Forgot to mention that I tow a 1000kg twin axle. Maximum tow weight for my
car is 1600kg.

Most European car manufacturers (if not all, including BMW) do offer
factory-mounted hitches here in Europe.

"chipsoars" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Aug 24, 4:03 am, "Bert Willing" bw_no_spam_ple...@tango-
whisky.com wrote:
I run a Saab 9-3 (turbo-charged gas engine, 2l / 195 hp) which does just
great in the Alps. Consumption is fully charged with trailer and A/C
about
10.5 liters per 100km (I leave you the transformation to your funny
units).
Very calm driving at 100 km/h with the engine running at 2000rpm. The
same
car with a turbodiesel engine will eat about 2 liters less.
Don't know of the life time yet as the leasing gets renewed after
160,000km.
The Saab 900 I used to drive before the 9-3 had 350,000km on the clock
when
I closed the door for the last time - and it just had passed the
bi-annual
check with $150 on repair.

The limit I experience is that on steep slopes uphill, especially with
wet
surface, it is difficult to get all the power onto the road with a front
wheel drive.

"Papa3" wrote in message

oups.com...



Hi all,

Following up on the recent thread regarding the VW Jetta, I'm curious
to find out what other station wagons (not SUVs, not hatchbacks, but
proper wagons) folks are using in Europe. I'm currently using a 2002
VW Passat VR6 Wagon (Variant) with the 4motion drive train and it's
been wonderful as a tow vehicle. Unfortunately, as is typical of more
recent VW gas (petrol) powered vehicles, it seems to be falling apart
just as it hit 120,000 miles (complete replacement of cooling system
and sensors, all 6 coils shot, suspiciously loud valve noise
starting).

Current replacement candidates include:

- Another Passat wagon if VW starts importing the TDI for 2008
- Maybe the Jetta wagon instead
- BMW 325xi if I can find out whether there are tow hitches (BMW US
does not list towing capacity and none of the aftermarket hitch
manufacturers lists a hitch)
- Subara Legacy or Outback

My first preference is a Diesel for multiple reasons.
Unfortunately, there's a lull in the US while manufacturers come up to
speed on the new polution regs.

Any thoughts or alternatives for vehicles in this class appreciated.

Erik Mann- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

P3,

I went through the same process in 2004 looking at much the same set
of cars.

I have an 05 Subaru Outback wagon (US) I tow a cobra/27 with. This
has the 6cyl. engine and has no difficulty towing the rig with a 3000
pound rating.

Fuel mileage is pretty much as advertised. I've had only one minor
repair in 55k miles. I'm very satisfied with the car and would buy
another. My hope is FHI develops a diesel variant in the 08-09 time
frame.

Many of the European manufacturers do not warrant their vehicles for
towing, or have very low capacities, something I found quite strange
considering the number of tow hitches I saw on vehicles in the EU
while on business trips.

One of our club members, Q3, put a hitch on a Beemer 5 series. IIRC,
it was not trivial due to something about the wiring.

Chip F
KK jr