Postman Pat

I have a small (17ft) fishing boat which I tow with the wife's 405. I'm considering getting a towbar for the scoob (99 Turbo) but am a bit concerned that in 5th at sensible towing speeds the car will have no grunt and I'll be stirring porridge all day and pissing fuel through the exhaust.

Anybody out there with any experience of above?

Thanks Pat

Shark

Never towed with a scooby, but as with any car performance will be reduced and fuel econ will go down. I would guess that the scooby would make a capable tow car though.

Hope this helps

David

Postman Pat

Tks David. I'm just wondering if it would be worth the bother as the wife's chariot is ok. The only thing which concerns me is the total lack of ooomph before the turbo kicks in.

Pat

Jolly Green Monster 2

I have an MY96 which has the larger TD05 turbo which spools up later than yours.. so should be worse...

I have a tow bar and have done a reasonable amount of towing..

My Trailer tent is about 450kgs and has no brakes.. no problem with cruising on the motorway (60-80mph).. admittedly that dropping a gear gets you more oooomphh.. but it is bearable if you don;t do so.. not much different to how it drives like in 5th without the trailer really.. Fuel economy is still okay as long as you drive it lightly.. put your foot down (get the trailer sliding) and the fuel consumption gets stupid..

As a tow car I find it great, although I have nothing to compare it against.. the 4wd helps with pulling away on steep hills etc..

I have just bought and fixed up an old plant trailer that has brakes (although they don;t currently work) and have towed about 600kgs at a guess in it.. no problems at all..
It does tend to make the slight clutch judder I have worse but not much.. only worse whilst towing.. it must be putting more wear on stuff but I am still running original clutch at 97500miles..
Watching my boost gauge it is possible to drive at less than 0bar all be it very slowly but I usually manage to stay off full boost as you end up going faster than you want to with the trailer (except for when I towed my Dad's trailer empty.. that was fun).

So I would do it if you need to... they are well capable..

JGM

NENO

Just a word of warning, because when I had a dealer fit a tow bar they checked with me how much I was towing. They said that the car isn't designed to have more than 75kg vertically on the towbar. Best speak to a dealer or let someone here correct me

Jolly Green Monster 2

That is correct.. the nose limit is 75kgs and the towing limits are I believe 500kg for an unbrakes trailer and 1200kg for a braked trailer.

I doubt the boat with trailer will give more than 75kgs on the nose.. you can usually move the wheels forward on a boat trailer too..

I usually try and load my trailer even so that there is not more than 75kgs on the nose.. if I can lift the front of the trailer then it is not more than 75kgs basically..

Everything has a limit.

I get my towbar checked at each service and mot.. no problems so far...

JGM

Postman Pat

Gentlemen thank you very much. Thanks to JGM I'm off to decide on which towbar to purchase (I hate driving the pug). Neno thanks about the 75kg nose limit. My setup is definately less than that as I can lift the trailer very easily. As JGM says it has a sliding wheel mounting and I have set so that I can manoeuvre the boat by hand easily.

Thanks again. Any ideas on a good towbar which doesn't require surgery of the bumper etc

Pat

Jolly Green Monster 2

I went to a Tow bar speciallist.. Trident Trailers in Maidstone Kent... they didn't have to cut the bumper.. so no one should have to on your car either.

The Subaru supplied tow bar is suppose to be excellent and removable but it is expensive.. I had just shelled out for the car so went the cheap route.. no problems with it.

It is a well known make in the tow bar world although I cannot remember which it is at the minute and my car is 200miles away at the minute so I cannot check.. the bar did rust fairly quickly as the paint on it was crap but I just slapped some hammerite on it.

I paid £120 fitted.. I think the Subaru one is near £300.. sometimes they come up secondhand on here though so keep them peeled.

No problems and I hope you find it as nice to tow with as I am.

JGM

Postman Pat

Thanks JGM

I've been away at work so sorry for the tardy reply

Pat

Jolly Green Monster 2

Postman,

How did you get on?

JGM

ukhuskynox

Have towed my dads caravan to Cornwall and back no problems, did get funny looks when overtaking the vectra....up a hill

JulesB

Anyone know the reason you cant fit a tow bar to a P1?
It invlalidates the warranty, but no idea why. Just asking for a friend.

Gixerman

JulesB

Seems strange as I've put a towbar on my sti5 type-r, no problem, which is what the P1 is based on after all????

Postman Pat

JGM

Been up to my neck in work recently (all summer),fishing season is over but Santa is getting me a towbar so I should be up and running for the new year. I also have to admit that wife and kids are pushing for a caravan so I might be an embarassment next year!

Pat

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I towed a 15 foot caravan all the way down to the south of France this summer in my '98 turbo. It towed like a dream, MUCH better than our Xantia TD. Also more fun to play with while down there.
We then towed across the Ardeche, Cevennes and the Massif before leaving the van in France. VERY long steep hills, no probs, no overheating, (the Xantia often needed the heater on inside to help it cool), and I didn't drop too far on the fuel consumption: 22mpg overall. It would easily tow in 5th on the flat.
We came back with a new trailer, full of the camping stuff, mucky washing and booze, and the only problem I had was in trying to remember it was there!!
I bought the towbar from a local dealer, who also fitted it. It's a Witter, and cost £140 fitted. I was glad I let them do it, as it touched the TSL Group N back box, so the guy made up a different bracket to lower the BB 10mm .It gave no probs in about 3000 miles.
I did the electrics myself with the Subaru "plug in and go" kit. took all of 20 minutes! Go for it, and the 'van too!!
Alcazar

Jolly Green Monster 2

Looks like this Friday I am renting a car trailer and towing a vauhall Corsa 200miles home! I shall let you know how it pulls it.

As to a Caravan, might be worth looking at a trailer tent or folding camper/caravan.. far less hassle with high winds when towing and less of an embarressment but take more time to set up when you get there.. also cheaper..

I have a trailer tent and it is excellent.. getting quicker at putting it up each time we use it and takes less room the store than a caravan.

JGM

Postman Pat

Thanks for the gen lads.

Alcazar what is the plug in thingy from Subaru? Does it negate having to splice the indicator wires etc? And does it have the grey plug for the caravan?

Pat

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

It's the wiring loom that they sell for their towbar, but fits any. It was available to order from my nearest dealer. It actually said it was for a Legacy on the packing, but I queried it, and it's the same for both cars.
There's a plug-in connector behind the offside rear light cluster. You can get to it by removing the trim panel at the very rear of the car, then springing the trim panel away from the light unit enough to get at the socket. It isn't part of the light unit, but hangs free, so you can get at it easily.
My wiring ran along the bottom of the boot, behind the trim panel, and exited through a blanking grommet that I made a slit in, then resealed with silicone.
Unfortunately, it doesn't include the grey socket.
I did without on the Scoob--it only recharges van battery, and runs the fridge, and as we're on a site every night, the mains does that anyway.
Alcazar

Postman Pat

Alcazar

Thanks m8

Pat

Postman Pat

Alcazar and JGM

Bought the towbar yesterday and fitted it. Got a Subaru one for £155 which wasn't too bad. The light socket was a great idea wish all makes had teh same set up. Roll on the good weather.

Pat

tinvek

we tend to fit all sorts of towbars for people

witter are usually top notch

as a rule i insist that customers supply their own tow bar due to the inevitable problems that can occure and the resultant arguments over labour charges etc.

i always recommend they get the manufacturers lighting kit as it makes the job so much easier. especially on citroen xantias funnily enough as the citroen wiring loom is very thin and hard to do a tidy connection into where as the citroen kit is a really nice plug in kit

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

Glad you got it sorted Pat..

JGM