By now y’all must know I’m more interested in utility than in fancy. A good long walk on a sunny Saturday yielded a wide variety of pure, functional vehicles and machinery. Starting with this fresh-fruit-hauler, which I caught just a few hundred meters from my house.
It’s a well-used Fendt 260 V smalspoortrekker (narrow track tractor), ready to tow a bunch of single axle trailers, each carrying a standard size crate. Such tractors are used by fruit growers and horticulturists.
This trio on the other side of the road is about to get loaded in the orchard.
Right now it’s peak fruit plucking season. When talking apples and pears, that is.
Over to the building contractor, a 2011 Peugeot Boxer 2.2 HDi panel van with a low roof. Clearly very much related to the Fiat Ducato~Ram ProMaster.
On the move, a Peugeot 306 wagon with a tandem axle flatbed trailer. A sunny Saturday is also an ideal day to hook up a trailer and get yourself the materials needed for your home improvement job. If you don’t own a trailer, you simply borrow or rent one.
From left to right: a Volkswagen Transporter, a Mercedes-Benz Vito, two Volkswagen Caddies and a Peugeot Expert.
The shipyard’s runabout, a 2014 Peugeot Bipper panel van. A shorty, with a wheelbase of only 251 cm (98.8″). The Peugeot Bipper is a rebadged Fiat Fiorino, just like the Citroën Nemo. The van is powered by a 1.3 liter Fiat Multijet II turbodiesel.
2016 Volkswagen Caddy 2.0 TDI panel van, longest wheelbase model (301 cm – 118.4″).
A Liebherr tracked excavator and a few crew members.
2008 Peugeot Expert 2.0 HDiF panel van with a 2010 Henra tandem axle dump trailer with dropsides all around, the combination is owned by a gardener.
This series of vans was also sold with a Citroën (naturally) and Fiat badge. Later on Toyota also joined the club and called theirs the ProAce.
2018 DAF CF 370 FAN 6×2 truck, its job is to transport an asphalt milling machine. It seems to be all set and ready for a Dukes of Hazzard type of stunt.
In the foreground a 2011 Volkswagen Transporter 2.0 TDI, in the background a 2002 Opel Combo 1.7 D panel van and a 2007 Toyota Land Cruiser 120-series (Prado) 3.0 D-4D van-conversion. Never mind the Volvo.
Fancy a brutal V8 Scania?
The last one for today, a 2011 Volkswagen Caddy 1.6 TDI, owned by the ANWB Wegenwacht (roadside assistance). No matter where you go here, you simply can not avoid the VW Caddies and Transporters.
Those single axle trailers look kind of look like modern art when they are detached from the tractor.
And that little bipper, why can’t we get a vehicle called bipper?
Looked like a beautiful day in NL. Early fall is my favourite time of year.
The name Bipper is pretty much too cute for me, but in any case, I don’t know if you’d really want actual one, as it’s from the 14y.o. Fiat Punto platform which by now gets literally zero stars in Euro NCAP.
Wow, that unsafe!? Gosh, that is surprising.
Only got zero stars because there were no self-braking or lane departure warning systems. That got it an automatic zero stars.
The structure itself is stable.
The same Punto that got zero stars in 2017, got five in 2005.
What?!? No self-braking or lane departure warning systems? I want one!
I agree that the rating system is whacko, but it remains that it’s an old design, and the (for me) crucial passenger/driver ratings on their own were a bit low even then (looking at risk areas, not the total in that category). The amazing tech of body strength engineering has moved on in that time.
As for the rest of the tech additions, ABS, ESP and (arguably) rear-view cameras are the only “real” ones: the lane departure, etc, are only to account for fools distracted by other tech or their own idiocy in the first place, and for this, the only solution would be 4mph and a man in a red flag in front of them.
I do find it interesting how the trailers in Europe that get towed behind vehicles differ from those in the U.S. The axles on U.S trailers tend to be towards the rear of the trailer.
I am reminded by these pictures of the “Great American Anti-Towing Conspiracy”
Vehicles sold here in the USA and rated to tow somewhere between 0 and 1000 lbs are usually rated for 3 time that in Europe.
And of course, Americans think they will need to tow three times that, so they tend to buy 3/4 ton pickups with 6-7 liter Diesel engines, just in case they actually do have to tow something. (Apologies to our CC friends who do actually tow with their big trucks).
