MY 2018.5 XC90 D5 towball limit

[volvocamper]

Am highly likely to swap my 2014 VW Touareg for a new 2018.5 MY XC90 D5 R-Design in March. Picked up a 2018 MY brochure about 6 weeks ago which stated factory fitted towball weight limit max 140kg (which is fine as towbar limit of caravan is 125kg so have, without trying hard) been ensuring it is under 125kg.
Went to dealer today with a few questions and he gave me a brand new 2018.5MY brochure and i note the towball limit in the new brochure has been reduced to 110kg. Anyone any idea what has changed with the car to bring down the limit please?
Now have to do a bit more research to see if i can get caravan nw down to this lower level. Shame.

[qm2]

In the owners manual the 7 seater is 110kg and it says the 5 seater is 140kg. Didn't know you could get a 5 seater.

[volvocamper]

Thanks, guess there is a 5 seat version in some markets and with the UK 7 seat model it would be possible to have 2 people in the 3rd row seats plus still enough space for weight waaaaaay back in the boot hence towball weight limit is reduced to compensate a little, unless anyone has any other explanations?

[pagan8c]

My noseweight is around 85kgs and it is just a case of moving stuff about in the van. I have the factory towbar on my 7 seat XC90 and there was only 1 weight which was 140kgs on my MY2017. What van have you got? most hitch weight limits on the Alko hitch are 100kgs and there are not many cars/Suvs can handle much more than this anyway.

[volvocamper]

Originally Posted by pagan8c

My noseweight is around 85kgs and it is just a case of moving stuff about in the van. I have the factory towbar on my 7 seat XC90 and there was only 1 weight which was 140kgs on my MY2017. What van have you got? most hitch weight limits on the Alko hitch are 100kgs and there are not many cars/Suvs can handle much more than this anyway.

It is a twin axle Buccaneer plated to MTPLM 2000kg and does weigh that fully loaded as been over a weigh-bridge. It is a BPW chassis with max hitch weight of 125kg.

[ukden]

Caravan noseweights can be a problem.

I currently have a Compass Rallye 540. With the caravan empty, apart from a 110 Ah leisure battery in it's compartment, and two 6Kg propane bottles (in the front locker) the noseweight is 120 Kg. The maximum allowable (for the caravan) is 100Kg.

By carrying only one gas bottle and careful packing I usually end up with a noseweight of 90-95 Kg.

Your Buccaneer being twin axle, is inherently more stable than a single axle caravan, you should be able to load the caravan to get the noseweight around 100Kg which would be fine.

I use a set of old bathroom scales to measure the noseweight, more accurate than those noseweight gauges you can buy.

My last three cars have all been Land Rovers with 150 Kg noseweight limits, however, those noseweights were stated with the cars loaded to their maximum weights. Land Rover allowed the noseweights to be increased (up to 250 Kg in the case of my Discovery 3) provided that the maximum rear axle loading was not exceeded. Generally this involved not using the third row seats and reducing the payload in the luggage area. I suspect that this is also the reason for the difference between the XC90 5 and 7 seat versions.

[cassell]

Things have actually improved a little, the previous generation XC90 only had a 90kg towball nose weight limit IIRC.

[volvocamper]

I have been ‘playing’ with the caravan this afternoon. It is kept at home with heater on v low so most stuff except perishables and bedding remain in it and very little taken out of the front.
On my Milenco nose weight gauge I can get it to 110kg quite comfortably. As you have suggested distribution may need ‘fine tuning’ once we attempt to use it ‘in anger’.
Interestingly both gas bottles still in place, caravan on the level and handbrake off.

[GJB]

Originally Posted by volvocamper

I have been ‘playing’ with the caravan this afternoon. It is kept at home with heater on v low so most stuff except perishables and bedding remain in it and very little taken out of the front.
On my Milenco nose weight gauge I can get it to 110kg quite comfortably. As you have suggested distribution may need ‘fine tuning’ once we attempt to use it ‘in anger’.
Interestingly both gas bottles still in place, caravan on the level and handbrake off.

Instead of a heater I have this year started to use a dehumidifier find it is more efficient than a heater on low.