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General My Croma the Towcar

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General My Croma the Towcar

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BrianMcL

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And now for something completely different.

I bought a touring caravan a couple of weeks ago and took it for its first night away on Saturday. The campsite I chose was a 1 hour 20 minute drive away and despite never really having towed anything larger than a small trailer I was very impressed with the way the Croma performed.

I was worried about fuel consumption and reset the tripB computer before I left. It averaged 28.5 mpg over the return trip which was mainly A road driving with a little bit of motorway driving which I didn't think was very good.

I'm looking through this month's Caravan and Camping Club magazine just now (I know my life's just one long party) and was surprised that the most economical cars were only doing high 20's mpg unless they were fully charged electric hybrids (which might be something for campsite owners to worry about in the future).

All in all my 7 year old 90k mile 120bhp 8v diesel acquitted itself very well.

All I need to do know is work out how to reverse....
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the towing Croma Towing Club.

I tow our 1000kg Eriba Caravan annually getting on for 3000 miles per year. 2000 of there are across Europe up into and around the Italian Dolomite mountains. My accurate logs support your 28.5mpg or better mpg results.

The only odd thing I find with our 16V 150 Croma is that whilst I can tow and get 30mpg+ (towing at 70 mph!) I struggle to get 40mpg on other journeys where others claim 50mpg+. Have never understood this. I log every mile, penny and cc of fuel in a book at every fuel fill up. I also note if the fill up was a true Tank Full (fuelled to overflow/brim). Sad as this may be I have done this for all my cars over the last 40+ years.

It really puzzles me when people say they are getting 50+ or 60+mpg from their Cromas.

Puzzling indeed. I would just love to have one of the 50+ mpg Cromas for a week (or even month) to verify and experience.

Meanwhile, I can confirm that 28 to 30 mpg is a fair and expected mpg for a sensibly driven Croma / Caravan rig.
 
s130 said:
Welcome to the towing Croma Towing Club.

I tow our 1000kg Eriba Caravan annually getting on for 3000 miles per year. 2000 of there are across Europe up into and around the Italian Dolomite mountains. My accurate logs support your 28.5mpg or better mpg results.

The only odd thing I find with our 16V 150 Croma is that whilst I can tow and get 30mpg+ (towing at 70 mph!) I struggle to get 40mpg on other journeys where others claim 50mpg+. Have never understood this. I log every mile, penny and cc of fuel in a book at every fuel fill up. I also note if the fill up was a true Tank Full (fuelled to overflow/brim). Sad as this may be I have done this for all my cars over the last 40+ years.

It really puzzles me when people say they are getting 50+ or 60+mpg from their Cromas.

Puzzling indeed. I would just love to have one of the 50+ mpg Cromas for a week (or even month) to verify and experience.

Meanwhile, I can confirm that 28 to 30 mpg is a fair and expected mpg for a sensibly driven Croma / Caravan rig.
Click to expand...
Another Croma tower here:). I was an early believer in the "instant mpg" on the dash and used a test of a long motorway run to test the cruise control /mpg calculation and got a very high figure. However repeating the exercise on the same journey(M74 to M62) this time filling up at Abington services and refilling at Birch services and working it out on the calculator it was ~ 43mpg. This says more about the algorhythm used in the ECU than it does about the cars economy;). I tow a Lunar 524 4 birth and it is a wonderful match even though its ~ 90% match. The 150bhp makes towing easier and on the motorway its always a good idea to watch for european artics as they are lunatics:yuck:.
The economy suffers when towing, on most journeys I get about the same as I get around town(Sheffield) 27/29mpg and very rarely get into 6th gear.
As far as reversing goes - turn your wheels the opposite way you want the van to go(y)-------- or fit the best invention in caravaning , ever, motor movers- :D
 
I'll digress a little, I used to have a 99 bmw 728i. As you can imagine, around town the mpg sucked, low 20's, however on the motorway things were different. I have a static caravan 100 miles from home, 53 m/w and 47 A roads. At a constant 65 on m/w and 55 on A roads I brimmed the car on 3 separate journeys and I achieved 43 mpg. Pretty good by my reckoning. Not really connected but another true story.
 
