After months of wondering which tow car I should go for next I've realised a compact van may be a better option. I very rarely have more than 1 passenger and 90% of time it's just me towing to events. I do a few jobs at nights and weekends,but currently do them out of the back of the volvo! It always has rear seats down and always full of tools, race car wheels/tyres etc etc. if I need more passenger room I can use the mrs seat Leon tdi.
I'm struggling with towing capacity as I'm a post jan 1997 driver so a compact van under 2t would be ideal. Budget upto £4.5k so what would you guys recommend? Been looking at the vw caddy 1.9 tdi 104bhp, but they do a 2.0 Sdi also which is less powerful. And the other seems to be a Berlingo 1.6hdi but am unsure of build quality on these.
I can get an 06-07 tdi caddy with average van mileage (circa 80k) on budget but a Berlingo could be 09-10 with not much over half the mileage!
Fully loaded trailer is around 1300-1400kgs so needs to be upto the job!
My main criteria is low running costs and reliabity so what are the options? Cheers

I've got a Fiat Doblo with a 120bhp multijet. The van is rated at 2.1t and so far I've towed a small trailer with a car on the back and hardly noticed it. However I have the MPV version so not restricted to the vans weight or speed limits.

Mines a 2006 version and the newer models are a bit bigger. So far I've had 2 crunches with other cars that sounded bad and apart from some small scuffs its fairing well.

Its a diesel and averages 46mpg. Seats go down or come out to give the same load capacity as the van. Made a bed out of a couple pallets, air bed on top and I stretch out in it OK.

All in ugly but does the job.

Quite fancy a Bipper next but not sure if it will be big enough, dobbie's just the right size for transporting pallets for me.

Steve

After agonising over the same criteria you listed I made the opposite decision mainly because most second hand vans are shagged.

Also MPV's or soft roaders have high towing capacity with all the comforts of a saloon along with the high seating advantages of a van. I have towed commercial trailers with 2 tonne machinery with Espaces, Mondeo estates and CRV's with no problems at all. When (if) the current CRV dies (its at 200k and going strong but boring) the replacement will be a Forrester.

The advantage of 4x4 is towing on wet grass - always tricky but if not required FWD is no problem.

A van can be grim on a long hot journey - better with a passenger vehicle.

Cheers!

I've got a Fiat Doblo for sale if interested. The bonus point about mine is it is / was a disabled vehicle conversion, done by Gleneagles, so done properly. This means that for the first 5 years of its life it was a Mobility car so not only is it really low mileage for its age (2004 model with 36k on the clock) but it also had a very well serviced life. Plus it is fitted with a high roof, and a fold down wheelchair / loading ramp at the back (easily removable if you prefer it not in), plus clamp down points in the rear for the wheelchair but which can be used for securing loads etc.

Just had a gearbox fully reconditioned as the syncros for 3rd and 4th were worn, and while the gearbox was out had the clutch replaced too. Also had a service at the same time.

It is a 1.9 JTD engine, and a Dynamique spec which means alloy wheels, air-con, CD player, and electric windows.

I bought it to use like a small van in essence instead of running my LWB Transit all the time, as it was cheaper to insure, had low mileage, and had air-con and CD player and electric windows unlike most vans this age / price. Only selling as I could do with bit more of a cash injection in to my business.

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