What Car? Q&A - Is my boat too heavy for my car to tow?

Q: I own a small boat, which, together with its trailer, weighs in at about 1400kgs. I wanted to tow it with my old Citroen Xantia TD, but a friend told me it's too light for the job. Is he right? It looks fine to me.
Alexander Beckett, Langbank

A: Your friend is correct. Your Citroen Xantia has a kerbweight of 1256kg, and, if your trailer with the boat on it is 1400kg, that's too heavy.

Good towing practice is not to tow anything that is heavier than your car's kerbweight. Ideally, you shouldn't tow anything heavier than 85% of your car's kerbweight, because this means your car is heavier than your trailer, and if the outfit gets into a snake (a rare but nasty phenomenon where the trailer 'snakes' violently from side to side), your car has the weight to cope with it.

With this in mind, you should be looking for a car with a kerbweight of around 1647kg (1400kg divided by 0.85 = 1647kg). That means something as heavy as a Vauxhall Omega if you're buying used, or an Audi A6 estate or similar.

Seeing as you may be towing onto slippery slipways, you may do well to consider a 4x4 for the extra traction - such cars tend to be heavier, too. Something like a Mitsubishi Shogun would more than fit the bill.