towing, am I opening a can of worms?

[redwon]

Hi all, After reading a few articles regarding the XC90 for towing purposes, there seems to be a bias toward auto's. This is maybe because there are more auto's and therefore most here are in ownership of them and would therefore recommend them. The only thing that everyone is against, is the hand/footbrake, but that is surely just a matter of pulling a lever rather than leasing the standard handbrake? Auto's are Ok and easier to drive, but then there is the fuel consumption and gearbox repairs related to the auto.
https://www.practicalcaravan.com/adv...0-buyers-guide
This particular article from 2016 suggests finding a manual rather than an Auto.
So the question is- has anyone had problems related to the auto towing scenario?

[john langrick]

My theory is this..

Certainly earlier xc90s were not known for a efficient foot (hand) break. They are notorious for poor holding.

In some ways this becomes less important on an automatic and indeed owners of automatics neglect use of the footbreak, which in turn causes problems because the auto gearbox hold the car on an incline.

With a manual, the footbreak becomes more of an issue that the traditional hand break as you have to shuffle between the footbreak and clutch on a hill start.

Could it simply be that auto users, when towing, have lesser issues on hill starts?

Of course people will comment that the handbreak on both manual or auto should be efficient. But life sometimes is not like that...

I had the most awful handbreak on my 03 xc90, but sorted now.. and I tow..

John l

[Fika]

Originally Posted by john langrick

My theory is this..

Certainly earlier xc90s were not known for a efficient foot (hand) break. They are notorious for poor holding.

In some ways this becomes less important on an automatic and indeed owners of automatics neglect use of the footbreak, which in turn causes problems because the auto gearbox hold the car on an incline.

With a manual, the footbreak becomes more of an issue that the traditional hand break as you have to shuffle between the footbreak and clutch on a hill start.

Could it simply be that auto users, when towing, have lesser issues on hill starts?

Of course people will comment that the handbreak on both manual or auto should be efficient. But life sometimes is not like that...

I had the most awful handbreak on my 03 xc90, but sorted now.. and I tow..

John l

I almost had a heart attack when I saw my other half engage P before deploying the footbrake... Unless I'm mistaken you'd end up having to rebuild your autobox if you trash the parking prawl unless I'm mistaken...

[Tannaton]

The article was written by someone who doesn't really have the experience to say what he's saying - and that's being polite.

In the inception year (2003) 1 in 20 XC90's sold where manual, for the last few model years (2013/2014) manuals were not sold.

The autobox is fine for towing - and much easier than with a manual. I had a 2003 XC90 D5 for 5 years and I've towed some ridiculous weight with it (on a private road of course...). Had 185k on it when I sold it and still towing well.

If you do tow heavy stuff with a auto XC90, get the transmission fluid changed and then repeat every 35-50k miles.

There are members on here with XC90 with approaching 200k (or more) who tow big caravans all over Europe (well they used to pre pandemic...)

Whilst it's certainly not best practice - the parking pawl that locks the transmission in "P" will hold on any hill - because of the gearing in the differential the forces needed to hold the car are much less than the parking brake has to exert. The main issue is it strains the engine mounts....

[owenfackrell]

Our last XC90 was a manual and the current is an auto. You do learn how to apply the handbrake/parking brake by putting the car in neutral first, realising it is just a pull on the leaver so is easy to do. With the auto input the parking break on first before putting it in park. In fact I often get caught out not being able to remove the key as I haven’t taken it out of drive. I have towed with both but only a small catamaran which weighs less than 500kg including the trailer which has not been an issue in either. If you don’t use the parking break then it will fail the MOT.

[ian ferguson]

Hand/foot brake. I've had problems with it for years and was always surprised that it passed the MOT. A couple of months ago I decided to change the rear discs, pads and shoes, resulting in the hand brake being worse, i took the discs and shoes off the car and noticed there were high spots on the shoes, so i put sandpaper in the hub and sanded the shoes until they were seating properly, it takes a bit of time and a few grades of sandpaper but it was worth it i now have a brake that holds the car better than ever. Hope this helps someone with the dreaded hand brake problem.