Considering a Multivan purchase, some advice needed re towing and costs

[blaast]

Service costs were nearly half, parts mostly a third, and the knowledge left dealers for dead.

Would you care to elaborate...who, and how much for a 'typical' service?

[Umai Naa!!]

Think of a number, and double it! :p

[njg02]

We've had our Transporter since about '06. Hayman Reece style towbar with I think 100kg ball weight. I tow a boat up and down the coast which is about 1800kg. All up weight 3.98t. I've moved the boat up the trailer to increase the down load and from memory have it at about 80kg. Dual axle trailer. Going to the Whitsundays in about a month. Should be a good trip.
I get mine serviced at a local vdub specialist, lots of knowledge! Best economy was over 1200km, Brisbane to Campbelltown with a side trip to Nelson Bay.

Neil

[chellimofo]

our multivan is great. i have had it for over 4 mths now and i run it as a 5 seater for our fam of 5. SUPER easy to remove seats and chop and change as needed. i fitted the genuine tow bar and installed the MASSIVE wire loom myself. WHAT A JOB!

i have had it as a 3 seater with ALL of our camping gear up to the bottom of the windows, and towed a box trailer (overloaded with wood) at about 900kg and the 132 tdi pulled it like a steam train. the power is crazzy. the ball weight of 100kg is enough for me. it tows very well. the brakes are awesome, with those massive discs (almost 14" ) our rig was easy to pull up with our gear.

went down to the coast (me,wife,mum and 3 kids) and we left one seat out so we could get in and out easy, took all our gear inc a big stroller for our son. no probs with space.

with the centre seats looking backwards i think it makes getting in and out easy-er.

also the fuel consumption is crap. i drove like a granny for one tank fill and i got 771kms on 80 ltrs with the 7 spd DSG (4000kms on clock) with my 2002 t4 tdi i got over 1100kms on 80 ltrs with the 5 spd man. (but it was a van)

[Cousin]

Would you care to elaborate...who, and how much for a 'typical' service?

Blast, go and have a chat with John at Volkshome
Can't recommend him highly enough
And he's just down the road from you

also the fuel consumption is crap. i drove like a granny for one tank fill and i got 771kms on 80 ltrs with the 7 spd DSG (4000kms on clock) with my 2002 t4 tdi i got over 1100kms on 80 ltrs with the 5 spd man. (but it was a van)

chellimofo, don't drive it like a granny. It's a diesel, they designed to run under load, and they're more efficient having to work
I miss the fuel consumption of my T4 too
It was Transporter as well, but weighed around 2.5 ton with gear permanently installed
So not much excuse with the T5 coming in around 2.3 ton
I get about 950 ks to 80 litres, with 133,000 ks on the clock, and it's a 128 kw
Give it some time, fuel consumption will improve

M

[chellimofo]

chellimofo, don't drive it like a granny.
M

that was just for 1 tank just to see what distance i could get. let me tell you, i drive it quite hard-ish, it is SO much fun. this thing blows me (and other people) away with the acceleration . it handles like a big GTI with the coil overs and 245/35/20 tyre combo.

has anyone else driven or have a 132 bi-turbo?

[hoddy]

We are also keen to purchase a caravan in the years to come and are hoping that a Multivan will be able to tow it reasonably well. I have been reading about ball weights and the vehicle specs given to us by VW dealer was that Multivan only has a ball weight of 100kg. But I have also read posts talking about larger ball weights with a different tow pack (as opposed to VW factory tow pack). Any experiences towing with a Multivan? What can it handle weight wise etc?

Thanks! Rhiannon

Regarding ball weights, I had a Hayman Reece rear bar fitted with tow bar. The sticker on the bar says 250kg ball weight and max load 2500kg. Fitment was done pre-delivery.
With the 132kw Multivan there shouldn't be any problems towing. I've got the transporter T5GP with 4motion --> it goes like a rocket!

[rhiand14]

Thanks hoddy,

Very helpful. That was the information I was after. We want to tow a caravan that has ball weight of 125kg so the Hayman Reese towbar sounds ideal. I was hoping that was the case.

Thanks to all posters for all the advice here. Much appreciated and has narrowed down our decision to only a couple of vehicles. Hoping to be a Multivan owner very soon!!

Cheers,
Rhiannon

[davidseth]

From experience the tow limits are set by car manufacturer and tow bar manufactures simply follow this. So you will find max max tow ball download will be 100kgs.
I had this on my Touareg where VW had increased down load limit to 350kgs and with documentation Hayman and Reese were happy to send me new compliance to fit to bar it was handy for them as they didnt know of this change.

I know this is an old thread, but I am looking at buying a multivan with a factory tow bar installed. It is rated at 100kg (as I have read from these forums) but am I reading it correctly that it can actually do more? And I need to contact VW for this?

Thanks,

David

[Transporter]

Look also in this thread.