towing a fiat panda 4x4 (1 Viewer)

[williat1]

Hi
Can I tow my 2014 Fiat Panda 4x4 behind my motorhome?

 

[Mr Chrysalis]

Trailer or A frame?

 

[Speve]

We do on a Trailer not sure about A frames as it may compromise the 4wheel drive.

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[Kev and Carolyn]

If its trailered...yes. If you want to tow via an A frame ..NO. The half shafts have to be pulled ! Stops the diff from winding up and causing "Skipping" or judder!

Kev

 

[Speve]

For info we bought our trailer from Phoenix trailers from memory £1600 so not to expensive. I think an A frame and car adjustments would be around that anyway.

 

[Kev and Carolyn]

The Fiat Panda Cross 4x4 manual says you can flat tow the car, The AA say they have not been notified by Fiat of any speed or distance limitations when towing it? However..it best not be towed because of potential driveline faults.

Kev

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[MikeD]

If its trailered...yes. If you want to tow via an A frame ..NO. The half shafts have to be pulled ! Stops the diff from winding up and causing "Skipping" or judder!

Kev

I don't think it has a locked diff. It has an electronic diff which would not be enabled when the ignition is off and the transmission is in neutral.

Fiat says it can be towed:
TOWING THE CAR
The car can only be towed in one of the
following ways (always and exclusively
with the engine off, gearbox in neutral and
handbrake disengaged):
– with the 4 wheels on the roadbed;
– with front wheels raised or resting on
the wrecking car floor and rear wheels
resting on a suitable truck;
– with rear wheels raised or resting on the
wrecking car floor and front wheels rest-
ing on a suitable truck;
– on wrecking car, with front and rear
wheels resting on the wrecking car floor.

 

[Kev and Carolyn]

I don't think it has a locked diff. It has an electronic diff which would not be enabled when the ignition is off and the transmission is in neutral.

Fiat says it can be towed:
TOWING THE CAR
The car can only be towed in one of the
following ways (always and exclusively
with the engine off, gearbox in neutral and
handbrake disengaged):
– with the 4 wheels on the roadbed;
– with front wheels raised or resting on
the wrecking car floor and rear wheels
resting on a suitable truck;
– with rear wheels raised or resting on the
wrecking car floor and front wheels rest-
ing on a suitable truck;
– on wrecking car, with front and rear
wheels resting on the wrecking car floor.

Hi Mike. Is that flat towed at a set speed or not? We were put off having one because they said it would be a problem towing at speed. By that ..50mph. If you were to steer left or right at speed the 4x4 would try to kick in. Thus making towing at speed a bugger! We decided against the 4x4 and went for the Fiat 500 instead.
That aside..it could just have been the dealer we were at ?

Kev

 

[Speve]

There is now another thread running about this

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[MikeD]

Hi Mike. Is that flat towed at a set speed or not? We were put off having one because they said it would be a problem towing at speed. By that ..50mph. If you were to steer left or right at speed the 4x4 would try to kick in. Thus making towing at speed a bugger! We decided against the 4x4 and went for the Fiat 500 instead.
That aside..it could just have been the dealer we were at ?

Kev

Kev - it was just a copy/paste from the manual. But most of the cheaper 4x4 do not have a physical locking diff but an electronic one which i think just applies the brakes on each independent wheel to stop them spinning. If it is all switched off and in neutral it should not be an issue.

But as the Fiat manual appears to indicate an issue in towing with having one axle not moving and as really it would be an expensive mistake to make I would speak with Fiat.

 

[Speve]

We have an electronic diff lock on ours but the 4 wheel drive does cut in automatically as well.

 

[Longjohn]

Hi, Did anyone prove if the 4x4 panda could be flat towed?

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[Speve]

The hand book says yes flat towed or trailered but I haven’t bothered as we travel down to Spain through France, so trailer it we’ve never had a problem parking on sites or aires and you can reverse it. See above post#3

 

[Longjohn]

Thanks

 

[The Coops]

Lets say £5000 for the car £2000 for the trailer, £300 a year for insurance, £300 s year for service, 10 mpg less touring on the towing vehicle ............and at least £200 for *problems * Not including £600 for EU marked tow bar , so we are up to £8400 plus what ever lost in MPG and not able to use in the EU , In the cold heart of the day why would you? Find a local hire firm. get an indemnity insurance policy and hire locally, work it out realistically its a no brainer Sorry to pi** on your chips but with a bit of planning and forethought its not economical sense to tow a toad other than roll up at site dismount and go to nearest supermarket in transport Now wait for * I have a toad* response ,
In cold economic terns it makes no sense, in easy peas 'y terms, great to own and limited use. I would get a pair of electric cycles with at least 50ks range, you are touring not rushing to get anywhere fast and can charge off hook up/battery , for £6000 you could get all singing and dancing cycles with a 60 km range and great set of waterproofs! Plus saving on insurance and mpg and save the planet.................Just a different perspective

