Tow Car

[kaiser]

Looking at getting a 9-5 Estate to tow a race car (total weight with trailer about 1600kg). Does anyone have any experiance as to whether it makes a good tow car or not and whether the 'base' version will pull ok or if I should go for a higher spec car

TIA

[nicecupoftea]

It's about weight not about power.

Would have thought the 3.0 v6 diesel or the 2.3 lpt would make the best tow car powerwise, not sure how much you can tow with one. Anybody with a 9-5 have the handbook handy?

[kaiser]

Sure, I understand it is weight that is the main factor affecting stability, but need to make sure there is enough power/torque so that towing doesn't become too tedious in the stop / start traffic on our roads these days.

[aeropilot]

Because Saab specifically design their engines for torque rather than power you should be OK with any of the 9-5 estates, although, I would say you would be better of with any of the 2.3 engines or the 3.0TiD rather than a 2.0 or 2.2Tid.

[NiceCupOfTea]

According to this page:

www.buyacar.co.uk/technicalSpecificationyq13321.jhtml

Max (braked) towing weight is 1800kg so you should be OK (that's on a new 1.9TiD 06 model saloon - older cars will weigh the sameish so should still be fine, but I'd go for a bigger engine )

[ledger]

gut I bought my Aero estate from used to tow his Caterham 7 with it, I have no idea how much that would weigh though

[nicecupoftea]

Guy who sold me my T16S used to tow an F-off caravan with it Poor old girl