As well as all the other factors you have to take into consideration when buying a car, such as size, engine capacity, colour, accessories and more, the maximum towing weight for braked trailers is a vital consideration if you want your car to tow a caravan. You need to make sure that your judgement is based on the correct technical data.
So, the towing weight range quoted by Vauxhall for its Astra model ranges from 850kg for the 1.4-litre 16v engined car to 1400kg for the 2.2-litre 16v model.
Some other manufacturers, however, quote on a much broader range: for example a specific model being capable of towing up to 1100kg irrespective of specification or engine size. Now, apart from it being impossible for you to make a like-for-like comparison, it doesn’t say much for these manufacturers’ 2.0-litre 16v engined cars if the 1.4 8v model can seemingly pull the same weight.
The confusion doesn’t stop here, though, because the towing capability of a car should also take gradient and even the weight of its occupants into account.
At least one other major car manufacturer calculates a towing capability on its car being able to restart on an eight percent gradient. Many others do not even state how their towing weights are calculated. At Vauxhall, however, we base our calculation on the car carrying two occupants, each weighing 70kg, and restarting on a 12 percent gradient - that’s an incline one third steeper.
It’s also worth noting that EEC approval standards stipulate the following:
"The vehicle with trailer must be able to start five times on an uphill gradient of at least 12 percent within a five-minute period."
So, don’t rely entirely on the small print - ask your dealership for the full technical data.