The demise of the tow car?

How long was your PCP for? How many miles is on the vehicle? Whats the vehicle? Has it been reliable? Are you confident in it's suitability to last a few more years? How long do you want to be towing for? Do you want to have a new vehicle?

Current production vehicles will have parts available for 10 years beyond end of model run.

If you want a vehicle to tow a 2 tonne caravan that will run and run, suggest a G Wagen either diesel or petrol. Would be good for 30 years.

Just been through the same process. New version of current car is lighter making it about 95%, can't get towbar for highest spec version.

Have pushed the button on a new vehicle, due April. It's diesel, Euro 6, and heavier than current car.

The Travelling community have no problems towing their large Tabbarts and other large caravans.  ---- There might just be a way of CC members still being able to tow large heavy vans in the future by not using a private car, but using a commercial vehicle like a Transit pickup or van. (Other makes available) ---  Commercial vehicles are allowed to be used on CC campsites.

Cheers ..............K

Now you know why the travellers have kept their horses

Yes but who wants a Transit van as their tow vehicle? 

Get another EURO 6 Diesel, you won't see a ban that will have any real impact in our lifetime. What are they going to do to replace all the Trucks, Buses, Trains, Cars & Taxi's ?  Not to mention Ocean going ships and of course aircraft which run on what is basically Parrafin. Hybrid and alternative technologies are no where near ready to take over yet. It's just about Countries / Governments being seen to make the right noises 

Transits are still diesels and would still be banned from city centres.

Milothedog,   I am not so sure that we wont see it in our lifetime.  There are always going to be existing cars that need to be "retired", but if 3 countries have already set a ban on selling fossil based cars then you can be sure others will follow.  Germany being one of them and having a huge car industry, in 5 years our car landscape will be very different especially for new cars.    There are already electric trucks on the way.   It will take time for the new to overtake the old, but I have a feeling we are on the cusp of a revolution.   

If I buy a car now then in 3-4yrs when it is due to be changed then it will be worth nothing IF electric cars are starting to be the in thing.

I agree it is not here now,  and that the top 10 worse depreciating cars are mainly electric cars at the moment.   But the time is coming and sooner than we may realise.

BTW:  I am not an electric person at the moment, I also ride a motorbike and dont see that being feasible to be electric either!

Electric racing motorbikes are already here.

What has not been thought through is where is the electricity to come from if we have difficulty Keeping the lights on now. How are people who do not have 'off street' parking going to recharge? cables across the pavement? At a lecture I attended by one of the Big 6, it was stated that if those arriving home from work all 'plugged in'  their cars in the evening, every street in the UK would have to have larger cables installed. In other words the whole UK would have to be rewired !!.The total ignorance of politicians is breathtaking.

With all the change in the air over the future of fuel usage I have i wonder about the possibility of a hybrid simply because of crazy bureaucratic restrictions.  I looked at a Mitsubishi Outllander PHEV which is actually far larger a car than we would choose.  It took me twenty seconds to dismiss it as I found the driver's seat about as comfortable as a park bench.  I have seen someone towing with one of those and towing a similar weight of van to ours so it can be done.  Toyota are now offering a RAV 4 2.5 hybrid with 4X4 which I might look at.  Again, it is larger than we would choose and has a stupid nose weight restriction of 70 kg.  I may be fussy about seats but nothing so far matches the comfort of our Qashqai. 

My enquiries at both Mitsubishi and Toyota, suggest that whilst the two Hybrid 4x4's are OK for local journeys. Neither are as fuel efficient as claimed and are certainly not developed enough yet to be regarded as serious tow tugs!

To answer the OP. I had the same decision to make  just over 12 months ago, and I discovered even then that there is now a severe shortage of serious towing vehicles available.

I fully accept that the new small "toy engines' now fitted to most pseudo 4x4's do put out a much better power weight ratio than I would have expected. But this old Dinosaur loves big lazy V6's and they are a dying breed. So I decided to pay off my PCP and stick with my lovely Mercedes ML300. A faultless tow car, economical both on fuel and especially tyres. So why change?  I'm sticking with what I like!

TF 

My enquiries at both Mitsubishi and Toyota, suggest that whilst the two Hybrid 4x4's are OK for local journeys. Neither are as fuel efficient as claimed and are certainly not developed enough yet to be regarded as serious tow tugs!

To answer the OP. I had the same decision to make  just over 12 months ago, and I discovered even then that there is now a severe shortage of serious towing vehicles available.

I fully accept that the new small "toy engines' now fitted to most pseudo 4x4's do put out a much better power weight ratio than I would have expected. But this old Dinosaur loves big lazy V6's and they are a dying breed. So I decided to pay off my PCP and stick with my lovely Mercedes ML300. A faultless tow car, economical both on fuel and especially tyres. So why change?  I'm sticking with what I like!

TF