We Need A 7 Seater That Tows

a holden or ford stationwagon with bench seat and 3rd row seat and a v8 and a towbar

Toyota Prado or Mitsubishi Pajero

Land Rover 90 County would fit the bill perfectly.

Well heck thats even better. NO money to outlay on a towagon. Put the rego on hold. Buy an economical 7 seater. Normally I wouldnt make this recommendation. But 1300kg dry is likely 1500kg wet so you need a decent bit of tow. You arent going to get that and good fuel economy

Sorry bro had left his account logged in on this post. My Elysion is the 2.4 vtec. Not sure so much on the gearbox as hear varying opinions but Hondas have never done me wrong personally and are very popular and reliable vehicles in my experience.

Horror story's are mostly just nonsense. The Japanese alternatives are going to be significantly more costly to run and parts/servicing for the likes of the VW Touran are about as cheap as you get for any car.

But its your money, and your decision. Such a shame how silly wives tales from knuckle draggers who have never owned these vehicles or car dealers with an agenda end up pushing people into expensive second rate vehicles.

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Not if you buy a Touran. They can tow phenomenally well yet are still about as economical as you can get in a 7 seater people mover. They are a joy to drive around town, reliable, long service intervals, safe, comfortable and well featured.

You really can have your cake and eat it too in this scenario. The only catch is the OP will have to get through the nonsense from those who have no experience with them.

The difference in running costs is worth mentioning again, both in day to day running and while towing you are going to be talking less than half the running costs of most of the alternatives being pitched here. That's a monumental saving.

territory would be the last i would touch, Prados are good as are cruisers
Im not a big fan of towing with cars at all.

would the Touran ahve to be a diesel! are they big enough, weight wise, to handle 1500kg on the back!

No, the 2.0 FSI tows easily on a par with the 2.0 Diesel IMO (With the exception I would say of the 16V Diesel I suspect which I have not driven). Interestingly the 2.0 FSI is incredibly economical in the real world too when not towing. It has economy that some little 1.3 Auto cars can barely match. (Thanks to the clever FSI technology and the amazing 6 Speed DSG)

1500KG on the back is no issue at all.

Aside from the last little bit of traction when pulling up a really steep and slippery boat ramp the Touran in terms of real world towing abilities the Touran is amazing.Real world driving up steep hills, motorway speeds etc the Touran believe it or not is just about knocking on the door of the big boys (Landcruiser, Hilux etc) it will certainly leave a 3.0 Camry for dead with a load on.

The hard part is getting your head around it. People still think in old school terms of CC ratings. Remember VW's 2.0 Amarok holds its own with the 3.0 offerings of its competitors. (But to be clear that is a twin turbo different version of VW's 2.0 Diesel so I am not in anyway saying the Touran is running the same engine, just saying CC's don't mean anything)

With the Touran you are buying a car made on the same platform as the VW Tiguan and Skoda Yeti, in other words cars designed to tow some serious loads. Its not just the compact city people mover it might look like at first glance.

Then you have to consider that while only fwd it has an electronically controlled diff which actually gives you surprising traction, even with big trailers on wet grass and the likes. Certainly enough for our purpose here.

Plus, you get the trailer stability control program which I would actually trade over the extra weight of a landcruiser when things go wrong any day of the week. Those systems are amazing, have a look on youtube for videos of them working when people deliberately put a sway on a trailer.

So how does a 2.0 Touran have better pulling power than a V6 Camry which technically has more KW!

The answer is drive train. The 6 speed DSG has two more gears than the Camry (I am talking your classic Kiwi icon 3ltr 4 speed auto Camry). It also loses absolutely nothing to the torque converter (Whereas the Camry can lose up to 30% of its power/economy when the torque converter is unlocked. which is a lot of the time when towing).

Basically, it is hard to get your head around, especially for those living in the past or already jaded by the silly wives tales told about European Cars.

The best thing you can do is borrow one from a dealer, slap their boat on the back and see for themselves what I am talking about.

You have to remember there are hoards of people towing massive caravans around Europe with these cars as we speak, some of them doing 140km/h plus even with big loads on behind.

