending on when built) would probably be better.

We tow a 2003 Bailey Pagent Majestic running MAM of 1135Kg. The Octavia 
is rated as something over 1300Kg, so it is well within the 85% but it 
only does about 30.5mpg when towing and 2000rpm in fifth gear seems 
optimum - sixth gear makes it strain a bit.

Before the Octavia for one year I towed it with my Co car, an Astra 
1.7CDTi 80bhp estate, at which the caravan was about 87%. However I 
never had any problems starting off with it* and it returned almost 
35mpg towing. Hmmmm......

*I had to use some gumption though. For instance I did not start up the 
ramp (hill) to get on the ferry at Dover until it was clear at the top 
and I could do it in one go, but it towed up the long hill with double 
bends near Saverne in Alsace as well if not better than the Octavia did 
a year later.

As an aside I fitted one of the 'power booster' devices to the Octavia. 
I've seen the same device at over £150 but I only paid £24 for mine - 
not bad considering all it consists of is a 180 ohm resistor 
encapsulated in epoxy inside a small plastic box with the appropriate 
external connectors!  (Total component cost less than £5.) It fits in 
series with the fuel temp sensor (apparently) but in fact just gives the 
ECU a fixed level. The temp sensor is a negative co-efficient temp 
dependent resistor which has a value of about 11000 ohms at 0C, around 
5000 at 20C, and around 330 at 100C. With a value of 180 ohms it would 
be telling the ECU that the fuel is well over 100C and it should change 
its operating parameters to match. We used this on a short break to 
Norfolk at the end of March.

The effect? According to the computer, solo mpg improved from around 
52mpg to 67mpg, towing from about 30.5mpg to 40mpg, and a torque 
improvement that allowed sixth gear at 1500rpm with ease.

Good? No. On the way back in pouring rain, Management invoked traction 
control momentarily when starting off on the level at a traffic island. 
The ECU warning light came on and stayed on although it did not go into 
fallback (get-you-home) mode. We stopped and I removed the device but it 
made no difference, save the fuel consumption went up and the torque 
vanished. On getting home I took the car to my tame Skoda dealer who put 
his electronic brain on it and it showed the fuel temp sensor as being 
out of range. He reset it, the light went off, and all was/is well. It 
just shows the compromise to which the ECU mapping has to be set and 
that these 'remapping' options available (at silly prices in my opinion) 
probably really do work.


-- 
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com