VW T5 Van & Van 

Hey Mr C, couple of reasons sir: 1, the battery I had on the van at that time was not quite powerful enough so frequently cut out after a couple of shunts back n forth. 4 x motors on 2 x axles take a lot of punch. 2. I got to mess about with cameras(which I love) and which I hoped give ideas to help others who may not have been able to stretch to the expense of fitting a motor mover. I did toy with using a video call to do similar but used the cameras. Thanks for the feedback. Rich. ;o )

Hey Rich (good name that), mine was boosted to 148Bhp. So you will be fine. I got down to third a couple of time on the really steep hills in Cornwall. The M5 was a doddle. The beauty is that the van shapes the air before hitting the van much better than a car or pickup so the caravan will track better behind you. Don’t get me wrong, you will still feel those large wagons though! All the best Rich.

you be fine i used to tow a coachman 575 with an old swb transit 2.5Di non turbo with 76hp.

Hey Ant. Yes, the back did open even when hitched. I only had an issue if the jockey was fully up. Happy caravaning. It’s fab fun. Personal fave is when you’re inside cosy and you hear rain pinging on the roof. Cheers Rich ;o )

@@ItsAdventure oh that’s great thanks for the info Yeh we did hire a motorhome and then lucky enough to hire a touring caravan which proved so much better for us with young boys and with the van combo it’s the perfect set up in my opinion And I completely agree on your personal fav of the rain !

Hey Declan. I had a 1.9 manual but it was remapped to 150bhp. 2.5 auto will be fine. Trick with twin axle is turning. They are for sure harder to turn and refuse to turn in the spot so I had to use a lot of revs to manoeuvre in tight spaces. LWB and long van are perfect on the motorway. Just not so great in the lanes of Cornwall by me. Cheers Rich ;o )

@ItsAdventure hello mate, thanks for getting back to me. I have towed a twin axle before for a friend and found it towed alot nicer than my single, reduced the pitching by half in my mondeo estate i had at the time and I maneuvered the twin onto the pitch quite well, although that was on grass so that probably went in my favour. I will miss the range rover for towing, I dont think anything else will compare but I just think the van would be a good edition plus converting to a day van will be fun. I wish I lived in Cornwall, im not jealous at all in the slightest 😂

@@declanhodson8863 ha ha. I can vouch for the move we made. Eleven years back we lived in Midlands. The difference being able to get to a choice of beaches in 20mins vs 3hrs to see the mud of the Severn estuary is massive! U know what tho, anyone can move house. Just a question of how far u want to go. Does mean we had no further need for our caravan. So it went couple of years back. The day van will be great. No 60mph limits. No car park hésiter barrier issues and with a van for those longer stays with a more relaxed pace….perfection! Cheers Rich ;o )

@ItsAdventure I thought so, your accent isn't devon/cornwall. I also used to live in the west midlands. Worcester in fact, but moved in the totally wrong direction. Now in the north east. My friend lives in Devon now though, he had the right idea 😂

Hi Sami, Sorry for delay in reply. Camera is a GoPro. Cheers Rich

Again talking 2ltr tdi engine with DSG gearbox in my Amarok pickup, I tried both. I found the best results came when using sport mode and getting slightly higher revs. I had come from a 4.2ltr supercharged Range Rover so was really surprised that a vehicle with less than half the engine capacity could perform as well as it did. If you can, get one on test with a tow hitch and try it! Best of luck. Rich

Ha ha, you win with trailer size my friend. The caravan is just under 8meters and the van just over 5meters. ;o )

Hey aurimytis11, the 646 is 1508Kg unladen. But I carry awnings, bedding, food and clothes. So probably more like 1700-1750kg. Thanks for the complement. I do try to make them easy to watch. It’s great to get feedback! Thank you.

The van is a little over 1500kg but doesn’t feel that heavy while towing due to the twin axle. When you’re trying to turn it in a tight space however, it feels twice that weight. Thank goodness for motor movers!

