How many horses?

[David Hudson]

I am currently towing with a 140 bhp car. I am considering a vw campervan but 
the stated bhp numbers seem to be between 100 and 160.

I would be interested to hear what other people are using to tow their BayRaider/Cruiser.

[Julian Swindell]

I've towed my BC20 with a Subaru Forester, a Nissan Xtrail and currently a Skoda Yeti 4x4. All could do it without any problem.The 4x4 can be a godsend on wet slipways. I try never to go over 60MPH and have had no snaking problems with an unbraked trailer.

[PeterDT]

Volvo V50 edrive diesel 109 hp, 1300 kg mass, braked trailer + BRE.
No problems watsoever,. But i haven't crossed the Alps yet.
Peter

[Rock Doctor]

Interesting discussion - I tow my BR20 with a Landrover Defender 110 (122 bhp/2.4 l diesel 2 tonne unladen). We frequently camp so with 150 l fuel plus 60 l of water, plus camping goodies, food, guitar, and all the hot and cold running inconveniences that seem to be necessary while tenting in this modern age AND "Gryphon" behind filled with fishing gear, outboard, oars, etc, etc we have no problems at all. We manage to stay on our (Australia) country road limit of 110 km/hr up hill and down dale relatively easily. Moreover my Defender easily tows the BR20 along sandy tracks into some of the better bays down in the SW of Western Australia.

On the other hand with my Disco 4 SDV6 (253 bhp - 3.0 l V6) the BR20 tows like a dream.

I have not experienced any "speed wobbles" while towing "Gryphon" with either vehicle. It is important to remember that there should be a reasonable amount of weight on the tow hitch. In my case I can barely lift the trailer at the hitch.

Agree with Julian re 4x4 on wet launching ramps, more so when the ramp is beach sand and not the concrete version.

[Rock Doctor]

Further to my post below and also re "Trailer Party Manifesto" my fuel consumption with my Land Rover Defender 110 and towing Gryphon is about 13 litres/100 km vs. 10.6 litres / 100 km average over the last 12 months or so. AND the Defender is not only built like a brick but looks like one.

[Graham W]

Further to my post below and also re "Trailer Party Manifesto" my fuel consumption with my Land Rover Defender 110 and towing Gryphon is about 13 litres/100 km vs. 10.6 litres / 100 km average over the last 12 months or so. AND the Defender is not only built like a brick but looks like one.

That's around 22mpg (UK gallon) vs under 27mpg for those of us on this tiny offshore island who still think imperially.

I have a 2010 petrol Honda CR-V with 147bhp.  I'm lucky if I exceed 20mpg by very much when going over the Berwyn Mountains to Bala.  It struggles a bit up the steepest stretch, which it probably wouldn't do if it was the diesel version.  I usually get over 30mpg unladen.  On a long tow (Cornwall, Greece) it is somewhere in between. 

The Honda, which is made in Swindon, is part-time 4x4 and so far (touch wood) extremely reliable and comfortable, if a little noisy.  The 4x4 bit only kicks in when it needs to, which isn't that often.  It was helpful the day I collected my then brand new BR20 from Cardigan, when the roads were covered in snow and the thermometer read -12°C in the frozen wastes of mid-Wales. 

[Rob Johnstone]

To summarise my post in "trailer manifesto" - I currently tow Vagabond and trailer (1680kg) with a turbo 2 l Diesel Yeti auto (103 BHP). Fuel consumption over the 500 or so miles from Oban to Bucks was 29 mpg  - average speed was a tedious 42 mph.

[Ian Loveday]

I tow my BR20 with a Passat estate 103hp and you hardly know the boat is there.  I previously used a 1.6 Citroen Picasso which despite having almost no power has no problems with the BR.  (my previous boat however had well and truly cooked the clutch).

[Peter Taylor]

Towing is an experience which I'm just beginning to contemplate. At 92hp my Citroen Berlingo Multispace 1.6 turbo HDi is relatively feeble.  Yet it's potential for towing my BC20 comes out as "very good" on web sites like http://www.whattowcar.com/ .  I assume that what matters more than hp is the torque curve - hence a good diesel engine should perform better as a tow car than a petrol engine despite the latter having greater hp?

The problem with the Berlingo is that, as a box on wheels, it's relatively light in weight, so it can only tow up to 650kg unbraked.   I'm guessing that Seatern fitted out for cruising plus the unbraked trailer would be around 820to  850 kg, so I'm having to get the trailer converted to braked.  According to the handbook the Berlingo can then tow up to 1100kg "at 12%" which apparently refers to the steepness of the hill.  What happens if I come across a steeper hill is not specified.  Get out and push?

Peter

p.s. "HDi" is Citroen's term for a fuel injected common rail diesel engine

[Anthony Huggett]

I'm towing with a rear wheel drive Jaguar XF S. The XF won awards as a tow car a while ago. I can say with confidence that 275 horses is plenty , and the tiptronic 8 speed gearbox is almost always in the right gear (which is brilliant when towing through hills). The only time I manually change down is to get engine braking on downward stretches.

I have a recurring worry about the back wheels getting stuck on slippery seaweed on a ramp, but so far I haven't launched on tidal waters. (We'll see at Mylor, I guess). That said, the weight of the trailer pushes down on the back of the car, so my traction may be better than a front wheel drive saloon with a heavy load on the towball.

Another worry (again without any problems observed to date) is that with a manual handbrake you can crank it on hard if you want to when stopped on the slipway. The XF has an electric handbrake, which is effortless, but you don't have that control.

[David Hudson]

If anyone watched TopGear tonight....now that is torque!!

[Edwin Davies 2]

I tow the S17 with a Skoda Roomster 1.2 petrol auto.  Absolutely no problem.  The car towing limit is 1100 kilo.  I also tow a car trailer with a pre-war Austin seven on it.  Again no problem up to 60 miles an hour.  If I intended to tow and launch more often I would seriously consider having a front tow hook fitted.

[maxr]

Questions for the Yeti drivers - how do you find the cars apart from their towing capabilities - are they reliable, comfortable, quiet, economical, etc, over the long term? Any criticisms, or recommended versions and extras? I have a Citroen Berlingo with 'ESP', which is a fancy name for traction control. It's great as a cheap to run and reliable junk transporter and load carrier - but facing uphill with a load, the combined effects of gravity, weight transfer, and towbar load still conspire to make setting off on slippy surfaces uncertain with front drive only.

[Julian Swindell]

I've been very pleased with my Yeti. No problem towing and it is also easy to get my pram dinghy on the roof rack because the rear is so vertical. It was much harder on the Xtrail because of the sloping rear window. The real test for me will not be towing, but how it gets through the snow. We live at the top of very steep lanes which are never snowploughed. The Xtrail could just drive straight through it. Haven't had a chance to test the Yeti on that yet. Fuel consumption (diesel) is very good. I get well over 40 MPG normally and well over 30 MPG when towing. Far better than the Xtrail, which in turn was much better than the petrol Subaru Forester, which really drank fuel.

[Anthony Huggett]

I got 33 mpg (each way) towing Emily (BR17) to Ullswater & back behind the Jag. Despite the extra weight the gearbox was happy in 8th.