Will my saloon car tow my hippo?

I may have to tow my hippo to the garage on Monday.

Does anyone know whether or not my BMW 318 (1900cc petrol) will be capable of towing my Freelander TD4 "station wagon" for about 3-5 miles? (with rope)

Power Output 118 bhp
Torque 180 Nm 133 lb-ft
Weight 1360 kg

Cheers

Rich

Yes it will..no probs..i suggest you accelerate really hard going downhill, then brake sharply to reduce wear on the rope.

storm99 said:

Yes it will..no probs..i suggest you accelerate really hard going downhill, then brake sharply to reduce wear on the rope.

Click to expand...

I would, but I actually like my little 318... Otherwise, not such a bad idea!

Don't tow it, unless you want a repair bill for the transmission. It's £50 for a truck to carry a Freelander 10 miles to a garage. Most brake down garages will do it happily. Your Freelander 1 weights about 1.65ton.

Check the GTW (MAM) of the beemer if it's more than 3000kg then yes. If it's not then you'll be overweight anyway. But for a short haul then yes I don't see why not. after all your not lifting the gaylander your towing it & I doubt the rolling resistance is much more than a normal car.


Edit check this linkk for you max towing weight.


http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/bmw.htm#3cou02

As far as I can remember both the owners manual and haynes recomend you disconect/remove the propshaft before you tow your hippo.

i had a 2litre nissan primera and towed 1.9tonne easy and that was up a 10% hill.
i would recomend driving the route as if you were towing and think of any hills up and down. i can't see that it wouldn't the only thing would be to do it without getting caught for towing over your kerb weight by the police!!

Ty, just got back. Kinda ironic that my little old 1.9 BMW (which I plan/planned on selling) had to tow the Freelander to the garage.

Surely its a 1.8..like bob the bimmer i had..??

OldIrishWulf said:

As far as I can remember both the owners manual and haynes recomend you disconect/remove the propshaft before you tow your hippo.

Click to expand...

I've checked regarding this Joe...

If all four wheels are on the ground, then it's all fine, no disconnecting.

If the front wheels are lifted and stationary while towing, the prop will need to be removed.

It's due to the front wheels needing to spin faster than the rear, or else VCU will get fecked.

storm99 said:

Surely its a 1.8..like bob the bimmer i had..??

Click to expand...

Nope, early E46 318's had the 1.9's. Later E46 318's had a new 2.0 litre engine though.

I think you're referring to the older E36 318 which had a 1800cc engine.

Great cars nonetheless. I am seriously considering getting rid of my TD4 hippo now instead of my trusty old BMW. Funny, considering I bought the hippo to replace the BMW. Still not entirely sure what to do tbh.


Rich

Ah yes..i had the e36...i had the decision made for me by a foot of snow, temp of minus 18 and the central reservation on the motorway outside copenhagen in february.

I do miss bob.....but our last trip was a tad eventful lol

Rest in pieces Bob..

why do you need to get it to a garage?..whats not working?

OldIrishWulf said:

why do you need to get it to a garage?..whats not working?

Click to expand...

Couldn't change gear. Managed to get by for awhile by pressing very very hard on the clutch pedal.

It would change gear fine when the engine was off though. But considering I needed 2 cars to get to and from the garage anyway, it made more sense to just tow it.

Rich

Thing to watch out for is your insurance. You can only tow to the first safe point. That’s into a side road etc off an A road. Obviously not 10 miles. Length of rope is limited. If your doing anything more than this and the police stop you, or you have an accident, then you’ll get points or/and need a new insurance policy.

Keep the Freelander.

never heard of that one, but i know you cant tow on a m-way. and that the towed car doesnt need mot

First of all there are no laws to stop you from towing anyone with a rope bar Aframe or anything else for that Matter. But you may only recover a brokendown vehicle to a place of safety.

You can tow on a motorway. but only to services or nearest exit.

The towed vehicle has to be taxed and mot'd or else it wouldn't be allowed on the road. and your excuse of towing to a place of safety would be a bit fooked if the car wasn't legally allowed to be on a road in the first place. :doh:

lr110 said:

never heard of that one, but i know you cant tow on a m-way. and that the towed car doesnt need mot

Click to expand...

Towing a broken down vehicle to safety is allowed, but towing one from home to a garage when your insurance doesn’t cover you, is not allowed. That’s the topic the original poster asked about.

The towed vehicle should be causing an obstruction in the above. Also you can only tow to a place of safety like the nearest layby etc. The bigger issue is your own safety. Easier to get the AA to do it – especially if it’s dangerous.

From the dvla: An exemption from the driver licensing trailer limit allows a category B licence holder to tow a broken down vehicle from a position where it would otherwise cause danger or obstruction to other road users."

Not sure what the wording is. If your not insured to tow (home to garage), and you get caught, then your not insured. When you get the points and have to tell your insurance, they have the choice to cancel your policy. Then when you try for insurance again, you have to answer “yes” to the question: have you ever been refused insurance?