"Mass in Running Order", in type apporval terms, means the mass of the empty vehicle, with all tools, (jack, spare etc) normally carried, all fluids (oil, coolant, brakes, screenwash etc), a 90% full tank of fuel, and a 75kg driver.

You "kerb weight" (not quite sure how that's defined) ought to be mass in running order, LESS the 75kg for the driver (and maybe the fuel if kerb weight doesn't include fuel). If you can get hold of a copy of an EC Certificate of Conformity for your car, it should relate to your particular vehicle - they're unique to each vehicle. Ask your dealer. they may charge though. The CoC states Mass in running order. "kerb weight" is a vague and ancient UK concept that isn't really used in the rest of Europe. I've never weighed out T30, but intuitively, 1700kg seems a bit heavy (and a suspiciously round number)!

Any scrapyard will have a weighbridge and they ought to be calibrated regularly by (I think!) Trading Standards. When I built myself a trailer recently, I went round to my local scrapper and they charged me a couple of quid for a "ticket".

 

Thanks. I should probably have referred to what I was looking at was the mass in running order then as I wasn't sure what this included. As you guessed I am just trying to find out the actual vehicle weight with fluids, diesel, etc included plus the driver. If this is around 1700kg (as per the V5) then this is fine and in line with what the caravan club database states (1711kg). The reason for asking if anyone had weighed theirs was that I was curious to know how close to 1700kg it came in as for caravan towing most people work to a recomendation of 85% of the "kerbweight" (basically the mass in running order) of the car (i.e not advisable to go much over this!). Will have to find a local scrapyard who will weigh it in the new year once the tow bar is fitted :thumbs:

PS: The T31 is meant to come in heavier than the T30 which is why this may look a bit high.....but once I have it confirmed on a weighbridge will post an update! Maybe someone else who has done this will be able to confirm what theirs weighed in at?

 

I agree with Avocet. In Holland cars weight always less as the real weight. And that's for the road tax. Goes (example) from 1451 till 1550, from 1551 till 1650 and so on. These days the CO2 is also important (but has nothing to do with the weight, but for road tax it "weight" very much!!!
They weight a empty car without fluid and driver. Than they weight a car with all the fluids and 50% fuel and take the average. And smuggle a bit to keep it under the **51. :lol:
But, even when you let it weight on a weighbridge, you'll see differences...

 

Just in case anyone is interested I took the X-Trail to our local weighbridge last week. The reason for this was to get an accurate "kerbweight" figure as defined by EU regs.......this is useful for towing the caravan as you should aim to not tow more than 85% of the vehicles kerbweight.

Kerbweight is defined under EU regs (as I have since discovered) as the car with 90% tank of fuel, driver (I think it allows for 70kg) plus 6kg basic luggage.

When I weighed mine I was in the drivers seat, the boot was empty and I only had 1/2 tank fuel.

The result = 1820kg!! So a bit more than I expected especially as we always tow with luggage and a full tank.

Thought I would share this as if anyone else on here tows a caravan they might be interested to know. As our new van only weighs in at 1420kg we are well within our 85% guide

 

I wonder how accurate these weigh bridges are at the bottom of their weight measuring range.

 

Thanks for posting the weights dazzer252 I'm sure this will be useful :thumbs:

 

Hello dazzer252,

I am sorry I did not pick up on this thread earlier. Please understand that I do not want this post to be taken as negative - I just want to ensure that the figures are correct. :thumbs:

The whole business of Towing Weights can be confusing...

You are right to have your Exxy weighed... However, I think you should keep your paperwork to hand following you visit to the weighbridge, as your figures are better than these....

http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/kerbweights.htm

http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/nissan.htm

X-Trail 2.0 TD
In production: 2010
Kerb Weight KG: 1651
85% Weight KG: 1403
Max Ball Weight KG: 100
Max Towing Weight KG: 2200

Although your caravan weight of 1430kg is just over the stated "85% Weight". It does come in well under the Maximum Towing Weight of 2,200kg. :thumbs:

I hope this is of assistance. :thumbs: Best wishes, John

 

Thanks John and any comments I always take as a positve :thumbs:

As you correctly mention the maximum braked towing weight is the legal thing to be aware of. As ours is a 2009 model X31 I think this is actually 2000kg as I believe it went up to 2200kg on the newer ones or possible the X31 with the 173 BHP.

As the links point out the kerbweight (or MIRO depending on what you are including in the defination) doesn't have a legal relevance but does assist those towing (especially caravans) to make sure they don't end up with a heavier load than guidelines suggest. Most of those with caravans will always aim for 85% of their known kerbweight or slightly more if they experienced at towing.

Unfortunatly kerb weights willl vary depending on if the car is a manual / auto, what options are fitted and the type of engine. When I was trying to find the listed kerbweight for our model I looked on all the common sites and was always getting different figures!. The caravan clubs technical team informed me that ours should be around 1711kg but that a trip to a local weighbridge was worth a visit to check this. The 1711kg figure would have been fine anyway but I thought it was worth a trip just to see. The bridge was pretty much spot on as I took a friend with me and they weighed it once with him, and once with just me, and the difference was virtually his weight in KG.

I think anyone looking at towing caravan, who is unsure of the kerbweight, should take theirs along and get it weighed as my local council don't even charge for this.

