New Skoda Not Approved To Tow - Buyer Beware

I suspect VAG, along with others, don't see it the issue some of us here in the UK make it, and see no reason to make largely a UK unique wiring harness with its required heavier duty cable cores.

With the advent of "smart charging" the little benefit we might have previously gained from a "full wiring" has become even less.

I suggest, the reality is few of us will effectively charge a caravan battery or power our fridges, even our caravan makers not providing the wiring cores up to doing the job without further lowering the voltages. 

Are we chasing something not actually that needed?

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Our Hymer caravan's electrics includes a battery feed voltage booster system, lifting received volts as low as 11 up to 14.4, this seems effective and a useful way of overcoming the high voltage drop which even a wired up systems have. The fridge does not benefit from this and I suspect is wholly ineffective on the amount of power it gets, thankfully its a well insulated box that holds the cold from our pre trip use of mains.

I have a Skoda Kodiaq 190 diesel with DSG gearbox and towing capacity 200kgs. I understand some of the manual versions are not approved for towing as they have simply not been submitted for type approval testing.
I also understand from my local tow bar fitters that there are problems with other cars. For example someone with a BMW diesel company car simply changed it for a similar model. When it came to fitting a tow bracket this was impossible as the AdBlu tank now fitted on the more modern car is in the way 

The moral is “Check thoroughly when buying a new car”

Thanks to all for this post. I was looking to buy a superb estate k&l 190ps, didn't have a tow bar fitted but thought no problem, just get one retro fitted as I have previously on most of my cars. Seeing this post I checked with a skoda dealer to find that the car has not had towbar preparation and they said no aftermarket bar should be fitted. Thanks for saving me angst and possible loss of funds. 

It's down to the weight plate on the car as to whether you can tow with the car ... not the say so of a VW sales man. There's a plate/sticker on a car generally in the driver's door reveal with 4 weights .... front axle max. rear axle max, gross weight of vehicle & total train weight.

Hi

Ordered the kodiaq a few weeks ago the dealer said to tow i need to have the prep or it can't  tow, so that was added to the order.

my opinion the car is perfectly capable of towing and this is a manufacturer con trick to spend more money by putting 0 on the gtw so there is no option other than having towbar prep

Ie you either buy it or you can't tow

Moderator Edit:

Post edited in order to keep the thread on track.

Just thinking back to the issue I had (as per original post) the two looms which formed the basis of the 'Towbar Preparation' are included in most of the aftermarket dedicated kits. The cost of the looms as an option when ordering the car was around £200. Unfortunetly when I ordered my Mk4 Octavia it was already built and on the docks waiting to be shipped. Wonder how many have fallen foul of this when buying used?

No problem for me nowadays as the Mk4 Octavia was so unreliable I now tow with a Mazda. No drama with the Mazda (However checking the VIN plate was the first thing I did!).