Hi Stephen, Its a bit daunting first time. Just take your time and do not stress. Acknowledge you will get traffic behind you from time to time. The bus was wide enough to give me view down each side of the caravan. Tow mirrors are cool but didn't produce much wider field of view for me. UK Legal position is: You must have an adequate view of the road behind you. Fit suitable towing mirrors if your trailer or caravan is wider than the rear of your car. Hope that helps Rich ;o )

@@ItsAdventure thanks alot for your reply, i can't wait to start caravaning

Well done Stephen. That’s sounds like a rather scary prospect! More so if ever you need to reverse a rig like that! Pretty easy going though once you’re settled on to the motorways.

@@broadys_onI found it much easier to reverse than smaller trailers as the axles are further back, it doesnt react as much to the slight movement in steering and is it is much larger, you can see what the caravan is doing much easier than you would with a small 5x4ft trailer. I reversed it a few times. first when I parked in a HGV spot at Wetherby. Then reversed it into the corner of a Mcdonalds car park in Wythenshawe near Manchester airport. Then as I briefly lived in Wythenshawe a few years before. I remembered you had to head through the houses to get to the airport before getting back onto the M56 towards Wales. I dont use a sat nav, I wing it mostly but have google maps if I get stuck or pin point my destination for that final mile. Driving around the houses, I noticed the tram system had been extended into Wythenshawe and the airport, so some of the roads are not where they used to be, I got a little dis-orientated. I missed my turn, but I took the next right as I remembered that it was another way to the airport although a no through route as it was a tight residential street. It was still sign posted airport on one of those blue cycle route signs so I thought nothing of it. About 500 yards up the street after weaving around parked cars on both sides of the street. I noticed my cock up. It had been closed off with the installation of concrete Bollards as the tram tracks now crossed at the bottom. So that street was now a cul-de-sac. I couldnt reverse all the way back to the main street as the parked cars would have been almost impossible and wreckless to attempt to reverse back. I noticed there was a small green area with a sign saying NO BALL GAMES ALLOWED. One of the residents had a car parked on it. So I thought I give it ago reversing onto that. It took a couple of shunts, a did knock down and empty wheelie bin with the tail swing. I then noticed a humming sound when I turned my steering which was now heavy. Fought my way out of the cul de sac passing the parked cars and a bin lorry that decided to turn into the cul de sac before allowing me to get out of it first. Drove the rest of the way to the campsite/storage area just in the border of Wales. Found my hose to power steering pump has come off. So bodged that and topped up the fluid and drove home. My main worry wasnt so much as the size of the foot print I have on the road. Which was 12.8 metres total length when I was stopped by the DVSA at a check point near Oldham. It was more the fact it had an ALKO stabiliser hitch on it that I not used before. Not used any stabiliser before actually. I used to be at that time very anxious of cross winds with a caravan on the back. I am also a HGV class 1 driver but you dont feel the wind so much unless you have an empty double deck curtainside trailer on your back. But I think the caravan was reasonably light for its size. But I was impressed with that ALKO hitch. I felt a bit queezy the first few miles with the motion the caravan nose weight bopping up and down on the back of the minibus even on a road that seemed flat. But was fun. I have towed all sorts of caravans up to that point and afterwards, but not as big as that. I towed a large single axle Bailey Phoenix around central London once when I used to do light haulage. I had a couple of deliveries in the Kent area and picked up the caravan in Surrey and had a collection come up in on Ealing Broadway that was an urgent job to Gateshead. I turned into side streets and I was expected to reverse to let cars get pass me. I not took a caravan to London since

Man what an epic adventure! It is always an eye opener when a wagon driver tows a caravan for the first time. Sounds like you are getting lots of practice! Well done sir!

Hey Matt Mattius, he is an absolute star. I spent months training him as a pup and now he’s grown it’s really paid off! Cheers. Rich.

Aye and he now has a new boss. A tiny daschund who tries to own him!

I had a 150BHP dsg in my Amarok pickup. That coped just fine towing this van. The MPG took a massive hit (as you would expect) but you will be fine with that setup. Cheers. Rich