Anyone towing 1200kgs+ with Tiguan?

[Peter Jones]

I've been doing a bit of reading in the back ground and found this quote here

Among all these very precise guidelines is one major variable: tow ball load. There’s a convention that sets tow ball load at around 10 percent of the trailer ATM, but this rule of thumb developed in the days of small trailers. It’s still the practice by many North American and Australian trailer makers to specify 10 percent loadings for heavy trailers, but in Europe, where there has been considerable testing done, the tow ball load range is specified in EC E94/20 regulation as a minimum figure of 25kg and a maximum of 100kg, for trailers up to 2000kg ATM. Even above that figure the heaviest gazetted coupling for cars, light commercials and 4x4s is rated at 120kg tow ball load.

Not being one to blindly accept stuff I read on the internet I looked up the referenced regulation Directive 94/20/EC but I can't extract the same opinion on first glance, there's a few calculations to be done. I'll figure it out when I'm less tired one day. It's an interesting read though, gives you a new appreciation of the engineering involved.

Pete

[DionM]

Just curious dionm - why is the axle so far back on your trailer? That's gotta make loading it to get a specific towball weight challenging...

Photo is a little misleading. If you drop the front section (the squared door) it is a 7x4 box trailer basic design with a long drawbar, the squared door is an extra add-on most trailers don't have.

With the water tank and spare at the back, it is about 85kgs downball weight now.

[ploz58]

hi there,
i towed an 1800kg braked trailer the other day from victoria, up into the blue mountains with my TDI,
I made comment about this in another tow bar thread.
I was amazed at the ease the tigi towed it and so was the owner of a 4.7 jeep on a big up hill climb
Phil.

[desvejk]

Hi
I've been towing a Cub Supamatic with a Tiguan 103TDI since April 2010.
We've travelled over 15,000 km towing with fuel consumption less than 9l/100 km.
The Tiguan tows effortlessly and is great to drive.
The Tig now sports a Hobie kayak secured on a Thule Hullivator with a Thule roof box for gear.



Cheers
Des

[hippyhippy]

ive been towing my boat recently .. havent had a chance to launch it yet as it was just to the mechanics to fix up a few things but it was effortless. Certainly much better than some previous tow cars i've used such as Subie Forrester, Subie WRX STI. Cant say its as good as a Prado but did not struggle at all. Boat is approx 800kg so all up with trailer it would be about 1200kg or so braked.

[mazzamoore]

I've towed my Adria 532Up from the outback to the great ocean road. It is 1240 unloaded and about 1500 loaded. We sit on the sweat spot of 85 KPH and average 13.5 litres per 100. At 95 it goes up to 16 litres per 100. No problems, seems to pull it easily. I have a 155 Tsi 4 motion.

[Guest001]

I've been doing a bit of reading in the back ground and found this quote here



Not being one to blindly accept stuff I read on the internet I looked up the referenced regulation Directive 94/20/EC but I can't extract the same opinion on first glance, there's a few calculations to be done. I'll figure it out when I'm less tired one day. It's an interesting read though, gives you a new appreciation of the engineering involved.

Pete

Is a lot more to it. Traditionally US and AUS vans have been designed heavy for our supposed poor roads and tracks. They have axles further back for stability and therefore have a higher ballweight. Most tandems have up to 15%. My 25ft van was nearly 3000kg and had a BW of 300kg give or take a bit and always had a WDH fitted. I only towed it once without one and scared myself s***less. Also anyone towing a trailer at 110kph need s their head read. Its not how fast you can go with the trailer Its how fast you can stop if things go bad in a hurry.
Also our vans have different layouts with heavy stuff at the ends which leads to less stable vans, but thats how the owners want them so thats what they build.

Euro vans are built out of different materials which are lighter and have the heavy stuff like the kitchen located centrally which makes the weight distribution different and allows lighter BW due to being more stable. Witness Bailey Eldis and other Euro brands.

I would be interested to see what the one with the kayak and the big tool box would weigh when put over scales as to GCM, roofrack weight and axle weights on rear axle when loaded with all that and the family

[shonggie]

Hey mate,
I own a MY15 TDI 130 4Motion and regularly doing heavy loads as i own an audio visual production hire company. I tow a 10x5 galvanised trailer with a gross roughly 500KG. Here are some photos of the trips i have done

My experience is on the higher end i find that fuel economy decreases significantly past 100 KM/ph. Did a trip to sydney towing and i get around 15+l/100km and when reducing it down to 100ish i get a better economy of 12ishl/pm . only difference obviously you are towing a caravan, so it is wider and less aerodynamic to a caged box trailer. but hope this gives you a bit of an idea!

VW Tiguan Towing trips - Google Photos