Will my Fiesta 1.3 tow a caravan?

Question

Ok, I just bought my first caravan now I find I may not be able to tow it!
I have a Ford Fiesta 1.3 petrol manual box but a friend says they are not designed for towing heavy loads such as caravans. The caravan is a 4 berth 16 footer so I basically need to know, in simple answers, will my car tow the caravan? Please, no jargon or technical stuff, i've enough of that to last a lifetime!

Thank you for any help you can give folks!

Answer 1

no you will wreck your car gearbox cluch will go first you need something like an 1.8/ 2.0 to pull that it will destroy your car as soon as u hit a bank

Answer 2

NO its dangerous to tow a caravan using a car. Not to mention hard on the engine,brakes,clutch,tranny and the body of the car can twist. What I mean by that is the frame of the body can buckle. its about as plain and simple without the jargon or technicalities as I can make it for you.

Answer 3

That Fiesta won't tow anything, they hardly have enough power to pull itselt up a hill let alone pulling anything else.

Buy a truck. 16 foot trailer can easily be towed behind a Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota, Chevy 1/2 ton (1500).

So the answer to your question is no you cannot tow that trailer with a Ford Fiesta. Get a truck, cars weren't built to tow, that's why Trucks were built.

Answer 4

Front wheel drive cars are not realy set up for towing as most of the weight of the car and caravan will be transfered to the rear wheels and away from the drive wheels.
Best get a car that has rear wheel drive, A good size family Sedan or a medium size 4WD would be good for towing your van.

Answer 5

No the car is too under powered and is not heavy enough to tow a caravan. The brakes would not be good enough with the increased load and it would affect your steering badly as well

Answer 6

It COULD do it, not that you would want to. Stopping and going would be a big issue. If it was an emergency tow for a short distance I would say go ahead - otherwise, you're risking burning out your engine very, very quickly.

I also vote for new car. Maybe a small pickup could handle the load better.

Answer 7

I really doubt it, thats putting alot of stress on the engine being that it's only a 1.3. Thats alot of extra weight to be pulling around. I'm sure it's possible but you'll probably burn up your transmission pretty quick.

lol this reminds me of that video I've seen of a car towing this big trailer up a hill......then 5 seconds later the trailer is pulling the car back down the hill =)

Answer 8

4 berth 16 footer sounds way too big for your Fiesta.

It'll pull it, no problem. But think about stopping, or more to the point, lack of stopping ability with all that extra weight.

Time to get a bigger car, methinks.

Answer 9

IMPORTANT!!!!

Its actualy too dangerous and therefore illiegal to tow anything more than half the weight of your car.
Not to mention it will damage your car and cost you loads in fuel.

Make sure you check the safe towing weight (STW) of your car!!!! Its in the logbook or haynes manual.

Be sure if you do take it out, as it will be real easy for the cops to see you and pull you over. As they will be out in force this weekend looking for trouble makers

If you are going to take it out make sure you get an anti snake bar fitted! this will at lease help.

People have said buy a new car, not always easy.
The best bet would be to return it for a smaller one or ask a friend to take you (in a bigger car.)

Hope that helped

Answer 10

It depends on the weight of the caravan.

You can check the compatibility of any model of car with any model of caravan at http://www.towsafe.co.uk/