Towing reduces your car’s fuel economy and performance. How can you improve this?
First, choose a sensible combination of car and caravan. A relatively large and powerful car will match a greater range of tourers, but it’s seldom going to be a very economical choice. Diesel engines, however, give better economy than petrol, and modern ones are adequately refined and powerful too.
The performance and economy of a larger vehicle is often less severely affected by towing than a smaller model. An outfit with a larger, taller car (4x4, MPV, or an estate perhaps), such as the Mitsubishi Shogun or the Grandis, tends to suffer less from drag than most.
Automatics used to give significantly worse economy and performance, but modern models are nearly as good as manuals, and have appreciable advantages in terms of low speed manoeuvring and hill starts when towing.
For best performance, you need to understand your engine’s characteristics, and watch the rev counter. Torque (the pulling power) is the most important factor – for good hill climbing, for example, choose a gear and throttle setting which keeps the engine speed where the torque is relatively high. Information on engine characteristics is usually in the vehicle handbook or brochure, although some manufacturers give less detail than others.
To improve economy, try and drive in the highest gear possible, but don’t hold a high gear for too long if road speed falls, or there’s an incline ahead: an engine struggling in a high gear is inefficient, and won’t give much acceleration if you suddenly need it. It’s worth changing down a gear (use the manual shift facility on an automatic) as you approach an incline, rather than waiting until the engine starts to labour.
Do check the car handbook for advice on towing techniques. Manufacturers sometimes provide guidance for the characteristics of their vehicles.