Towing with an Automatic

[judgeman]

Thought I'd post this here, as it's a 'general' question, but leant towards the 70 series...

My parents have a '05 XC70, manual. They tow a reasonably large caravan (guessing at 1500kg max laden weight). Due to a stroke my dad can't drive right now, so mother is having to get behind the wheel again after quite an absence...

She's managed reasonably well with the XC70, but the thinking is an automatic would suit somewhat better (other option was to go for a cheap 'motorised rollerskate' as a run-around, but seems a waste of money...)

The folks live in France now, so are going to look at automatics at the weekend. The initial thoughts were an XC70 D5 auto.

What do you guys think?

Has anyone had experience of towing with such a car? I've driven a D5 auto (XC90), and although not quite the same as my petrol 850 T5 manual to drive, it was surprisingly good (in as much as I hadn't thought much about a big diesel volvo, let alone an automatic...). If anyone has towed a caravan with this car/engine, what do you think?

Any advice you feel you can pass on would be most appreciated. These frenchies speak a decidedly non-English kind of european (respect, my continental cousins...), so if said parents had a bit more info before looking and test driving, it would be most useful.

Cheers!

Chris.

[wilkhaven]

I tow an Avondale Landranger twin axle with my v70 D5 Geartronic (163bhp). The vans max weight is 1765kgs so I'm careful not to put much weight into the van when towing to keep to around 90-95% towing weight. I know it's above the 85% RECOMMENDED figure so lets not get into that debate, but I have 15 years professional towing experience behind me!

It tows superbly, the power delivery is excellent and the geartronic is useful for the long downhill bits that would otherwise heat the brakes up a bit too much. I previously towed it with a Discovery 300TDI Auto and although perfectly competent, as one would expect from a 4x4, the power was somewhat lacking which meant much more thought had to put into maneouvres before carrying them out to prevent annoying other road users. On the motorway I set the cruise at around 65mph (to keep me from getting tangled with the trucks limited to 56mph) and it deals with everything effortlessly.

With the volvo you hardly know the van is there (unless you leave the trip computer showing instantaneous mpg!). The stability is superb.

[Alec Dawe]

Can't comment about towing with a Volvo auto, BUT I did tow with my 'Company' Citroen C5 2.2HDI automatic (136BHP 4 speed auto box)
I have to say it was the best aspect of that car. We towed all over the UK, and round Scotland with it, hill starts on 1 in 6 (combined with a sharp bend) that I was worried about proved no problem at all. Never any signs of transmission trauma, and very relaxing.
The fuel economy suffered a bit, say 22mpg in Scotland, but I would recommend, or at least, certainly not discourage, towing with a diesel auto.

[dodgyken]

From my fathers past experience have a look at fitting an additional oil cooler.

My father mashed the autobox on a Senator while towing without the cooler - and once with it!!!

[seany]

but I have 15 years professional towing experience behind me!

[ebdl]

I recently had to tow a car transporter + car behind my (now sold) 850 t-5 auto estate. I was really impressed with the ease of towing with an automatic. It was much less effort than I remember when I used to tow my 2CV racing car (!) on a trailer behind a Citroen Xantia or VW T25 camper, both of which were manual. After that experience I'd pick a reasonably powerful auto over a manual anytime if I was doing a lot of towing.

[wilkhaven]

Originally Posted by seany

Yeah, I know, but I get so fed up of the 85% brigade everytime I mention what I tow the Landranger with

[Alec Dawe]

When I towed a caravan (for many years, whilst the kids were small, and still wanted to come on holiday with us.. not like now) I always understood that the 85% bit was only just a recommended figure, especially directed at 'novice' tow-ers.
I think even the Camping and Caravan club said that this rule was not cast in stone, and that experienced tow-ers could easily exceed it, provided they knew what they were doing, the tow car was suitable and the caravan/trailer/whatever was properly loaded so it towed in a stable condition.
My family used to think I was so pedantic about loading the 'van properly, with heavy stuff at floor level over the wheels etc, and getting the noseweight right, BUT we never had a van even start to snake on us, I'm very happy to stay, even towing at autobahn speeds (Black forest to Delft in 8 hours). Having seen more than a couple of 'vans in terminal snake, including one outfit that spun round to face to oncoming traffic on the three lane bit of the A14 Newmarket bypass, perhaps my fanaticism paid off.
Incidently, the worst thing I even towed was a half size model of an R.N.L.I. lifeboat, that we borrowed from Great Yarmouth on a couple of occasions for the Fund Raising Day. This was EVIL to tow, built on an old twin axle caravan chassis, and not very heavy (only about 1 tonne) but something to do with the aerodynamics of the shape of the hull, and the 'sea' it was mounted on, meant the wretched thing would start to snake, even when the car was 'pulling' at any speed over about 45MPH.
You can imagine how popular I was at 40MPH on the Acle Straight (A47) on a Bank Holiday Friday evening!!

[Mike A]

I have been towing caravans with volvos auto for 15 years - models 850,V40 and at present the automatic S80 SE D5 auto . All preformed well but the D5 (163BHP) is outstanding .I tow a 18ft van with no problems plenty of power and good MPG. Would highly recomend this engine for towing.
Regards Mike.