Next week, from 3-7 April, a team of drivers and practicality testers from the Club and the magazines Practical Caravan and What Car? will put more than 40 of the latest model tow cars through their paces at the MIRA proving ground in Nuneaton.
They’ll be supported by some 20 volunteers from the Club, who help prepare the cars and ballast the caravans, and this year marks the tenth anniversary of the very first Tow Car Awards test programme in 2007.
A lasting partnership
This joining of forces between the Club and the magazine publisher Haymarket – with the continued support of Swift, Milenco, Al-Ko, Witter and Admiral – is quite a feat, given the demands it makes on the time and resources of everyone here. And many of the people involved in next week’s test programme have been here from the start.
I’ve been involved with the testing and awards programme since its early days, both as a tester and in more recent years to promote the event and its findings to a wider audience. And I can honestly say the Tow Car Awards wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are without the tremendous enthusiasm of everyone involved, all of whom look forward to this week every year.
And there are some cracking tow cars included in the line up this year. Each year the testing takes the same format: we test cars in five classes based on their kerbweight, and every year invite the previous year’s class winners back to act as the benchmarks for the new cars to be measured against.
A look at the contenders
In the lightest of the five main weight classes (up to 1400kg) the Honda HR-V will be back on the track to defend last year’s win, but will face stiff competition from the Skoda Octavia, which boasts a bold new look for 2017, the revised VW Golf, and the Hyundai i30 (which we’re also giving away as a prize in our ‘No B+E licence? No Problem!’ competition).
Last year’s overall winner was the Skoda Superb, from the 1400-1549kg class, while previous winners such as the Jaguar XF in the 1550-1699kg once again look hard to beat.
In the 1700-1899kg class, the Land Rover Discovery Sport won this category last year – remember the Disco 4 was named Tow Car of the Decade in our tenth anniversary event last year – but will be challenged by the new Skoda Kodiaq, the Ford Kuga Vignale and Volvo S90.
And among the heavyweights, the Land Rover Discovery 5 must be considered the front runner, despite coming up against the Volvo XC90, and Mercedes-Benz GLE.
Check out our findings
The Tow Car Awards website now has nearly 500 reviews of every car tested in the programme since 1997. And each year, the print magazines Camping & Caravanning and Practical Caravan feature chunky sections to share the results with readers.
With video reviews of the winning cars carried on our website and also our YouTube channel, and an episode based on the Tow Car Awards a regular fixture on Practical Caravan TV, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the results, and to find out more about your next tow car.
Taken together, the work and the findings represent an invaluable reference library for anyone considering a tow car plated since 2007. Don’t buy your next tow car without checking out test notes first.