Towing with a D5 (163bhp) XC90

[Shadeyman]

I'll be moving a friends old twin axle caravan for her later today, 1600kg all together she said so I'll let you know how I think our remapped XC90(163) performs.

[Shadeyman]

Moved an old Eddis twin axle caravan(1600kg) for a friend yesterday.

Just before we pulled off the motorway I asked the wife to video the clocks.
Traveling at about 55mph on a flat part of the motorway our XC90 was doing 35mpg while pulling 1600kg, pretty good I thought.

Here's the vid.
http://s296.photobucket.com/user/Sha...3f5c3.mp4.html

No problems, easily pulled it.

[outnumbered]

Originally Posted by Shadeyman

Moved an old Eddis twin axle caravan(1600kg) for a friend yesterday.

Just before we pulled off the motorway I asked the wife to video the clocks.
Traveling at about 55mph on a flat part of the motorway our XC90 was doing 35mpg while pulling 1600kg, pretty good I thought.

Here's the vid.
http://s296.photobucket.com/user/Sha...3f5c3.mp4.html

No problems, easily pulled it.

not bad with the wind up the rear

[rnlisg]

very interesting video,i normaly watch my mpg in average mode,so will have a look at it in instantaneous(i bet i spelt that wrong),i was also a little envious as you have a proper temperature guage!!
sandy
ps/i really must stop looking at mpg,and enjoy the performance of the car.

[Marmitespreader]

[QUOTE=rnlisg;1408187]very interesting video,i normaly watch my mpg in average mode,so will have a look at it in instantaneous(i bet i spelt that wrong),i was also a little envious as you have a proper temperature guage!!

No, but you did spell GAUGE wrong (guage)

[Shadeyman]

Originally Posted by outnumbered

not bad with the wind up the rear

Don't remember there being much wind in Wolverhampton when I hooked up or in Stafford when I unhooked, but you never know.

The car is usually in the low 40's with the cruise control set to 60 and not towing so a drop of about 7mpg when pulling 1600kg is pretty impressive I thought. It dropped to the low 20's on hills and hit 99.9mpg on one long downhill section. Coped very well with the load I thought, looking forward to getting my own caravan now.

[xcmarty]

i have owned a 2004 XC90 D5 (163) (manual gears) since august 2009 and towed our 1600kg van since sept 2010

still got the 04 xc90 and also just bought a 2011 xc90 d5 (200) with auto box.
i agree the 163 is using the majority of its available power/torque to move the 1600kg van. throw some hills in and your stirring the manual box to keep up the pace on the hills.

towed with the newer car once to a park we've been to in the old xc90 and its was an absolute pleasure, much easier and felt much more capable.

cant see me towing with the old one much more other than maybe fetching the van to/from storage.

if a good remap will take a 163 D5 to somewhere near the figures of the current 200 D5 then you';ll be fine

[rogerb]

Our 2003 V70 AWD auto D5 163 , used to struggle a bit with a 1500 kg caravan on the back.
So a 163 XC90 would probly be similar .
The 2007 XC90 D5 with polestar (205 hp I think and more toque ) that we got for towing , was great for towing . It held the van in place really well and would pull like mad.
In the end it went back to volvo due to too meney problems.
It did show that a XC90 with more power than the early cars would make a good tow car.
Just check cost of insurance for the chiping first.
We now have a 2010 V70 T6 AWD ,lots of toque and go but not quite as solid when towing as the XC90 but a lot better than the 2003 V70 AWD.
Regards Roger

[don kalmar union]

A bit late on this thread but might be of interest to those having 'D5' power for towing...maybe better to quote 'torque' for 'van owners....

MTE's software gives increased outputs of 195bhp with 420nm of torque for the earlier D5s with 225bhp, 480nm for the later ones.

That costs you £395 for either and you have the advantage with MTE of being able to install it yourself with the help of an XP or windows 7 (32 bit) equipped laptop...so no need to travel.

Regards, Don.

PS can also do the very latest cars but that involves having the car here for a few hours and costs £635 due to the time it takes to do the job properly and non invasively, through the car's OBD port due to Volvo's obstructive pin code system needing to be worked with......

[Shadeyman]

Originally Posted by don kalmar union

That costs you £395 for either and you have the advantage with MTE of being able to install it yourself with the help of an XP or windows 7 (32 bit) equipped laptop...so no need to travel.

Regards, Don.

Hello Don. Can you give me a little more info about "doing it myself" ?