New hybrid AWD - towing?

[Flatcoat]

Is anyone towing a caravan with theirs? Very tempted with an Excel but two potential drawbacks, noisy (possibly dealt with by some additional soundproofing/heavy carpet in the boot) and poor towing reviews. Refers to unsettled on motorways. Anyone able to comment?

[Teresap]

8 hours ago, Flatcoat said:

Is anyone towing a caravan with theirs? Very tempted with an Excel but two potential drawbacks, noisy (possibly dealt with by some additional soundproofing/heavy carpet in the boot) and poor towing reviews. Refers to unsettled on motorways. Anyone able to comment?

Yes I tow with my 2020 exel it a fantastic tow car. But was tempted to upgrade to the phev unfortunately not suitable for towing 

[ernieb]

The braked towing spec for the 2021 RAV4 PHEV is 1500Kg, less than the hybrid version for sure.

[PeteB]

This may help...

 

[philip42h]

1 hour ago, PeteB said:

This may help...

 

Though there is ample scope for a little more "in the US" confusion here. He quotes the towing capacity of the US RAV4 hybrid as 1,750 lbs - that's about 800 kg which is not much more than the unbraked capacity of 750 kg here in the UK. He then goes on to load up his trailer and, by virtue of an arithmetic error, loads it to 2,000 lbs total - which is a mere 900 kg. The braked towing capacity of a UK spec HEV is 1,650 kg so his test is rather 'lightweight' - even Ernie's PHEV would have coped with that without breaking a sweat! 🙂

[Marcusthehat]

I towed perhaps 1500kG  and found it all quite effortless, though, needless to say the fuel consumption suffered.

We had bought the AWD just in case I needed to tow.

Only a 50 mile round trip on mixed roads a couple of times.

mth

[Flatcoat]

How much does it suffer? Any others comment on towing mpg? 

[Teresap]

Depends on weight of caravan and your speed mine drops to about 30 mpg

[Yugguy1970]

Another consideration for using the AWD for towing is grip.  Caravans and trailers can push the back down, lift the front up which for FWD is a bad thing.

We are pondering joining the dreaded caravan brigade in a few years and I'd want AWD for that.

[ernieb]

I towed a caravan for many years before we bought a lodge on a quiet park in Derbyshire and can confirm that there is a big difference between towing in a 2WD and 4WD. This is especially true if the car lock wheels and divide the power as required by the road and wheel slip conditions some are better than others. We only towed in the UK but did so in all four season, having one Christmas in a York site in deep snow. The car at the time, Isuzu 3.1 D 4x4 with wheel lockers made light work of the conditions, mind you you could drive that car up the side of a house if required!