I have the technical spec and comparisons for the Touran if anyone is interested but really its hard to understand until you chuck the boat on and try it for yourself.

BTW, the 1.9 Diesel and 1.6 Petrol Touran's are going to be a disappointment for towing and not recommended. The later 1.4 TSI Petrol ones are sort of O.K but either 2.0 Petrol or 2.0 Diesel is where its at to do the job properly.

Be aware that because I have dared suggest a European car the usual gaggle of trolls who have never even sat in a Touran will come along and spout all sorts of nonsense. Its up to you, you can go and try one and see for yourself or you can listen to the nonsense. Also, be prepared for a song and dance about the DSG transmission being unreliable. Its not, its about as reliable as any modern automated transmission is possible to be. Its particularly well suited to this sort of towing as well. I can explain why if you want.

I bet you can't in two sentences or less.

Here is a quote from the other day on here. This poster has a Tiguan which is built on the same platform. In other words what VW do is pour all their money into a common set of mechanical's and chassis (or floor pan if you will). Then they tack whatever top they want on it, be it a people mover, sports car, or hatchback.

The poster says:

I'm farming and have a tiguan it regualary tows a loaded tandem trailer (2.5 Tonne) no problems. I also looked at the Hyundai's before purchaseing the Tiguan. Much more bang for your bucks with the Tiguan, much nicer drive on road, Has sufficent off road capiabilities for our farming operation. While the Santa Fe was OKay was not in the same league. Only looked breifly at the Captiva so can not really compare.

Me again.
Now in fairness, they may have the slightly higher output Diesel option and this version is 4WD. But you hopefully get where I am coming from.

Do these have to be grammatically correct sentences!

The only thing I would caution you about with the Touran is if you have a lot of gear in the back and your trailer is set up with a really heavy tongue weight you may find it sits very low at the back. This would tend to be a problem with a lot of vehicles though and there are ways around it.

Again. best thing to do is to take your boat down to a car dealers and hook it on.

Even I have to admit, thats good advice.

Thanks, and it keeps it fair to everyone. We can argue numbers all day (and don't worry I have the numbers!) but you can't beat actually trying these things for real.

Especially as I am fully aware that to those who don't understand the technology used in the Touran and/or haven't towed with one are going to find my claims pretty outlandish and hard to swallow.

Again. best thing to do is to take your boat down to a car dealers and hook it on.[/quote]

Best advice Ive seen today good on ya Jazz

Best advice Ive seen today good on ya Jazz[/quote]
Awwww Thanks!
I appreciate that. It makes up for the many threads where I go to a lot of trouble to explain things only to be attacked by trolls without any experience with the subject. Cheers, you two have made my day!

BTW, just one last word from me for the moment. If you try the Touran and decide to go ahead, come back before you buy it. Then I can help you make sure you have one with trailer stability control and that the tow electrics are properly set up to make it work. Lots of kiwi made to order towbars are wired wrong. Its easy to fix but you need to know about it.

I can also help you check that it has been serviced properly and give you an idea of what's needed to bring any servicing up to date.

Happy shopping.

AND are you personally going to stand behind your recomendations!
Say 2 years down the track and the gearbox goes bang!

Are you going to stand by your recommendations if they buy one from someone else and they buy what you suggest and the transmission goes bang!

(Kaz is a dealer who sells Japanese people movers, I am not a dealer/trader of any kind)

That's a silly question because no sane person is going to warranty someone else's used car purchase.

I will happily stake my reputation on it though and will be more than happy to guide them if they have any difficulties. To say the wet clutch 6 speed DSG is not up to towing 1500KG is to do so without understanding that transmission at all.

(There are multiple reasons why the DSG is a fantastic transmission for towing loads like this, I am happy to explain them if anyone is interested)

id like to hear them.

again.

Do you give 2 year warranties with your cars if so Ill see ya tomorrow

Since I am here, I will post a link for you OP. Its a caravan magazine review of the VW Golf as a tow car. Remember the Golf is just a shorter Touran, same platform, same engines, same transmissions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch!v=AAH-8_x4SuE

Just a pity that caravan in that clip probably weighs a fraction of what any 5.2m fibreglass boat & trailer does.