Short post...

What are peoples views about towing a light trailer with an automatic box?

It should be no more than a 1000kg

Thanks
Ash

I've done small and large with both auto and manual.

I find auto much easier, albeit probably not as good on fuel. What is the car/engine/trailer config and what will you be towing?

I used to tow my radical and covered trailer + spares (around 1300kg) in my old Volvo S60 d5 auto.pulling the load was a breeze but at motorway speeds with trailer on it didn't know if it wanted 4th or 5th gear which was a pain

We are looking at buying a 7 seater escape 2.2d, this will be used for moving my dads coach drivers around on a daily basis.

But it will double for me to tow the kit car / caravan as i have a company car and i'm not allowed to tow.

When did you pass your test? And what's the gvw of the 7seater

As Dan mentioned, when dragging my Bongo on a big trailer (about 3500kg) the box was constantly trying to change gear. Thankfully, my towcar had a flappy-paddle manual option so I could choose top gear.

Modern slush boxes all have transmission oil coolers so should be OK -- in theory, but treat it gently as modern autoboxes aren't as robust as the old style.

Back in the days of the old 3 speed BW35 box towing up the mountain to Knockhill would result in things getting a little hot but the later 4 speed BW45 with cooler was OK

Much easier with an auto unless you have a need to switch between hi/low ratios in say a Range Rover when on the move.

Towing with my new mondeo tit X auto was a dream and the most comfortable.

I did a couple of years of towing with BMW 330d auto. Best tow car I have ever had by miles. Especially when it came to shunting the trailer in and out of our steep inclined curved driveway, no riding the clutch to move ultra slowly just put it in D or R and let it crawl along. Super smooth as well. I've gone for anothe auto on my new tow car, although it's slightly differnt to the Beemer... Chevy K1500 truck with a 6.5l Turbo Diesel.

I tow with an Outlander PHEV (cvt gearbox) and it is brilliant as a tow car for our lightweight cars. Plenty of torque and very smooth, but of course the engine is noisy on hills as it holds constant revs. Very odd at first!

I used Pajero auto for tow caravans and horse box's with out it ever missing a beat.

I tow a covered trailer with a 4.4 TDv8 Range Rover, probable not great surprise that it doesn't really notice the trailer at all. 8 speed box works very well with a trailer as well.

For 5 years I towed with my Espace 2.2 diesel. Caravan and welding generator. Never felt that It was getting out of control. The Espace kept pulling all the way to the legal limit and beyond when I was pressed I now have a 2000 Saab 95 petrol auto estate. Thirsty bugger when towing, but very stable at motorway speed and luxury for the wife and I. I would jump at the Espace again but the wife likes the Saab, never noticed any thing wrong with the Auto box, very smooth and impressive.

I used to drive professionally with a land Rover Discovery TDV6 and a 3.5 tonne A frame 4 wheel exhibition unit. Auto was definitely much better than manual (and yes I was on a tachograph, drivers hours etc) At home I tow 1300kg with my 1.6hdi C4 with an EGS auto box with the same comment, brilliant and much easier than a manual box.
With both you can take full control with manual shift, flappy paddles which is useful when overtaking or approaching a long hill

On my SAAB 9-5 petrol 2.3LPT it tows everything no probs.
Recommendation is to use Sport mode and shift manually.
Helps to keep an eye on the auto-trans fluid and change fairly regularly.

Only problem I've ever had was with the old 9000 when we followed the slowest Dutch camper van up the Simplon pass on a really hot day mid-summer.
In those days we had with barge of a 5 berth caravan and it overheated just short of the top.
We limped it home and about 5 days later the box let go requiring a £1200 re-build!
Fitted a supplementary transmission cooler to the 9-5 as soon as we bought that.
As BT ^^ says that's probably unnecessary on a more modern vehicle unless anticipating extremes like the Simplon.
HTH.
Cheers Pewe10.

Hi.

Apologies for the lateness of replying.

I passed my test is 1999, so I was down to 3.5 tonnes train weight until today when I passed my B+E with 4 minors. :-) So now I'm up to 7 tonnes.

I don't really have the room to store a trailer, so I would always be hiring or borrowing one, so down plating was not really an option. So i took the plunge and did the test. Basically, it is a 40 minute drive to test standards, as with the car test, up to 15 minors and no majors. An LGV reverse into a bay around a cone. Unhitch and Re-hitch in a pre-defined manner.

I've decided against an auto, not because it's an auto but because it was too far away and a few manuals are closer to home and the same price.

Thanks for the comments.

- Ash