[dazzer252]

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?

 

[dazzer252]

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

 

[dazzer252]

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

 

[dazzer252]

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:

 

[dazzer252]

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: