If I were rich and had loads of space, I might buy an extra vehicle to tow the caravan with. Either:

1) A big SUV like a Touareg, but they are all way expensive
2) A pickup
3) A van
4) A proper 4×4 ie landrover
5) A small SUV or crossover type thing ie VW Tiguan

The Passat only gets 30mpg towing, and I doubt any of those would get much worse.

What’s best for towing?

tbh you need to look at the towing capabilities of all models as they are all diffeent, ‘modern’ 4×4 wanna be’s have gone down the smaller engine better fuel economy route, so tbh depends on the weight of your caravan as to whatn would suit, as it stands your question is in the ‘how long is a piece of string’ area

I know, I’m just curious really. Wondering what a standard white type van would be like. You see them towing fairly frequently and they look pretty stable.

Wondering what a standard white type van would be like

I’ve got a Vivaro and would expect 30-35mpg while towing a caravan (assuming it’s a motorway trip). As it can tow around 1.2t it’s easy to forget you have something hanging off the back at times!

Don’t underestimate the passat, used one to tow a 3t trailer before. 😯

4×4 may be useful for getting through muddy gateways in the winter (used to have horse trailers) but is negated by road biased tyres.

See a lot of Shoguns/Discoverys towing caravans

Don’t get me wrong, very pleased with the Passat, but ideally I’d have something more economical for normal driving, then something bigger for towing. People seem to be getting 30mpg from SUVs and 4x4s just the same as I do on the Passat, but presumably with more stability and less wear and tear on their heavier duty engines.

Good point about 4×4 and muddy sites tho.

i expect the people getting more mpg from their 4x4s are either

a) embelishing (sp)
b) have a more economical driving style than you

Seriously, the fuel used lugging around all the extra weight, and driving the extra pair of wheels like a 4×4 does doesn’t just go away when you tow something. The difference looks like less when towing but it will still be there.

The extra weight – yes. But the ‘van would be in the lee of your car, so I’d be interestd to see what the towing MPG of a Landy was. Of the five motorway trips I’ve done in the Passat, best was 34mpg, worst was 26mpg! With a 950kg van lightly laden…

my navara averages 36-37 mpg and believe me I am not the least bit ‘conservative’ when driving…..

From my experience with (cough) caravans

Isuzu Trooper – 25mpg
Range Rover 200tdi – 25mpg
Discovery 300 tdi – 25mpg
Passat – 27mpg with a higher avergae speed

My current passat 4 motion is the best of the bunch imo. wallows a lot less in the corners than the softer sprung 4 x 4’s.

Landrover for anything heavy

I can get 34mpg in my Discovery TD5 and when I towed a 1.5t trailer in the summer it only went down slightly (and definitely no embellishment) 😉

How heavy of a van is that Marcus? And what engine Passat?