I was thinking of the Peugeot wagon (since I own a European wagon – Opel pretending to be a Buick.)
Current GMC Terrain with 2.0T and towing package is rated for 3500 lbs.
Buick Regal TourX with 2.0T, standard AWD, and no available towing package is rated for either nothing or 1000 lbs depending on which model year owners manual you consult.
Nice car, Buick Regal TourX equals Opel Insignia Country Tourer. The Opel’s towing capacity ranges from 1,805 to 2,200 kg (3,980 to 4,850 lbs), depending on engine, transmission, AWD (according to a review I just read). That applies to trailers with brakes, as Evan points out below.
The Peugeot wagon in the article is in the Golf / Focus class, so one segment below the Insignia ~ Regal.
All I would really want is the ability to hitch up a small trailer, head down to the home improvement store, load up 3,000 of building material, and drive 35 mph over surface streets to home.
Unfortunately in the USA if the manufacturer doesn’t rate the vehicle to tow its nearly impossible to get anyone to sell you the proper equipment to set it up.
Both Curt and Draw-tite offer class II hitches for your car, which is 350/3500 rating. https://www.etrailer.com/hitch-2019_Buick_Regal+TourX.htm
There are also plug and play wiring systems from Teknosha and Curt. https://www.etrailer.com/t1-2019_Buick_Regal+TourX.htm
Now those are flat 4 so to add brakes, which are required in many states once you go over 2,000lbs, you’ll need an adapter to a 7 pin and you’ll have to wire that part by yourself.
So not a problem, if that is really what you want to do.
I should add that both of those hitches are no-drill and a 50 min install, though it looks like you’ll have to cut the bumper cover, which would be a no go for me.
I’ve studied this at length, Dan. There really is a difference. Sort of.
First difference is speed. From what I’ve read/seen, most of Europe has a speed limit of 80km/h (~50mph) and it is strictly enforced. In the US, a FEW states have lower speed limits for vehicles towing trailers, but it seems to be rarely enforced.
Second is axles. Most of the trailers I see in Europe, like the ones in the post, have two axles. Exceptions for very small trailers, but two axles make the tongue load on the towing vehicle much lighter, i.e. less dependent on the towing vehicle’s suspension.
Third is brakes. Again with the exception of very light trailers, most trailers in Europe are equipped with their own brakes. Much less common in the US until you get into much heavier trailers.
So while some of the American anti-towing conspiracy is caused by over-cautious lawyers, some of it is really legit.
Two axles doesn’t make the tongue weight any lower, you still want 10-15% of the total weight on the tongue, if you want it to track properly and safely.
Many states in the US require brakes on trailers that weigh more than 2,000 lbs, I know mine does so finding a trailer with a capacity higher than that w/o brakes is very hard, at least a factory built one sold by a licensed dealer.
I believe the axles are further forward and the tongue weight percentage is lower in Europe, hence the A) higher ratings for the vehicles themselves and B) actual enforced and obeyed speed limits. Both factors play into each other.
Nobody in Europe careens down the freeway at 75 mph with an overloaded trailer. But driving around town with a level trailer is fine. I’d imagine in most of Europe there is actually training required and provided to use and tow a trailer properly, rather than just relying on “common sense”.
Yes location of the axles does factor into the tongue weight, but loading is still the key and low tongue weight makes the combination hard to control, no matter what continent you are on, it is simple physics.
A proper tandem axle is interconnected so they work together as a single pivot point. Otherwise the weight on each axle can vary significantly depending on ball height and terrain.
There is a video of a Ford Superduty 6×6 that can’t make it up the hill making the rounds on the internet currently that shows how the axle loads aren’t shared when not properly interconnected to share the load.
My car’s towbar is rated for 1700kg braked, I dont know what its gross train weight but its in the owners manual which is in the car some 200kms away.
Interesting that the roll-over protection bar on the Fendt tractor is in front of the operator’s platform. In this country, the roll bar tends to get mounted in back. Which may go back to Deere’s patenting of their Roll-Guard roll-over protection “system” (the roll bar, plus the seat belt. You need to wear your seat belt on your tractor, too, unless you have an enclosed cab) in 1966. Which they promptly opened up to any manufacturer, which was kind of cool. I haven’t rolled any tractors, fortunately, but my Dad did put a couple on their sides.