We are looking to change our 4 x 4 Skoda for something newer. Does anyone think that there would be any lessening of safety when towing if we opted for a two wheel drive vehicle or should we stick with a 4 x 4.

Quote: philipdick wrote in post #1

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We are looking to change our 4 x 4 Skoda for something newer. Does anyone think that there would be any lessening of safety when towing if we opted for a two wheel drive vehicle or should we stick with a 4 x 4.

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Well I'm blowed, I just logged on to place exactly the same question!
I have a 4x4 Skoda Octavia which i bought new 7 years ago. The principal reason for purchase was to pull my caravan off a muddy field. I have only observed the 4x4 kick in once very briefly.
I'm currently researching various 4x4 options but find that most manufacturers only offer 4x4 option in the top of the range (expensive) and only diesel engine option (don't want diesel)
Perhaps a 4x2 with M&S tyres on the front would suffice?

Thanks for the replies, still unsure what option I will take as yet.

I'm heartened by Agger's response and am in full agreement with the comments made. When we started caravanning a few years ago we agonised about whether to buy a 4x4 or not. The initial purchase price and subsequent running costs were not attractive to us. In the end we opted for a medium sized estate with 2WD and haven't looked back. Having experienced the helpfulness and friendliness (usually) of other caravaners we're confident that if we did get stuck on site someone would help us out and the owners of most sites including the CC and C&CC have a 4WD or tractor available if necessary.
Tony

Just as an 'aside' re C&CC giving you a tow - talking a few weeks ago to a CC&c warden he mentioned that the 'Club' has recently been taken to Court for allegedly causing damage to the members caravan/car when helping them out with a tow whilst stuck ! ! I believe they have been advised not to tow caravan/cars unless blocking the road way ! It seems unlikely that this will be enforced. :)

For the odd occasion this may be necessary I'm not advocating this as a reason to buy a 4X4 with which to tow ! Good luck with your choice of Tow Car :)

Just to throw another spanner in the works we have a Honda Crv ours is diesel but you can buy petrol. Our Honda is a 2006 but has done very little mileage I think its got around 52k on it without going to look. That's the reason we have not upgraded at the moment it is still in very good condition and fingers crossed mechanically as well..

Now getting to the point not sure about the new Honda Crv but ours is two wheel drive but once it struggles in traction at any time goes into four wheel drive. It does this itself applying traction or not to any wheel that requires added grip. We have enjoyed owning the Honda and it is pretty economical as well.
Morphy

And throwing yet another spanner into the works I owned a FWD VW Touran as our tow car up until 14 months ago and swore never to buy a FWD ever again if a possibility existed that it would be needed for towing. Plus points - good economical diesel, more than enough luggage space and comfy when towing on the straight. Negative points - heavy on the clutch (manual box) especially on long inclines, many newer auto versions are DSG boxes which are horrendously expensive if repairs are required, FWD's are inherently light at the front when towing as a result of the additional weight both in the rear as luggage as well as the 55kg plus on the towball which is very noticeable especially in wet conditions.

My replacement 4WD tow car is as different as chalk and cheese compared to the FWD Touran although I should qualify that statement by saying that the differences only become blindingly obvious with a FWD tow for say 30km over a varied route immediately followed by jumping into a 4WD and repeating.

I think at the end of the day it's not a question of what can one adequately tow with because of course the answer would be both FWD and AWD, but rather which of the two offers more stability and flexibility - towing or otherwise - under varying conditions. Another consideration of course is overall wear and tear. Towing places additional strain on a vehicles gearbox and transmission and this fact applies to all vehicles of course. An AWD tow car, even one where the AWD cuts in automatically as and when required, will place far less strain on a vehicles transmission and gearbox than a FWD vehicle where the engine is applying all it's grunt over a limited area. And finally, even though diesel cars are not particularly flavour of the month at this time there is no getting away from the fact that they are far better suited to towing than petrol. Whilst my wife and I attempt to reduce our footprint on this earth to an absolute minimum, and whilst we accept that a lung full of diesel fumes is far worse for ones health than a lung full of petrol, we observe far too many other harmful events taking place on a daily basis around us that with political will could easily be stamped out but for commercial reasons are allowed to continue, so much so that our suddenly converting to petrol with the negatives that it would involve at this time is not a consideration.