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[Longjohn]

Another twist is if you drive a mobile crane as well as owning a Motorhome and you need to be able to get from site once you have driven the crane there and back each day and again on the last day get to site and be able to tow the car back without having someone drop you off or take you. I’m not a fan of towing a toad as I think you might as well buy a car and caravan which is much cheaper but they do have their advantages if you can use it as a daily driver also.
A Motorhome/camper is after all designed to travel from site to site rather than stay put as a caravan is and we do prefer moving on each day if possible especially when abroad which is why we like to take a motorbike.
I suppose we are all different and have different views on life.

 

[Coolcats]

Never tried a 4x4 panda but have had a couple of four wheel drive cars (not land rovers) and you can get some brilliant drifting in them they are just so much fun

 

[Speve]

Lets say £5000 for the car £2000 for the trailer, £300 a year for insurance, £300 s year for service, 10 mpg less touring on the towing vehicle ............and at least £200 for *problems * Not including £600 for EU marked tow bar , so we are up to £8400 plus what ever lost in MPG and not able to use in the EU , In the cold heart of the day why would you? Find a local hire firm. get an indemnity insurance policy and hire locally, work it out realistically its a no brainer Sorry to pi** on your chips but with a bit of planning and forethought its not economical sense to tow a toad other than roll up at site dismount and go to nearest supermarket in transport Now wait for * I have a toad* response ,
In cold economic terns it makes no sense, in easy peas 'y terms, great to own and limited use. I would get a pair of electric cycles with at least 50ks range, you are touring not rushing to get anywhere fast and can charge off hook up/battery , for £6000 you could get all singing and dancing cycles with a 60 km range and great set of waterproofs! Plus saving on insurance and mpg and save the planet.................Just a different perspective

If I were doing it for economics I would not do it, we do it for convenience when away we do lots of bird and nature watching in some very often difficult terrain so our Panda 4x4 does the job for us it’s also our only car so not stood at home doing nothing.
As for less mpg on towing vehicle there is not much difference when driving a brick we get around 25mpg towing or not!
everyone has a reason for doing what they do and why they do it? It’s not always about cost but getting enjoyment out of what you have
and not everyone is capable of riding bikes or motorcycles Or even want to?

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[Speve]

Never tried a 4x4 panda but have had a couple of four wheel drive cars (not land rovers) and you can get some brilliant drifting in them they are just so much fun

Our Panda as a great little car and very capable off road as well as fun to drive takes everything we need including two dogs, we love it and wouldn’t hesitate in buying another when the time comes

 

[Coolcats]

Our Panda as a great little car and very capable off road as well as fun to drive takes everything we need including two dogs, we love it and wouldn’t hesitate in buying another when the time comes

Im curious now, I may have to hunt one down and try it when this pandemic is over and totally agree with your other post, Its not always about cost its about doing what suits you or makes you happy and totally get why people tow a car, I need to work out what we can tow as we may just do something similar to you.

 

[Speve]

Im curious now, I may have to hunt one down and try it when this pandemic is over and totally agree with your other post, Its not always about cost its about doing what suits you or makes you happy and totally get why people tow a car, I need to work out what we can tow as we may just do something similar to you.

Ours is the diesel 1.3 ad weighs approx 1100 kg our trailer is a Phoenix twin axle car transporter @ 500kg & GVW 1700 kg we have travelled some 35000 miles towing it without major problems.

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[The Coops]

If I were doing it for economics I would not do it, we do it for convenience when away we do lots of bird and nature watching in some very often difficult terrain so our Panda 4x4 does the job for us it’s also our only car so not stood at home doing nothing.
As for less mpg on towing vehicle there is not much difference when driving a brick we get around 25mpg towing or not!
everyone has a reason for doing what they do and why they do it? It’s not always about cost but getting enjoyment out of what you have
and not everyone is capable of riding bikes or motorcycles Or even want to?

Panda 4 x 4 brilliant car but as you are not governed by finances why not? I presumed quite wrongly that it was a question of saving weight , money and being able to use abroad without a TOAD, In the UK fine and dandy but nil use across *Le Manche*