As always you need to ensure that you comply with the vehicles plated weights in terms of towing weight, train weight, etc but on the X-Trail I don't personally worry about these as the figures are way above what we ever tow (not they I ignore them but as I don't ever intend to tow anything over 1550kg)

It would be interesting to know anyone else that has weighed theirs to see how these compare. Ours has the extreme roof lights and a towbar fitted but other than that is standard........

Best Regards

Darren

 

Hello Darren,

Gosh this is hard... I know you want to get this right. :biggrin:

Wherever you look you have conflicting information, I think you are right and the model I chose as an example could be the 173bhp. If you look on the following link the 148bhp is shown as 1475 kg...

http://www.towcar.info/advise_2.php?mer ... &periode=0

None of the sites I have looked at have shown kerb weights much over 1650kg - which is why I am concerned about your 1820kg.

Living in Cumbria - and just off the M6 - I see a lot of Exxys towing caravans heading up to Scotland, so they must be a very capable towing car. I know from personal experience that you need that extra bit of power to "balance" in your car / caravan weights. [About thirty years ago, I towed with a 1300cc Golf and had to plan the route to ensure I avoided any hills. The weights were OK it was the 1300 engine which was the issue.]

I hope one of our T31 colleagues comes up with a kerb weight for their vehicle for you to compare. :thumbs:

Best wishes, John

 

Hi John,
The most accurate figure I could get in writing was 1711kg which was from the caravan clubs technical department. Our V5 also shows the "mass in service" as 1700kg so was similar. I suppose if you add in the weight of the towbar and me in the drivers seat a figure around 1800kg is probably about right.
For some reason the figures on the internet are all over the place for the x-trail and I did find another forum where another owner reported a figure over 1800kg!
Makes you wonder how many other quoted figures are that accurate for other cars!
We towed with it last week for the first time and it pulled really well and you would hardly notice the van behind apart from the fact you needed a lower gear and slightly higher revs :thumbs:

 

The DVLA's "Mass in Service" is the same as the EC definition of "Mass in Running Order" - so it's supposed to be an empty car, plus 75kg driver and 90% full tank of fuel. You could call Nissan and ask for an EC Certificate of Conformity for your car. It will be a dump of a load of the type approval data and will include not ony the Mass in Running Order (Field 12.1), but all the towing weights. A Certificate of Conformity is unique to each particular car (it will have your car's VIN on it). The weight ought to be right to within 5% (that's the tolerance they're allowed) of what it weighed when it left the factory.

BEWARE, some manufacturers make a charge for a CoC - could be up to £100!

If it were me, I'd spend a tenner (probably less) and just park it on the weighbridge at my local scrap merchants. They're usually only too happy to oblige.

 

Thanks for the above, I wasnt aware you could get this :thumbs: Our local council weighbridge did mine free of charge and was more than happy to assist.

I suppose if they are allowed a 5% margin then the 1700kg on the V5 maybe correct. If you add / allow 5% to this it makes it 1785kg, then add on my towbar and you won't be far off what it was actually weighed at.

I agree with you............the best thing to do is go along and weigh it :bow:

 

Sorry I missed this post earlier. I have the Cert of conformity for my 2009 173bhp T31 where it states the Mass in Service is 1726kg. So allowing for a driver, towbar etc. the figure of over 1800kg quoted by one poster is not out of the question. I usually say mine must be at a minimum of 1800kg in practise so am not worried in towing our 1500kg caravan.

 

"Mass in Service" on a Certificate of Conformity, already includes a 75kg driver and 90% full tank of fuel.

 

Hi all, just weighed my x-trail, 12plate Tekna manual full tank of fuel and my self and was 19000 kg.
Just wanted to let people know. Hope that it helps.
Now my wife wants a twin axle caravan weighing 18000 kg's now can I tow this caravan or not is the next question,

 

Hi all, just weighed my x-trail, 12plate Tekna manual full tank of fuel and my self and was 19000 kg.
Just wanted to let people know. Hope that it helps.
Now my wife wants a twin axle caravan weighing 18000 kg's now can I tow this caravan or not is the next question,

Your XT weighs 19 metric tonnes??? i think you may have added in an extra 0 in both of those numbers . . . :starwars:

Kind regards,

Eoin

 

Hi all, just weighed my x-trail, 12plate Tekna manual full tank of fuel and my self and was 19000 kg.
Just wanted to let people know. Hope that it helps.
Now my wife wants a twin axle caravan weighing 18000 kg's now can I tow this caravan or not is the next question,

Your XT weighs 19 metric tonnes??? i think you may have added in an extra 0 in both of those numbers . . . :starwars:

Kind regards,

Eoin

LOL :gathering: :gathering: :gathering:will be able to pull that twin axle caravan no problem.

 

If you use a public weighbridge i.e. one that is registered with the local authority, it will be regularly tested and calibrated and will bear a stamp with the date and a crown. The weighbridge operator will be qualified to carry out public weighings. Ask the weighbridge operator to zero the scale before you drive onto it. You can expect accuracy to within 20kg, or 40 kg on an older 60 tonne machine.
The 85% of kebweight figure is a guideline recommended by the Caravan Club, not the law.
The maximum trailer weight quoted by the vehicle manufacturer is based on the ability to pull the trailer away from a standstill on a specified incline. It is enforceable.

 

Hi,
Just before I undertook a long journey with a full car and towing a caravan I thought I'd get both weighed just to be on the safe side.
The car, 2004, diesel, manual gearbox SVE, half tank of fuel, spare wheel, jack and tools, with tow bar but no driver weighed in at 1669kg.
Hope that helps.