Well, we are currently mid English Channel on the ferry on the way home from France after a fantastic holiday. The 8th trip to France for our Freelander, 5th with a caravan.

So far so good. The car performed perfectly and gave the best MPG so far with three bikes on top and 1600kg's of caravan, and at a steady 70mph (which is legal in France) we were seeing 26.8mpg.

I have to say, in general terms, the mpg gets better and better as the miles roll on. She hit 63000 miles just driving pas Le Mans is morning.

Looking forward to getting home now though and giving the car and van a good clean. Only cleaned e LR 3 times while we were away. Always fun doing it while drinking wine or beer, or even both!  Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

I did a similar trip at the end of July. Got the ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao. Traveled down to Leon in Spain and then back through France. Really enjoyed the trip and the Freelander was faultless. The car was filthy once we got home and it nearly killed me cleaning it! and all I did was wash and dry it! Mine ticked over 24,000 miles on the trip and its still going strong!

Steady 70 legal in France cough cough, is your Freelander GTM below 3.5 ton, mine wasn't  p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

youll need a nice long holiday now to recover from all that towing At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

ad210358 wrote:

Steady 70 legal in France cough cough, is your Freelander GTM below 3.5 ton, mine wasn't

That's a good point! If the FL2 is 2.5 tons gross, and my van is 1600, I am sure I was under weight by 100kg's Mr officer! Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Gross train weight for the FL2 is around 4.5 tons surely?

LoP

But he wouldn't be able to achieve 4.5 ton with his 1600kg van, if his van was up around 1900kgs then yes. p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

I am actually running 1547kg's on the van. Fully loaded limit is 1600kg's so I was running under. But not actually sure what the gross vehicle weight is for an HSE TD4. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Licences held before 1 January 1997
If you passed your car test before 1 January 1997 you are generally entitled to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8.25 tonnes MAM.

This is the weight of a vehicle or trailer including the maximum load that can be carried safely when it’s being used on the road.

You also have entitlement to drive a minibus with a trailer over 750kg MAM.

Above from gov.uk

Kind regards,

Pablo 'There is thunder' then 'There is the warble of a V8'

SD4 HSE Fuji White (my car): sidesteps, door protection
Golf 2.0 tdi White (wife's car)
Triumph Stag (my 1975 V8 toy - 37,600 miles... Just started its 2nd restoration... had it since 1986)

Tiguan Summit (gone, but nice car)
Porsche Boxster (gone, it was too fast)
SLK (gone, did not like it - lost loads £s)
Discovery Cairngorm (gone,very tractor like)
+ loads of other cars

Licences issued from 19 January 2013
From 19 January 2013, drivers passing a category B (car and small vehicle) test can tow:

small trailers weighing no more than 750kg
trailers weighing more than 750kg, where the combined weight of the towing vehicle and the trailer isn’t more than 3,500kg
If you want to tow a trailer weighing more than 750kg, when the combined weight of the towing vehicle and trailer is more than 3,500kg, you’ll have to pass a further test and get B+E entitlement on your licence.

You’ll then be able to tow trailers up to 3,500kg. 'There is thunder' then 'There is the warble of a V8'

SD4 HSE Fuji White (my car): sidesteps, door protection
Golf 2.0 tdi White (wife's car)
Triumph Stag (my 1975 V8 toy - 37,600 miles... Just started its 2nd restoration... had it since 1986)

Tiguan Summit (gone, but nice car)
Porsche Boxster (gone, it was too fast)
SLK (gone, did not like it - lost loads £s)
Discovery Cairngorm (gone,very tractor like)
+ loads of other cars

The licence is not an issue in this case, its making sure the outfit is below 3.5 Ton MAM to get to below the thresh hold for being allowed to do over 56mph on the French Motorways  p****d off with a Digital Keyboard Warrior

ad210358 wrote:

The licence is not an issue in this case, its making sure the outfit is below 3.5 Ton MAM to get to below the thresh hold for being able to do 56mph downhill:thumbsup:

 At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

The correct license is essential - even in France otherwise you pay the price!

Chicken Goergie:

56 downhill?

I was doing 70 mph uphill with 1800+ kgs and still had plenty, the SD4 has a bit of go in her - very impressed.

Pablo 'There is thunder' then 'There is the warble of a V8'

SD4 HSE Fuji White (my car): sidesteps, door protection
Golf 2.0 tdi White (wife's car)
Triumph Stag (my 1975 V8 toy - 37,600 miles... Just started its 2nd restoration... had it since 1986)

Tiguan Summit (gone, but nice car)
Porsche Boxster (gone, it was too fast)
SLK (gone, did not like it - lost loads £s)
Discovery Cairngorm (gone,very tractor like)
+ loads of other cars

StuckInTheMud wrote:

56 downhill?

I was doing 70 mph uphill with 1800+ kgs untill the engine blew up

Pablo

 At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race