Towing A Caravan

[Kennydalglish]

Want to get on the open road, keep getting conflicting advice about the manual 250 is on towing! Surely it is more than capable of taking a big White box on the road? Does anyone really know?

[sprinter2012]

power won't be the issue, we used to go on holiday to the very north of scotland every year with our massive twin axle caravan. and our 2.3L M Reg Toyota Previa used to cope fine (took its toll on the clutch though) you'll just have to be careful about the weight inbalance, parents chose the previa because it was the heaviest car in its class at the time, because you dont want too much unbraked weight in relation to the weight of the towing vehicle.

my dad was an articulated HGV driver as well which was a bonus, but as long as you dont go slamming the brakes on you should be fine. assuming there arent any other more mechanical reasons why it cant be done.

[Matus]

I tow motorbike and no problem. I don't like that my IS can tow only 500kgs when the trailer doesn't have its own brakes.

[dave1]

Want to get on the open road, keep getting conflicting advice about the manual 250 is on towing! Surely it is more than capable of taking a big White box on the road? Does anyone really know?

If the trailer is "braked" your is250 should have no problems towing up to 1500kg. It should give you advice in your car manual. If you can keep the weight over the trailer axle as much as possible and get the noseweight right it helps to make towing safer and easier.

[KevM]

Hi Kennydalglish,

I have since parted company with my IS250 but towed a Bailey Ranger 500/5 with an IS250 Sport (2.5V6 manual) for a couple of years with no problems. To be honest my only other experience of tow cars to date is our Ford Kuga but for what it is worth my feelings are that the IS Sport actually makes a very good tow car. The V6 provides plenty of pull and the suspension & tyre setup, certainly of the Sport model, gives a very firm control of the caravan. The biggest concern I had was remembering that the caravan was connected and to keep the speed within the legal limits, with the caravan balanced you will be well past the legal limits long before you notice the caravan having any real impact other than at initial pull away.

We now use the Kuga for its part time 4 wheel drive but other than pulling over grassy surfaces the IS was at least as good and in many ways a fair bit better. However, I feel that I am certainly more concious of the caravan having a bigger impact on the handling of the Kuga than it ever did the on the IS. For reference the Ford Kuga is a previous award winner as a tow car.

If you have other specific questions please post and I will try and answer but I doubt unless your caravan is a heavy one that you would have any issues. Our IS was fitted with a Witter detachable bar with twin electrics which seemed to be a VERY close match to the Lexus setup but at less than half the price.

Hope this helps,

KevM