We know exactly how you feel Andy with regards to all the doggie gear. On our first ever 2 weeks away with doo-dah all we had was a medium sized soft bag for our clothes, the car was full of things for the girls, food, beds, grooming gear, water bowls, food bowls, etc, etc. One thing we did take was a soft crate for our gsd who sleeps in the awning, it's superb and we leave it in place so Mark doesn't have to keep lifting the heavy crate in and out of the car. I don't think it would be suitable for a pup as it could soon be destroyed with chewing but a possible thought for the future. We are trying out leaving our eriba stored in Wales, this helps as we can not only leave a fair few things in Doo-Dah but also we are going to see how we like the campsite and area with a view to possibly having a Hymer nova in Wales and bring our eriba back this end for touring. There is nothing easy about touring with dogs and sometimes we think we must be crazy, I often say to Mark "shouldn't we be sipping cocktails somewhere warm" but due to loving the caravan lifestyle and the fact that we have been fortunate to have already visited many far flung countries we will continue doing what we do for as long as we can. Keep well. Ellen.

The daft thing is they've got silly low towing limits though Roger, that and no diesel auto. Otherwise they'd be absolutely ideal tow cars.
First saw one a couple of weeks ago at Old Oaks. The owners were camping next to us in a black Grand Tourneo and it swallowed all their gear and by gum they had a lot. Personally I'm not so keen on the Grand as to my eyes it looks a tad stretched in the flesh and the standard one is big enough.

I believe Bilbos do something like that on the VW T5. They've come up with pods of different sorts that clip into a van. So there are kitchen, fridge, wardrobe, pods etc.

Oh and Christopher (Pianoman) is very well and at present staying in a holiday cottage in the centre of his beloved Wells, or should be although he has a habit of truncating holidays and coming home a day early.

He's had his house in Knutsford up for sale for a couple of months, with no takers and is getting disheartened about moving to Wells/Glasto. The trip this week was to househunt but they've sort of given up.

He sold his V12 7 series back earlier in the year and purchased a nearly new Fiesta for Mrs P, which he promptly fell in love with. Now the house move looks like it isn't going to happen he's gone and ordered a Fiesta ST3 for himself. I tried to tell him that a Fiesta ST was a boy racers car, meant for 22 year olds, not 72 year olds but he wouldn't listen. He does bear lots of similarities to Mr Toad you know. Beep Beep. I was honoured to be present when he did the deal with the Ford dealer in Congleton. I like watching people spend money!

just looking at tow car year awards 2015


heres a list of cars that have a high enough kerbweight to tow a caravan with the weight of

SsangYong rexton w Ex 1809 caravan weight
Mitsubishi L200 barbarian double cab 1594caravan weight
Mitsubishi shogun 3.2 di-dc lwb sg3 1955 """"""""""""""
"""""""""""" outlander gx4hs 2.0 phev 1539""""""""""""
kia sportage kx-4 2.0 crdi 1519 """"""""""
kia carens 1.7crdi 3 sat nav 1459""""""""""""

not sure of boot space but thought this may help

I don't think I'd need a car to tow 1550kg, even if we did buy a 524 and have its MTPLM upgraded to that.

Our present 464 as standard has a MIRO of 1082kg and an MTPLM of 1235kg (payload 153kg) but because it has a 1300kg rated axle Lunar will upgrade the MTPLM to 1295kg upon request. That brings the payload up to 213kg.

Now as far as I can ascertain we never travel at close to 1295kg and I reckon our average payload is about 180kg.

So if we changed to a 524 which has a MIRO of 1151kg and carried the same stuff as at present it would weigh 1331kg, so nowhere near the 1550kg that it can be plated for.

However 1331kg is 31kg more than our car is rated to pull, although the manual version is rated for 1400kg

I can't see us keeping a 524s payload down to 149kg, so it seems if we swap vans we have to swap cars too.

.

well looking again at 1400 caravan weight the nearest on their list is 1410kg caravan weight car is a SsangYong korando se which happens to have a price of £15,645 the boot held all the camping stuff. just doesn't say if auto available
thought the aim was to find a big enough vehicle for the woof showing side but that could also tow caravan with the option to change caravan weight going higher if needed.
at least you know you have options

Zitat von Randa france

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We've got a similar problem with the Touran. It's for holding seats 6 and 7 in place so I daresay they could be removed if necessary.

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You must have a different model to mine then, Roger, as in my Touran seats 6 and 7 fold flat into a recess increasing the floor space. I think you're meaning seats 3, 4 and 5 (the middle row) that are held up with struts (pins) when folded forward.

Quote: Steamdrivenandy wrote in post #1

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Now I'm starting to think of getting out of caravanning completely and list the advantages as follows:

Less storage of gear
Less humping stuff around
No awning erection etc
Less cleaning and polishing
Less worry
Less money tied up in a box on wheels
Quicker departures on hols/breaks
More choice of type of holiday/break

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That's as I understand it too Roger. Maybe a 5 seater doesn't have the pins, or are Tourans 7 seater only?

Quote: Randa france wrote in post #26

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.......there is a covered sliding clip protrusion on each side wall of the rear luggage space that the back of the seats click into when in use. Therefore although the width across the back of the Touran is "X" then these two protrusions get in the way of most loads and it decreases that width by some 100mm.
Randa

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Quote: Steamdrivenandy wrote in post #27

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are Tourans 7 seater only?

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Quote: Randa france wrote in post #29

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Dog crate?

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