Towing in real life

[aslsw]

My wife has rediscovered the joys of camping (yes, while I'm not in Australia - should I be suspicious?) which is easy with the Commodore wagon and the trailer if we really want to take more.

I have told her that when the Octavia comes along we won't be able to take as much stuff.

I don't do a lot of towing. I'ts mostly just short trips to the tip, occasional pickup of bulky items from the store, but camping seems to be a possibility now.

This prompts the question - what is the real-life towing capability of the Octavia vRS?

I notice that the performance specifications (power and torque) are pretty close to the Commodore's, but I know there is more to towing than specs eg. towing with a front-wheel drive would be completely different.

[dazag]

I have yet to tow with my RS TDI, but that's the reason i went with a diesel was the higher torque performance and obviously the better economy, even when towing.
With Front well drive you are semi restricted with "tow ball weight". I think you will find a commodore is around 160kg tow ball weight and about 1600kg max trailer load (braked), where as the Octavia's are around 75kg & 1300kg max trailer load braked.
There is ways to help the Octy with better traction when towing loads by fitted firmer rear springs, or fitting anti-lift kits to the front.

I will be towing a fully enclosed bike trailer and will be putting thos limits to the test at times, but I will make sure I drive at a sensible/safe speed to suit the towing conditions, even though it will be hard in the RS.

[TuNeS]

I drove out to warwick and back towing my trailer with all my tools, wheels, tent, fuel and go kart. I got 8.9L / 100km for fuel economy and left the cruise on in 6th gear. It pulls like a train and I have petrol version! Only had to go back to 5th gear when I had to drop below 80km up the range.

If you towing a large boat or a caravan, then the octavia is not for you, however if your towing something like motor bikes, small boats, go karts, golf buggy....etc, it will do it with ease.

[backdoc]

I drove out to warwick and back towing my trailer with all my tools, wheels, tent, fuel and go kart. I got 8.9L / 100km for fuel economy and left the cruise on in 6th gear. It pulls like a train and I have petrol version! Only had to go back to 5th gear when I had to drop below 80km up the range.

If you towing a large boat or a caravan, then the octavia is not for you, however if your towing something like motor bikes, small boats, go karts, golf buggy....etc, it will do it with ease.

That is good to hear as I specifically got the RS with tow bar for my love.............not my wife, my go kart! But hell that hurt seeing a factory tow bar costing $1800

[K1W1]

If what you want to take in the trailer is "stuff" rather than say a camper trailer a roof box may be a better idea.

[Dutch]

I'm impressed TuNes with the economy of the TSi engine pulling the kart trailer, i thought it would be more than that. I'm waiting for an RS TSi wagon due apr/may and was able to negotiate $1000 for the tow pack, agian for a kart trailer, the DSG shouldn't be too far of the manual i hope.

[aslsw]

Thanks for the replies. Looks like a reasonable amount of gear in the trailer should be do-able. Roof box is the next best depending on how much gear we take.

Of course, once I get back to Australia my wife may realise she doesn't like camping after all!

[Inego]

I agree with K1W1 - if it's just stuff, go the roof box.

We have a roof box which we used with our old Subaru - it surprised me how little impact it made on handling and economy. Total roof loading on the Octavia wagon is 75kg rather than 60kg for the Subaru.

[woofy]

I should ask whether anyone has been using roof racks with the hatch and what types. Our 6 has the little plastic slots that pull out for OEM type ones but not noticed anything like that on the RS. I've never been a big fan of roof racks, but might need them sometime in the future.

[K1W1]

II've never been a big fan of roof racks, but might need them sometime in the future.

Open any of the four passenger doors and you will see an indentation on the roof line of the door frame with a vertical hole. That's where the roof bars clamp and locate.

[TuNeS]

I should ask whether anyone has been using roof racks with the hatch and what types. Our 6 has the little plastic slots that pull out for OEM type ones but not noticed anything like that on the RS. I've never been a big fan of roof racks, but might need them sometime in the future.

I have roofs rack on my wagon (sorry not hatch) and they are very practical. I only use them for my mountain bike, but you could easily put a box up there like posted earlier.

[woofy]

Open any of the four passenger doors and you will see an indentation on the roof line of the door frame with a vertical hole. That's where the roof bars clamp and locate.

Ah I had noticed those......will investigate more. I have had a friend looking into it and from memory the Skoda ones are identical to one of the main makers...just can't remember which.

[K1W1]

They are a fairly standard fitting these days. There are two basic sedan types the ones the Mazdas have with the little flap that lifts or slides to reveal the mounting or the Skoda type where the mount is in the door frame.

Don't let a dealer con you into thinking that you can only get genuine racks at their prices.

Thule Australias web site even lists Skodas in it's fitting guide I'm sure other manufacturers do as well.

[dazag]

I have a question for the guys who have already hooked up a trailer to their Octavia's, especially if any have LED tail lights on their trailers - do you get any pulsing parking lights on the trailer when you switch the parkers on the car, or even the very slight/dim pulsing of the indicators on the trailer??
It doesn't effect how it all works, it just seems weird. Also I thought when you selected reverse the idea of the expensive wiring loom is to do things like dis-engage the rear parking sensors to it's not going off it's head when it picks up the trailer??
Maybe i need to take it back into the dealer to make sure they programmed it correctly with the tow bar fit up..........
Anyone had anything similar happen with their set ups??

[gregozedobe]

I'm sure I've read of similar problems.

IIRC The LEDs don't need anywhere near as much current as incandecent globes to illuminate, so they can have a few issues with systems not designed for them.

Ithink with tow bar wiring you need to have the proper controller/s that talk to the Can-Bus, AND the car controllers need to be re-coded so they know about trailers.

A search on this forum will probably turn up some threads with useful info.