MK4 Bora - Towing Capacity & Handling for a Boat?

[blake_]

Wanting to hear from any V5 FWD or V6 4motion Bora owners who have towed a boat.

How do you go getting it up the ramp? I understand the towing capacity of a V5 is 1600KG (The car I will be using to tow it), and Im looking at towing a 1200KG boat + trailer.

Although the capacity definitely allows for it, I'm curious to hear from any Bora owners on their personal experiences, and how well the Bora handles towing the car up a boat ramp.

[Peter Jones]

Can't speak to the FWD version but I used to tow my 1600kg racecar/trailer package with my V6 4motion Bora.

My driveway is steeper than a boat ramp and is prone to green algae, so it can be super slippery.

If the driveway is wet 2wd cars cannot pull the trailer up the driveway.

The Bora could do it alright, the driveway took a confident approach and a steady speed to do it nicely.

If for some reason I had to do a standing start 1/2 way up the drive it was possible if the driveway wasn't too slippery that day. Not great for the clutch though.

The issue I had was that the trailer was getting to be around the same weight as the car and with the low towball weights it was right on the edge of swaying.

On a long downhill descent you were definitely watching the trailer very nervously in the rear view mirror.

[ryana89]

I've towed a very light trailer (total 400-500 kg) on a MK4 GTI..... front wheel drive is laughable in the wet.