New Touareg, New Caravan, Touring Australia

p_newman · Jun 11, 2011

Hi All, I purchased a 24ft Grandcruiser Caravan to tour Australia with my family. I had a mercedes ML350 that the dealer said would pull 3500Kg.

I was stuck, the mercedes had to go and I searched high and low for a tow vehicle.

I found this forum a wealth of information and purchased a 2009 Toureg V6 TDI and am very happy. I hadn't even heard of them until two weeks ago.

If any of you down under see us travelling around, say hello.

hedditch · Jun 11, 2011

Hi,

I tow a 21ft Caravan with the same vehicle... Love it, and it does it with ease..

Stuart..

vwDavid · Jun 11, 2011

PICS of the rig please... ;-)

seafarer28 · Jun 11, 2011

p_newman said:
Hi All, I purchased a 24ft Grandcruiser Caravan to tour Australia with my family. I had a mercedes ML350 that the dealer said would pull 3500Kg.

I was stuck, the mercedes had to go and I searched high and low for a tow vehicle.

I found this forum a wealth of information and purchased a 2009 Toureg V6 TDI and am very happy. I hadn't even heard of them until two weeks ago.

If any of you down under see us travelling around, say hello.

Why were you stuck..... wouldn't the ML350 pull the van?

p_newman · Jun 11, 2011

Mercedes ML350 W164 (Current Model) will tow 3500Kg with a 140Kg ball weight OR 2260Kg with 225Kg ball weight. There is no in between or sliding scale, either one or the other.
Salesman at Centenary Classis said it would tow 3500Kg, forgot to mention the ball weight restrictions and I was too naive with towing when I purchased, a very costly mistake. The only mercedes that is close to the touareg towing is the GL series.

p_newman · Jun 11, 2011

Hi Stuart, thanks for the heads up on towing. My van is 3000Kg ATM with 240Kg tow ball, so will soon know for sure just how good the Touareg really is.

hedditch · Jun 12, 2011

I have the Air Suspension, if you have steel, you may want to fit a Hayman Reece or similar weight distribution hitch. It may not be necessary but it will make a steel suspension vehicle ride better with this load. I don't have any experience, specifically with Steel Suspension Touaregs, but I have driven 6 other vehicle with heavy caravans, all with conventional suspension. Even if your vehicle is still within your load limits, the weight distribution will "normalise" your vehicle's behavior over uneven surfaces and under braking. It will also, to a small amount, reduce sway in the set up. I know it may be co-incidence only, but during my time as a police officer, I attended a couple of Caravan Accidents, where the drivers had stated that they had lost control of their vehicles, and in neither case did they have weight distribution hitches.

Just food for thought....

Stuart...

OILSLURPER · Jun 12, 2011

I'd expect you'll be happy with your VW TDI Tractor. You'll get the best fuel usage @ about 90kmh and drink somewhere between 13.5 - 15l/100klms. The power is there for ascents and it'll pull with ease.

dragline1570 · Jun 12, 2011

towing caravan

i recently traded 100 serieris landcruiser 6cyl petrol for 2006 v10 and tow a jayco 24 ft van.
Towing and stability is excelent geting approx 16.5l per 100km fuel consumption
Climbing some of the steepest hills on the mid north coast now can be climbed in 5th gear at 2000rpm at 100kmh with ease.:wave:

p_newman · Jun 12, 2011

Just purchased the 750 Lb hitch off ebay ($600 seemed a good deal). Thanks Stuart for your input ... I had been undecided, your post confirmed it for me. My tourag is a basic 6 Cylinder TDI 2009, only had 8,500 km on the clock, and when I spoke to the VW service department they wern't very helpful in regards to the hitch.

schootsie · Jun 12, 2011

p_newman said:
I found this forum a wealth of information and purchased a 2009 Toureg V6 TDI and am very happy. I hadn't even heard of them until two weeks ago.

If any of you down under see us travelling around, say hello.

g'day p-newman, since you're only down at Brissie why not come up to the Sunny Coast in 2 weeks for the little get to gether we are having. Not too many takers yet so the more the merrier and a good way to find out more about your vehicle from others, John. See the SE Qld GTG thread for details.

New Touareg, New Caravan, Touring Australia

p_newman

hedditch

vwDavid

seafarer28

p_newman

p_newman

hedditch

OILSLURPER

dragline1570

p_newman

schootsie

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