'07 XC90 New owner, towing tips

[n1ckxc90]

Just bought my first Volvo...well I am almost 38 now so I can !

Love the car, taking caravan out soon so thought would have a look here and see what your thoughts are.

Car has Volvo detachable and Volvo 13 pin elecs..

Do I need to know anything, no hidden switches, tow "modes" or anything ?

Thanks all

[outnumbered]

take your time and enjoy remember that the caravan is on the back
mike

[JamesV70R]

Hook it up, plug it in, and off you go!

[60041]

Originally Posted by outnumbered

take your time and enjoy remember that the caravan is on the back
mike

Mike is right about remembering that the caravan is on the back, with a car like the XC it is very easy to forget!
I have been very pleased with the towing ability of my car, my last car was an XC70 and I thought it was good, but the '90 is in a different league altogether.
The only downside is that the fuel consumption is about 5 or 6 mpg less than I was getting before.

[Stevepvolvo]

Originally Posted by 60041

Mike is right about remembering that the caravan is on the back, with a car like the XC it is very easy to forget!
I have been very pleased with the towing ability of my car, my last car was an XC70 and I thought it was good, but the '90 is in a different league altogether.
The only downside is that the fuel consumption is about 5 or 6 mpg less than I was getting before.

I have and xc70 (d5 2007) and tow a twin axle 6 berth vanfully laden weight 1500kg so just comes in at around 90% kerbweight. As I have towed for over 30 years I am careful with the set up but it rides well although I find 55mph on a motorway to be comfortable to avoid snakes etc. I keep looking at an Xc90 but am interested in your findings of the difference and what you tow if you wouldnt mind sharing - apologies if I appear to be hijacking the thread but first time I have seen an xc70 to xc90 towing convert

[60041]

Originally Posted by Stevepvolvo

I have and xc70 (d5 2007) and tow a twin axle 6 berth vanfully laden weight 1500kg so just comes in at around 90% kerbweight. As I have towed for over 30 years I am careful with the set up but it rides well although I find 55mph on a motorway to be comfortable to avoid snakes etc. I keep looking at an Xc90 but am interested in your findings of the difference and what you tow if you wouldnt mind sharing - apologies if I appear to be hijacking the thread but first time I have seen an xc70 to xc90 towing convert

My last car was a 2004 XC70 D5 163 bhp geartronic and I towed a Bailey Pageant with a MTPW of 1350 kg for a few years then upgraded to a Bailey Senator with a MTPW of 1500 kg. Like you,I found that it towed well and very rarely had a snake. I used to find the most economical speed was just below 60 mph as that was the point where the torque converter would lock up and the revs would drop. At that speed on a good road without headwinds etc., I could easily get 28 - 30 mpg, sometimes a bit more. Headwinds or adverse gradients would make this drop to 26 or 28.
My present set up is the Senator with a 2010 XC90 185 bhp D5 geartronic. The extra 20 bhp (and possibly the extra gear) makes a huge difference to performance with acceleration and hill climbing much improved. As the weight ratio is only about 70%, the stability is fantastic and the higher nose weight allowance of the XC90 allows me to achieve the ideal 7% on the towball which also helps with the stability of the outfit. I have found that the better performance and greater stability have resulted in me inadvertantly driving faster; on a number of occasions, I have found my speed creeping well up into the 70's without my realising it.
Since getting the car early this year, work commitments have prevented me getting away as often as normal and we have not done any really long tows in Europe this year, so I have not had a chance to work out the towing mpg on an extended trip, but on a 225 mile trip to Fort William in august I got about 24 mpg, and a 90 mile run to Teesdale gave me 26 mpg. Hopefully motorway mileage will be a little better than this.

[n1ckxc90]

Feel free to hijack....I tow a Coachman Laser twin axle and the Disco 3 was superb as you would expect being 2700kg and 250BHP, The A8 was as good to be fair but we now need 7 seats and something not as big, we got it down to a Santa Fe or the XC...the latter won, time will tell as we are away in 2 weeks. I am toying with idea of a remap, volvo dealer say £500 for 215bhp so we'll see...

I am happy to plug and play, just making sure all is just that...no hidden switches or settings....it's a volvo dealer detachable with volvo 13 pin set up so good for the alko Atc also....