The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #111118   Message #2337479
Posted By: JohnInKansas
11-May-08 - 02:09 AM
Thread Name: BS: What car would you recommend? (UK)
Subject: RE: BS: What car would you recommend? (UK)
I need at least 2.0ltr Diesel, manual gear box

Most advisors recommend that you NOT lock your thinking onto specifications of this kind. It's better, albeit a little more difficult to do, to look for specific performance specs, rather than for a particular kind of hardware.

Also, choosing a particular brand can cost you. It's a good start if you're buying new, but in the used market the condition of the particular vehicle you find that meets your "spec" is usually more important than just "buying a name."

My US market is much different than yours. (As an example: your preference for Diesel may be justified, but here it can be very difficult to find.)

In the US the most difficult "spec" to meet - and the one most often overlooked - would be adequate towing capacity. Although I found some fairly detailed specs on the Kangoo, that's one of the things omitted. While almost any car can pull very small trailers, exceeding the limits can be a cause of "lemonish" performance.

(600 pounds [270 kg] is a fairly common total loaded gross trailer weight rating for "mid-size" passenger cars in the US.)

Caravans in the UK appear to run smaller than "Campers" in the US, but even our little "popup" (12' Jayco) grossed over 1500 lb (680 kg). Our current "small" "ultra-light" hard-sided camper (27' AirLite) lists at about 2300 lb empty but probably approaches 3500 lb [1600 kg] with water tanks, propane, stocked refrigerator, and the mandolin onboard.

Few "half-ton" pickup trucks - the most popular size sold in the US - are really adequate to tow our "little" camper, much less the ones people yank around with them. Without at least a little bit of special equipment, run-of-the-mill towing capacities top out at about 3,000 lb (~1,399 kg), even for "real trucks." Our little WVA camping group has seen three blown engines, two burned out trannies, and one shredded transaxle in "BIG TRUCKS" while towing in the past 8 or 10 years, and most of the people involved were "once a year" campers.

If towing anything will be part of your use, I would recommend looking at the actual size1 of caravans you might have an interest in while you intend to still have the new vehicle, and find out exactly what the manufacturer considers the "towing capacity" of brands/models in which you might be interested. Then be careful that the specific vehicle you are interested in has the "extras" for the ratings you found.

1 Both total loaded maximum gross weight and frontal area of the trailer can be important in determining whether your tow vehicle has the capacity for a given trailer.

In the US, individual RV dealers and dealer associations publish (on the web) lists of towing capacities for commonly used brands/models; but the lists I know where to find don't include vehicle models you'd find in your market. Dealers may or may not know what you're talking about if you ask them. Used vehicle dealers usually respond to questions with a totally blank look.

Most common vehicles can be misused and abused rather brutally, and some percent of them will survive with few visible scars; but checking out the specs before making the buy can avoid getting an unworthy wimp that will fail to live up to what you expect.

John