Syncro towing capabilities

[Dobble]

Hi Guys

I'm after some advice on Syncro towing capabilities. I'm thinking of selling my t25 camper and my Defender to buy a Syncro. The main reason for owning the Defender is to tow my hot air balloon which with the trailer weighs about 750kg. Would a Syncro be capable of towing that kind of weight bearing in mind that the Syncro would also be fitted out as a camper/overland vehicle so there would be some extra weight there too.

My aim with this is to reduce the amount of vehicles I own, run and maintain but still have a vehicle that we can take camping and use for ballooning. I understand that Syncro ownership can be expensive but I'm fine with that providing it's fit for purpose.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

[clift_d]

Strictly speaking your 750kg trailer shouldn't be a problem for your existing T25 - assuming it is a braked trailer. Most T25 2WD can tow a braked trailer of at least 1200kg in addition to being fully laden with some, dependent on engine type, badged for a trailer weight up to 1500kg.

A Syncro van should allow you to tow a braked trailer of at least 1600kg, up to a possible maximum of 2500kg depending on engine type and tow certification.

However, if your balloon trailer is 750kg unbraked then strictly speaking it is too much for either a 2WD or Syncro - both have an unbraked tow rating of only 600kg. In this case it might be cheaper to ditch the Defender and buy a new braked trailer for your balloon. If you have some extra money left over from selling the Defender you could maybe splash out on an engine upgrade for your van.

All the towing weights can be found in the owner's manual, a copy of which can be obtained from the westfaliat3 site here:
http://www.westfaliat3.info/html/westfalia_t3_downloads.html

[Dobble]

That's really helpful, thank you very much for your reply!!

The trailer is braked so that's no problem.

My current van being a 1.6 CS struggles to pull its own weight let alone adding a trailer

Another reason for going Syncro is that we'd like to do some overland trips (planning one for our honeymoon possibly to Scandinavia) and the syncro seems to be a good tool for the job. I mainly blame Jed the spreads youtube channel for making me want to get an off road capable camper. We've always been into wild camping and bushcraft so an off road camper would open up a whole new world.

Ben

[clift_d]

Ha! Syncro syndrome - you're past helping by the sound of it!

[silverbullet]

I would suggest that anyone contemplating a "big trip" in a syncro should factor in the time and expense of getting their vehicle up to scratch beforehand, both mechanically and structurally.
Sometimes its not just about money, the timescales needed to wait for your turn at the few specialists worth knowing can be considerable.

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

[Dobble]

Couldn't agree more. Thanks for your advise

[footstuck]

I never had any problems with a good quality trailer, except hauling up hills can be a second gear crawl

[hugomonkey]

i regularly drive with the maximum 2.5 tons behind my doka slow going but a rock solid towing vehicle