C5 towing

[imperial21]

Has anyone towed much with a C5 ? i have a caravan and part of the reason for buying the car was for towing but i am disapponted in the cars general performance before i put a caravan on it and i wonder what it will be like to tow with ? My old xantia was great but needed too much work so i bought the C5, i think the gearing is terrible but maybe its just me ?

[waynedance]

can not comment on the 2.0L girly engine but my 2.2 hdi has loads of power and has towed a heavy trailer without knowing its there. Are you sure all is well with the running of your engine?

I would have thought it would be no problem towing with your car let us know how you get on.
j

[oneday]

my 2.0 hdi has loads of power. to get the power though i had to clean the maf and remove the slack from the throttle cable once this was done it was like a differant car loads more power

[imperial21]

I have changed the air flow meter already as it was faulty, Engine runs good just slow compared to my old xantia !

[Peter.N.]

Its probably heavier than the Xantia, that said I have a 2.0 and a 2.2 at the moment and although the the 2.2 has more power the 2.0 is no slouch. It feels a bit lower geared than the 2.2 which should to a degree make up for the loss of power.

Peter

[waynedance]

Good idea regarding the accelerator cable as I remember getting my car a couple of years ago and it being really slow not going above 80 mph and slow pick up, turned out to be slack in the cable.

[daviemck2006]

My 2.2hdi was the best car I have towed with. Took our caravan 750 miles from north of Aberdeen to Cornwall with no probs, running at 60 on motorway on the cruise. The vans weight was 1450 kg, which was not far off the towing max weight for the car. If we get another caravan another c5 would be the 1st choice of tow car for me, prob a 2.0 mk 2 from 05 to 07 reg.

[reblack68]

I had almost the same pairing as you (2000 Xantia SX and 2002 C5 both 110HDi estates) and I felt the same about the C5. It's just never felt as powerful as the Xantia. I've never worked out whether it's the gearing, the DMF, the weight or something else. It's always run well enough though and the economy is good so I don't think there is anything wrong with it.

The C5 is the only car I've really towed with but it seems to cope ok. It struggled a bit with our first caravan, which was a flat fronted effort (and designed for the lower towbars that used to be standard) but it's been better with the current one, even though it's quite a bit heavier.

[JohnD]

Has anyone towed much with a C5 ? ?

I've had a C5 Estate since 2005 which is now coming up to 90K. About a quarter of that is Continental mileage which has been done with a 1200Kgs caravan on the back. I recently fitted a TDI Tuning box and at first, I didn't find much difference in performance. However last month I towed the 300 miles to Durham and very rarely did I need to drop down from 6th gear. Not only that, my previous towing average went up from 28ish to 34mpg.

[imperial21]

I will check out the throttle cable ( i didnt think they had one as its fly by wire), Our caravan is about 850kg 2 berth so should be quite light, i am thinking of hitching it up and taking it for a drive and seeing what its like !
I do find the car sluggish around town but i am light on the throttle pedal !!

[oneday]

they have a throttle cable the throttle possition sensor is located below the engine bay fuse box you will need to remove the air filter box to get good access

[C5Alan]

I thought they were the caravan clubs to car of the year for several years I know mine previously my dads from new pulled caravan everywhere no problems once took it from northern ireland through england france holland and down to eastern germany where it was quite popular as most peeps had not seen a right hand drive it currently has 212,000 miles and it has been round most of france and hey had a big 6 berth van and now down to a 4 berth they like there comfort just for the 2 of them so fitted a caravan mover to it. He had a Xantia 2 ltr diesel before and now has another 2 ltr diesel c5 estate this time. He says he loves it and cruise control was and is the only thing that kept him from speeding with the van on.

[jgra1]

I brought my C5 partly for towing.. its first ever journey was from Newcastle to Kent using the A1M .. I was towing a small boat, around 500kg's at a guess.. I expected the c5 to be noticeably different to the xant TD I had before, but it wasn't really.. It was ok, mpg went from arund 45 to 30.. a lot of (most) hills needing 4th ...
despite that, It's still fine to tow with and I am probably expecting too much from 110hp.. I only have the xant to compare it too, but like I said I just dont think there is much in it.. more power but more weight..

A remap, tuning box. something to give more grunt is maybe the easy way forwards..
john

[imperial21]

I like the idea of the tunning boxes has anyone tried any ?
I found these on ebay anyone any suggestions ?
Fuel economy is still important to me, From what i have read i could adjust for towing and round town.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180971008401? ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120441943597? ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400318822142? ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Peter.N.]

I have one on my 2.2, I fitted it in an attempt to improve the fuel consumption which it didn't, it did improve the performance though but as that wasn't my objective I shall be taking it off again.

Peter