By William Coleman
Each yeah The The Caravan And Motorhome Club put in a tremendous amount of effort into testing anywhere up to 35+ different tow cars to ensure that you, the consumer and general public, get the most informed opinion of which vehicle on the market is the very best for towing your caravan. This yeah myself and Daniel Cartwright were invited to participate, well I was a spectator and Daniel was an actual judge, which is a very big deal for CaravanTimes.
This was the first time that I had attended The Caravan And Motorhome Club Towcar Of The Year testing and I was blown away by just how much time and effort goes into the testing. After all it is this kind of feedback that helps a lot of people pick the right towing car for them. When making such a large investment, or purchase, you are going to want to make sure that the cars you are looking at have been put through their paces in a practical setting.
The caravans that were used for the testing were provided by Bailey Of Bristol, and believe me those caravans can hold up when it comes to towing. Before each towcar is attached to the next caravan The Club’s technical team was checked both the caravan and vehicle to ensure that every towcar was tested under the same conditions. This is why the testing takes place over 5 days. 35 cars tested thoroughly over this time period ensures that each test is carried out impartially. They had it down to a fine science.
The Millbrook site is used to test everything from your local bus all the way to the high end super cars, which makes this an ideal site to test a towing vehicle. From the almost vertical hill slopes to the test bowl the vehicles are really put through their paces, all while towing a weighted caravan. Each test had real life obstacles to the vehicles can be tested in the most realistic setting possible.
At first I really did wonder why it was going to take so long to test 35 cars. Well it is all due to the technical details, which is why you can really trust the feedback. Each caravan had the same nose weight and onboard loads to reflect the weight of the caravan that a family will take with them on holiday.
Even the cars themselves are loaded to meet a realistic weight. The boots were packed with baggage and the front and back seats were also loaded with ballasts to reflect the weight of a family of 4.
Once a vehicle came back from a test The Club’s technical team thoroughly checked each vehicle before handing it over to the ‘caravanability’ and driving judges.
Caravanability judges tested whether a car’s boot could swallow the bulky accessories normally needed on a caravan trip. They also measured the towball height, both solo and hitched up, and checked the towing information provided in the manufacturer’s handbook.
The cars were then hitched up to caravans ballasted to 85% of their kerbweight, or towing limit if lower. Using specialised apparatus the technical judges then measured the cars’ acceleration and braking capabilities. The car/caravan combinations were then passed over to the driving judges who set off around the Millbrook circuit to put the vehicles through their paces.
The cars were tested at speeds of up to 55mph on the ‘Alpine route’, which featured various gradients culminating in a 17% hill start and a 26% downhill brake test. The ability to join fast traffic from a standstill was also assessed.
Judges then took the vehicles to the high-speed bowl to further assess their capabilities at speeds in excess of UK legal limits. In the safety of a controlled environment, the judges could induce some instability at 60mph to see how the cars reacted. The vehicles were also put through reversing examinations. All-important issues of driver and passenger comfort and visibility were also assessed.
The Caravan and Motorhome Club had a whole range of test drivers as well as their technical team to ensure each vehicle was tested correctly but there was more to it than just the physical driving. Behind the scenes at Millbrook were the team who were tracking the results, compiling feedback as well as ensuring everything was captured so if could then be fed back to the public. It really is an extremely involved process from start to finish.
As an online publication we were extremely honoured to be asked to be a judge. Being able to take part in an event such as this is something that does not come around very often so we were honoured to be part of the testing. Dan had this to say following the testing: The testing process is extremely thorough from start to finish. Each vehicle and caravan is checked before each to test to ensure the towing conditions of each rig is the same.
To be asked to take part was fantastic as I got to see a side of the industry I hadn’t seen before. And lets to be honest, who wouldn’t be excited to test drive 35 of the best vehicles on the market around the a testing track for 5 days!”
So after the extensive week of testing the results were finally in and ready to show to the public. We were also at the award show last week and you can read all about it here, The Caravan And Motorhome Club Towcar Of The Year 2019 Awards Results
Each model that was tested is a brand new 2019 model which does come with a price tag. Do not let that put you off. Each year the Club do these tests and bring you the very best feedback on each vehicle, and the Club still stand by their previous winners. Here is a list of each car that won Towcar Of The Year, so if your budget does not stretch to a brand new towcar you can still get one of the competition winners as most of them are on the market at a very good price.
THE CARAVAN CLUB TOWCAR OF THE YEAR
1984 Citroën BX 16 TRS
1985 Volvo 360 GLEi
1986 Ford Sierra XR 4×4
1987 Renault 21 GTS
1988 Vauxhall Senator 3.0i CD
1989 Vauxhall Cavalier SRi Saloon
1990 Vauxhall Cavalier 4×4 2.0i
1991 Rover 416 GTi 16v
1992 Volvo 940 SE Turbo
1993 Vauxhall Calibra Turbo 4×4
1994 Citroën Xantia 1.9 TD VSX
1995 Renault Laguna RT 2.0
1996 Vauxhall Vectra 2.0i 16v GLS
1997 Peugeot 406 GLX DT 2.1
1998 Citroën Xantia V6 Exclusive
1999 Audi A6 Avant 2.5 TDi
2000 Seat Toledo V5
2001 Volkswagen Golf V6 4motion
2002 Peugeot 406 2.2 GTX HDi Estate
2003 Skoda Superb V6 2.5 TDI Elegance
2004 Subaru Forester 2.0 XT
2005 Mazda6 2.0-D Estate TS2 (136ps)
2006 Kia Sorento 2.5 CRDi XE
2007 Volvo V50 D5 Sport
2008 Ford Mondeo Titanium X Estate
2009 Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI
2010 Volkswagen Golf SE 2.0 litre TDI
2011 Skoda Superb Estate Elegance 2.0 TDI CR
2012 Volkswagen Jetta Sport 2.0 TDI DSG
2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sport 2.0 TDI DSG
2014 Skoda Superb Elegance Estate 2.2 TDI DSG 4×4
2015 SEAT Leon ST FR 2.0 TDI
2016 Land Rover Discovery HSE LUX
2017 Volkswagen Passat Estate Alltrack 2.0TDI 4MOTION 150PS
2018 Skoda Kodiaq SE L 2.0 TDI 4×4 DSG 190PS
