first trip towing caravan

[Jayx5]

me, the wife and three kids left sunny Chelmsford on our first trip out towing our caravan with our new x5, we are staying in Norfolk for 4 nights so a nice two and a half hour journey to test it out.
it towed like a dream, so stable compared to our touran that we used before and bags more power and so comfortable (comfort seats are awsome)
the kids had plenty of room in the back and didn't fight once!
used just over a quarter of a tank of diesel so not to bad considering 5 up lots of stuff and a 1400kg caravan, I've bought some leather cleaner/ conditioner with me so gonna give the seats a little clean up.
I'm off to relax now with a cloudy apple Strongbow.

[gmc15]

Excellent, I have always found my outfit to be very stable, and plenty of power when needed

[Graeme]

Me too!  Just back from Kendal to Teesside with 2007 E70 3.0d SE pulling a 1600kg van without any difficulties.  Odometer just turned 160,000 miles so touch wood!

Graeme

[Leslie]

Just got a towbar on mine so good to hear it's a decent towcar.

[Alchemist]

Was about to post my own thread along these lines but as I've just done exactly the same - first towing trip pulling our caravan (an elderly Elddis single axle) with 2 kids on board plus small dog!

The X5 was uber stable and towed like a dream, especially compared to my E46. We drove from Surrey to sunny Stratford on Avon, so a couple of hundred miles round trip. On the motorways the X5 had complete control over the caravan, we have an old fashioned towbar type (swanneck) with separate stabiliser.

Towing wise I achieved around 20mpg, but I wasn't holding back.

Car was super handy when we arrived as had my folks in the next caravan, hence we used the X5 all week as a 6 seater + dog, when in the past we'd have driven 2 cars everywhere which highlights how versatile the X5 is.

[Graeme]

I'm pleased to hear you're delighted with the towing capabilities of the car.  I've towed for 45 years, 5 with an E533.0d X5 and most recently 10 years with an E70 3.0d X5. After Volvos and Mercs, including 3 litre diesels,  the X5s have been the best towcars I've had in relation to pulling away, performance on hills, stability and stopping. For the last 20 years I've had a 1600kg van with Alko stabilisation built into the hitch.

Consumption depends very much on several factors. Keeping the speed to 55-60mph on motorways and autobahns improves consumption by 3-4 mpg. The best I've had with the E70 came from towing in Holland and Germany where caravans are not allowed to overtake on 2 lane autobahns during the day.  So it's sit in convoys with the lorries at 56mph - the car returned 25.5 from Rotterdam to Basel.  Pushing it to 60mph drops consumption to 22.  Hilly and bendy roads take their toll on consumption, as does pushing into a wind.  Going over the  A66 from Teesside to the Lakes  if there's  a west wind (usually is) consumption drops to 19.  On roads where the more you have to slow and then accelerate again, the more fuel it uses so pulling a heavy van with the car loaded obviously reduces consumption - avoiding roads with roundabouts or junctions helps but sometimes you just have to use them!

Enjoy the holidays...

Graeme

[Alchemist]

Thanks Graeme, I would get up to 27mpg towing with my E46 BUT I'm more than happy to trade this for a more stable and solid towing experience with the X5 - absolutely no complaints. Put simply, above 50mph with the E46 there was always a sense of the caravan controlling the car, well as with the X5 it's the other way around - feels heavier and much more solid - which made the journey(s) much more relaxing for all.

We also saved a load on fuel during the holiday by using just the X5 with its 7 seats, as opposed to taking two cars when we went out for the day as a group.

So pleased with this car.

[Jayx5]

when you was towing what rpm does your gearbox change at?
mine was changing at about 3000rpm which seemed high even the wife commented on it!

[Alchemist]

Absolutely same here. Mine has the 6psd box and I found myself feathering/coming off the throttle to encourage it to change up.

This then continued on the slower roads near home, and ended up making a few gear changes manually.

I use the carly app and discovered a feature in it today that resets the gearbox 'memory' as apparently it adapts its changes to your driving - and mine has been holding the revs a little since taking the caravan off.

It's now changing up earlier.

[Alchemist]

...how's about an X5 owners caravan meet-up?

[Jayx5]

what roof bars do you use on yours?

[Alchemist]

[quote="Jayx5"]
what roof bars do you use on yours?
[/quote]

Some square section Mont Blanc, bought them years ago for my E36 - take seconds to fit, thankfully just wide enough for the e70

[Jayx5]

I thought they had to be model specific to fit on the roof rails

[Leslie]

I think the m sport needs specific roof rails as they are closed in whereas the se may have open type ones that are more a universal fit. Just by looking on eBay at some descriptions as I was thinking of getting a set so may be wrong...

[Graeme]

I always use manual changes - in auto it will hold far too long - gets up to 3-3500rpm. The weight of the van fools the auto box!  Normally change up manually at 2000 on level roads.  Drop down from 6th to 5th if revs fall below 2000 on hills when doing about 55mph. Generally pull away gently on level roads in 2nd.  On single carriageways speed limited to 40 or 50mph I rarely get into 6th (6 speed box).

Graeme