pulling caravan (aygo 1.0l)

james.miller said:
tell your mate he's a bloody idiot. There's a reason its not allowed and thats because its very dangerous.
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Since when did that stop anyone? lol

As an ADI I see stupid driving daily (Amazing the effect an 'L' plate has on other road users, calling them drivers would demean the few actual considerate ones left!!)

Bet bet is report your friend yourself and save his life. Even if you lose the friend you will feel so warm and fuzzy doing the right thing!!

*caught up with the rest of the thread so its not a problem now.
 
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quote James.

''If you passed your test after 1997 you can tow a caravan so long as the entire outfit does not exceed 3.5 tons.''


Ah thats not so bad then average family car and decent size caravan......just no 4 x 4 and bigger family caravan.
 
I notice our resident Arctic driver hasn't dropped by this thread yet. Probably still shaking his head in disbelief.

When towing with a car, it matters not whether the car can get it moving or not. It matters whether the car has enough mass to actually make it around a corner with the towed vehicle trying to push the car in a straight line. As Scuzi said, it's also a matter of whether the car has enough mass to be able to stop the towed vehicle or not.

In the case of the super-mini Toyota, the brakes are hardly up to the task of stopping the car by itself, let alone putting a caravan behind it as well. Trust me, I know. I've got a Toyota Tercel of my own and I would never even attempt to tow anything with it.

The car is so small and light that when you go to take a corner, you're going to experience understeer like you've never seen before. Add to that the complete lack of brakes and you're looking at being squished between the caravan and the nearest brick wall.

I'm not immune from all this. I've exceeded a vehicle's towing capacity before. But at least I did it on private property where the only one I was likely to harm was myself or an errant badger. For all that's Holy, DO NOT exceed the towing capacity of your vehicle. And if there's none listed for your particular car, it means it cannot tow ANYTHING!!
 
According to my cinquecento handbook, in standard form, a 1.1L 54hp fiat cinquecento weighing 740kg has a rated towing load of 350kg and 400kg with brake assistance.

In terms of car weight and performance I would assume the Aygo is similar spec so I would work with those figures. I would also strongly guess that a caravan has no brakes and is at least twice as heavy than that.

Your friends Aygo might be ok pulling a small trailer but it is seriously foolish if he ends up having to do a sudden manoeuvre such as braking as the caravan would continue to push his car onwards. A crosswind could also possibly throw him and the caravan off the road. Don't do it!
 
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Scuzi said:
I doubt such a notion is down to a lack of automotive knowledge, as far as I'm concerned, the driver is a complete retard for even considering it.
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When I grow up I want to insult people on an Internet forum :rolleyes:
 
The AYGO has zero towing capacity. As has been mentioned, it is illegal to tow with it on public roads. The AYGO also should not have a towbar listed as a Toyota accessory, and no Toyota dealer will fit one to it.
 
s0ck said:
When I grow up I want to insult people on an Internet forum :rolleyes:
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When you're old enough son.
Are you the Nobel Prize winner the OP is talking about?
 
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Id imagine the towbar is for a very small trailer, not a caravan. Id imagine your mate who seems pretty docile to me will notice he wont be able to pull it as soon as he sets off, and if he does try to do it, he will probably get pulled off the cops for doing it.

The car has a small 3 cylinder engine (IIRC) with not much power or torque, the brakes were not designed to cope with that wort of weight and itll be too light for cornering. Itll be comical seeing it for sure, but id be extremely nervous if i had him behind me on a road as he may just not stop at a roundabout due to the brakes not being up to stopping the car.

Daft idea in theory, even more daft if he does it. When i was 12 I knew a car like that wouldnt be up to towing a caravan, why? my dad was going to try to tow our old one with his Clio to get rid of it but it was obvious it wouldnt be up to it and got a mate with a 4x4 to do it instead.
 
Stellios said:
Id imagine the towbar is for a very small trailer, not a caravan. Id imagine your mate who seems pretty docile to me will notice he wont be able to pull it as soon as he sets off, and if he does try to do it, he will probably get pulled off the cops for doing it.

