There are 12 categories of Practical Caravan Tow Car winners for 2017:
You can see them all in detail here.
I’m going to go through each car and tell you it’s GVW (Gross Vehicle Weight) and what you are allowed to tow with a Cat B licence:
*Up to 1400kg Skoda Octavia Estate 2.0TDi 150PS DSG
GVW 1944kg
Towing limit 1800kg
Keep within 3500kg limit you can tow a caravan with a MTPLM of 1556kg
The award winner is the DSG gearbox model which weighs 20kg more than the 6 speed manual.
This is a very good car for Cat B licence holders as it has a relatively low GVW of less than 2 tonnes, and a high towing limit, as well as being a tow car award winner and as such is worth putting on your short-list.
*1400-1549kg Skoda Superb 2.0 TDi 150PS
GVW 2065kg
Towing limit 2000kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM of 1435kg
*1550-1699kg Jaguar XF 2.0D 180PS
GVW 2250kg
Towing limit 1800kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 1250kg
*1700-1899kg Faguar F-Pace 3.0D S
GVW 2570kg
Towing limit 2400kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 930kg
*1900kg+ Land Rover Discovery 3.0T6 HSE
GVW 3170kg
Towing limit 3500kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 330kg
(You can legally tow 750kg)
Best Budget 4×4 Suzuki SX4 S-Cross 1.4 SZ5 Auto
GVW 1730kg
Towing limit 1200kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = 1200kg (can’t go above towing limit)
Best Hybrid Volvo XC90 T8
GVW 3010kg
Towing limit 2400kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 490kg
(You can legally tow 750kg)
Best MPV Ford S-Max 2.0 TDCi 180PS
GVW 2530kg
Towing limit 2000kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 970kg
Best Petrol Tow Car Audi A4 Allroad 2.0 TFSi Quattro
GVW 2170kg
Towing limit 1700kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 1330kg
Best Pick-up VW Amarok 3.0 TDi 224PS
GVW 3290kg
Towing limit 3100kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 210kg
(You can legally tow 750kg)
Best Ultralight Tow Car Hyundai i30 1.4 GDi
GVW 1820kg
Towing limit 1400kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = 1400kg (can’t go above towing limit)
Fuel Economy Award Skoda Superb 2.0 TDi 150PS
GVW 2260kg
Towing limit 2200kg
Keep within 3500kg limit = caravan MTPLM 1240kg
*The weights refer to the kerbweight (unladen) of the car, which if you’ve read Problems With Weight Limits is not useful to us.
The Bigger the Car – The Smaller the Caravan
As you can see from the above data, the car which most efficiently uses the 3500kg weight limit is the Skoda Octavia Estate with a capability to tow a caravan weighing 1556kg.
It’s rather frustrating that we have to balance car and caravan weights in this way when obviously to tow a particular sized caravan, the bigger the towing vehicle the better, but unfortunately that’s what we have to comply with at present.
I’m writing to every caravan manufacturer and trade body to see if we can raise this issue with the government with the objective of changing the law, if you’d like to help with this aim please get in touch.