Didn't come with a motor mover sadly but by neighbour's caravan has one and it's definitely the dog's doodahs :)

I have had the notion of a caravan for a good few years and bought a Bonair trailer tent not long after I bought the Croma. Then after a couple of years the egr issue kicked in and I didn't have any confidence in the car getting itself anywhere never mind pulling anything else.

Thanks to many people on here, and absolutely no-one from the main dealer who were worse than useless, the car got fixed and it's been all over Scotland over the last few years.

We're a bit too middle aged for camping now and the caravan idea reared it's head again a couple of months ago. Went for it and so far so good.
 
I'm another caravan tower. We have just got back from France. Yes the Croma 150 goes like a train and does about 28/29 mpg towing a Lunar Quasar 462. I keep an eye on the instant MPG as sometimes a lower gear gives a better MPG but I try to keep at 1700 to 2000rpm which is best torque.
 
Granvilleb said:
I'm another caravan tower. We have just got back from France. Yes the Croma 150 goes like a train and does about 28/29 mpg towing a Lunar Quasar 462. I keep an eye on the instant MPG as sometimes a lower gear gives a better MPG but I try to keep at 1700 to 2000rpm which is best torque.
Click to expand...

As in my other post I also use the instant readout , but only as a guide.
With cruise control on a motorway the instant readout shows 99.9 ???when on a downhill section. the rev counter is still at ~ 2000 and no obvious reduction in engine noise. This shows to me that the algorythm is found wanting. The only engine that uses no fuel at all is one that is turned off;).
One thing that I find a bit strange is that you say when in the range of 1700/2000 rpm you are getting the best torque. I always thought that the turbo power band is between 2000/ 3000, mine kicks in big stye in this range.
On the other hand my sons Alpha 159 has the same engine as mine with a different turbo and has power all the way through the rev range. Its like "s**t off a shovel and I have often wondered how it would perform as a towcar:eek:. Choose how much I try he wont let me pay to put a towbar on his car:D.

Kids eh! who`ed av em:)
 
And im another one that uses my croma for towing the van.Done some serious towing over the last 4.5 years with it.Been faultless.Mines a 2.4 with a steinbauer fitted.Quite enjoyable even with the van behind it.
 
buster said:
And im another one that uses my croma for towing the van.Done some serious towing over the last 4.5 years with it.Been faultless.Mines a 2.4 with a steinbauer fitted.Quite enjoyable even with the van behind it.
Click to expand...

Yes another caravanner returning 30+mpg towing a Bailey Pageant Champagne for the last 5 years with a 120 8v Croma.
 
Just back from a trip down to Mossyard, Gatehouse of Fleet with the caravan and achieved an incredible (I think, anyway) 36.5mpg on the way down from Paisley (via Ayr and Dalmellington for anyone who's interested and 37mpg on the way back according to the trip B computer.

Part of the reason for the improvement will have been changing the damper (shock absorber) on the caravan which was shot making towing so much easier.

Croma's not all bad you know ;)
 
As an "EX" Croma caravan tower the lower/mid 30s area was what I got with the van on the motorway as an actual - filling up after journeys- and working it out;). It is the only way to measure the MPG. The inst readout is for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men:p.
Just as a bit of news regarding towing with my Ssangyong korando over the exact same trip to Market Harboro with the van and only doing about 10miles without the van on the back I have got 40mpg , with the Croma a month before I achieved 33mpg.(y)
 
The drive down to Gatehouse of Fleet is mainly A roads and when you turn off the A77 you turn onto a fairly quiet A road which winds its way through some lovely countryside with very few other cars to worry about and only a few towns and a few more villages.

There's no doubt that not having to speed up, slow down, overtake or get held up by other vehicles definitely helps as I was able to keep to a fairly constant 45 - 50 mph for almost the entire drive. 6th didn't get a lot of use (it is the 8v after all) but I seemed to spend most of my time in 5th only needing 4th on some of the steeper hills.

I'd definitely advise against taking the digital readout as gospel but nonetheless it's still impressive considering the official and test figures for brand new towcars. If I can find the receipt for the fuel I'll work out what I actually achieved.
 
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