The car has a small 3 cylinder engine (IIRC) with not much power or torque, the brakes were not designed to cope with that wort of weight and itll be too light for cornering. Itll be comical seeing it for sure, but id be extremely nervous if i had him behind me on a road as he may just not stop at a roundabout due to the brakes not being up to stopping the car.

Daft idea in theory, even more daft if he does it. When i was 12 I knew a car like that wouldnt be up to towing a caravan, why? my dad was going to try to tow our old one with his Clio to get rid of it but it was obvious it wouldnt be up to it and got a mate with a 4x4 to do it instead.
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Just to add the towbar could also be used to stick a bike rack on (it may be a weight rated towbar that toyota would fit) ie up to 75kg (so small trailer or bike rack).

I would imagine even if you get a caravan to fit to the thing the aygo wouldn't actually be able to make it move.
 
Put a power resistor of justice on and you will be fine!!

Is it not that the towed cannot weigh more than 85% of the towing vehicles kurb wight, unless it is a 4*4 in which case it can be over that.

In any case, no.... just no other than the lack of power and problems when it comes to hills, it just is not heavy enough to keep the caravan on the straght and narrow. some wind and it will be gone, causing a massive accident! Your friend shouldn't have a license for even thinking of it!!
 
I can't believe that anyone would even consider this, I mean, the very concept is laughable. I wouldn't have felt comfortable towing a caravan in my old 1.8l Mondeo, let alone a car that is probably half the weight and has a third of the power.
 
The toyota Gayo doesn't even have enough power to pull itself along at any decent rate. Brakes are about as effective as sticking a teflon-coated pole out the window and trying to dig it into the road to stop yourself.

*IF* he does this, make sure it's filmed.

I hope he doesn't though. Punch him twice. Once for even considering it, and again for driving the car in the first place.
 
Whilst I don't think there's any call for insulting the guy, he quite possibly could not have picked a worse car for towing. Besides having a 3 pot 1 litre kiddies trike engine, it's one of the lightest cars on sale today.

Tomorrow guys, I'm taking my new Land Rover Disco round Donington. Anyone fancy a spin?
 
Once my parents main car blew up on the way to a holiday in Belgium (probs about 20 years ago now) towing the caravan - we were forced to use Mum's little old 950cc Fiesta to get there.

Strangely enough, we ran into issues trying to get up the ramp to the roll on roll off ferry - the loaders all had to push as well as Dad ragging the knackers off the little festa. Got there in the end.

On the way back - Dad knew we'd run into the same problem, so took a good long run up to the ramp ..... and ripped the jockey wheel off the caravan when we got to the bottom of the ramp!! V. amusing - but we had a smashing holiday.
 
Could any 1.0l car actually pull a caravan on a flat road? What about a 1.4 diesel?

I'd love to see a video of this Aygo pulling the caravan though.

That renault 5 one is a classic =P
 
paradigm said:
He can't pull a rabbit hutch with that let alone a caravan. What is his registration, ill report it to the police if you don't. :rolleyes:

That is about as unsafe as you can get to be honest, the car simply isn't heavy enough to keep the caravan stable.
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What happened back in the day then when all cars had about 50hp and drum brakes all round? It just happens REALLY slowly, he'll be noticeabley older by the time he gets there :p
 
Guigsy hits Google again.

I found something at the Caravan Club web site:

Q What does The Club recommend as a safe outfit weight ratio for towing a caravan?

A The principle must be to have the heaviest possible towcar for a given caravan, otherwise the chances of a swaying trailer becoming uncontrollable and snaking are very real. Aim for a towed load 85% of the car’s kerb weight (KW), or the vehicle
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Parkers says the 1.0 Aygo weighs 825kg, so 85% is about 700kg. A Swift Sprite Alpine 2, which is a tiny 2 berth caravan comes in at 965kg before you start adding the TV, etc. it's going to be quite a bit more, say a straight tonne? That's 120% of the weight of the car and about 40% more than the venerable Caravan Club recommend.

The facts say it's a baaaad idea.
 
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