Found a Skoda weakness - tow ball load.

[Guest001]

They're just different. Tougher, or rather, more crudely built and they rely on weight for stability where the Euro ones are lighter to save fuel and because their roads are better (generally) and they use smart hitches for stability. Also means you don't need big heavy vehicles to tow them.

It's just like US vans seem to be bigger and loaded up with heavy fittings - weight is no problem with low fuel prices.

I seem to recall saying that in my replies. A Smart hitch wont save you when you whack the brakes on at 100kph and the van starts to take over. All it does is clamp the hitch tighter onto the ball to resist sway to a certain degree. However a university study in Great Britain showed that loading had more to do with it than tight balls.

USA have predominatly fifth wheelers by a ratio of at least 10 to 1 saw thousands of them in my last two trips over there but very few caravans like we have here. Also the tugs used in the USA are predominantly light trucks with a much higher tow capacity than the ones we have here EG a F250 or 350 can tow well over 4 tonnes whereas none of our utes can do that

I dont see the low ball weight as a weakness as you put it just something to be aware of as I was when I bought the Passat I checked before I bought it and as it was low didnt bother with a tow bar. HAd I want to tow I would have bought something suitable

[wfdTamar]

A Smart hitch wont save you when you whack the brakes on at 100kph and the van starts to take over. All it does is clamp the hitch tighter onto the ball to resist sway to a certain degree

.......

Er, yes it will. They have brakes - well as good as any other van will. In fact, I'd rather have that setup than 150-200kg pushing down hard on the tow bar (no matter what the vehicle).

[Jondalar]

I wasn't considering towing a caravan when I bought the car, but I had seen that it won numerous UK tow car of the year (in it's weight category) awards. So I presumed it would be ok and in the UK it would be, but not so easy here.

I've been using this site to check various cars to caravans.

Outfit Matching Car and Caravan


Also found this site which has a link to a PDF with loads of cars stats in it (a little out of date though). Vehicle Towing Mass Guide (although it's wrong for my car).

Helpful Hints & Tips - Ian Grant's Caravans

Thanks for the van matching site, very interesting. It's a shame there's no equivalent site for Aussie vans, but then perhaps they'd stop making such inefficient (weighwise) vans here. My wife and I had caravans for many years but sold up in 2016 to concentrate on overseas travel. I was also sick of having to drive a big 4X4. There are definitely Adria vans sold here that you could tow and not all caravanning involves staying in a crowded van park. My fave part was the Outback, or remote coastal areas.