Octavia Scout & Towing

[Marjac]

I'm presently researching on trading my 8 yo Subaru Impreza to an Octavia Scout or Outback Diesel.
From what I've seen & heard I'm impressed with the Scout however I'm seeking any comments on its towing abilities.

I would be mainly towing a small sports yacht of about 1000kg on a single axle trailer (overide brakes), total length including drawbar would be approx 7 metres. Towing would be mainly longer distances Melbourne to Sydney & longer

Thanks in advance

[Inego]

I have a Scout but don't tow. The Scout replaced an Outback, and I've no regrets.

If you don't get responses here, there are a few UK Scout owners who tow on Briskoda.net

Kent

[woofy]

I could be wrong but from memory the max towing is about 750kg. Also the towball weight is quite low on most VAG cars so that might also be an issue. Having said that, if an outback could tow that much I'd be pretty surprised.

[dodgey]

Looking at the specs, the Scout is down about 100kg on the new Outback for max trailer weight (with or without brakes) as well as the towball weight

[aslsw]

How do you find out the tow ball weight? I looked in my manual for the maximum unbraked towing capacity of 650kg, but I can't recall it mentioning the tow ball itself. Mine's a petrol RS by the way, but I'm still interested in towing a box trailer.

[K1W1]

How do you find out the tow ball weight?

My owners manual says this;

"The trailer and drawbar load information on the type plate of the towing device are merely test data for the towing device The data relating to your
vehicle, which is often less than this test data, can be found in your vehicle registration documents."

so I'm guessing that if you have a factory tow kit at least there is some sort of plate on the tow bar or the vehicle somewhere.

[dodgey]

If the towball weight is the same as the downball weight, then the Scout specs PDF on the Skoda site says it's only 75kg.. (http://www.skoda.com.au/downloads/pd...-technical.pdf)

[aslsw]

My current Commodore has a towing weight of 750kg and downball weight of 75kg so I think I'll be happy - only 100kg less on the trailer, but it is never fully loaded anyway.

[K1W1]

75kg tow ball weight would be about right for a FWD vehicle. Lets face it if there was actually anything like that weight on the tow ball you would never be able to lift the neck of the trailer anyway.

[aslsw]

Lift? Who lifts? Jockey wheel does all the hard work for me! But you're right, it's a good test to see if the tow ball weight is too high.

[Marjac]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm looking at towing a BRAKED trailer so from what I can find the max towing is 1600kg for the Scout (1400kg for the other Octavias) although not sure on the actual towbar weight, I can lift it so shouldn't be too far from the 75kg

Also from other threads here the Factory towbar & wiring appears expensive from $1500 - $2000 (Outback is under $1000) can anybody comment on what they paid and are there any alternatives outside the Factory setup

I'll also look to the BrisSkoda site for their experiences with towing with a Scout

[aslsw]

Towbar was $1,368 for me, but I didn't bother to look at alternatives.

If anyone out there has one, is there a trick to remove the neck? I can just about pull the retaining spring-loaded pin all the way out but there is absolutely no movement in the neck. I just thought the car would look neater without it.

[IBN]

Have a Scout. Have a towbar.
The manual doesn't necessarily tally with the bar specs.
The Best Bar sticker states that braked weight is 1300kg, unbraked 650kg and ball weight is 75kg.
If the tounge can't be removed, it might pay to check that the locking grub screw or bolt has been loosened.
Cheers,
Ivars

[Transporter]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm looking at towing a BRAKED trailer so from what I can find the max towing is 1600kg for the Scout (1400kg for the other Octavias) although not sure on the actual towbar weight, I can lift it so shouldn't be too far from the 75kg

Also from other threads here the Factory towbar & wiring appears expensive from $1500 - $2000 (Outback is under $1000) can anybody comment on what they paid and are there any alternatives outside the Factory setup

I'll also look to the BrisSkoda site for their experiences with towing with a Scout

Again, you could save a lot of money and order tow bar when you're negotiating the price when buying the car. From my experience you shouldn't be far from the Outback quoted price than.

[K1W1]

As far as I am aware there are very few after market tow packages available for Skodas yet. It's the old story "no volume".
The factory wiring kit also includes the ability for the rear parking sensors to disable themselves when the trailer electrics are plugged in so it would be worthwhile getting the towing preparation package (It's called something like that) even if you don't actually get a factory tow bar.