S70 T5 towing questions

I have a 98 S70 T5 with a class two towing hitch, and am wanting to tow a travel trailer (caravan) that weighs 2500 pounds (1136 kilos) and has a tongue weight of 250 pounds (113 kilos). Is this going to destroy my car? What sort of modifications do you recommend? I live in the Rocky mountains of Utah so this is a concern. Cheers, Trebek

Hi, Weight of the car is in the region of 1500Kg's. If you abide by the 85% "rule" then the caravan is well below that weight so you should have no issue there. By tounge weight, I take it you mean "Nose Weight" - that weight exerted by the tow socket on the caravan? Max for the Volvos (bar the XC90) is usually 75Kg's (about 160lbs - UK). If you are putting down more then you need to redistribute your load in the caravan to bring the weight down or up to 75Kgs.. I would recommend that you DO get an axillary oil cooler fitted if you have an auto gearbox. You maybe able to get one from either a good motor factors/suppliers or you can get them from your Volvo dealer... Des. . . ;)

I used to a S70 T5 and used it for pulling our caravan that weighted 1350kg`s and was an excellent tow car with plenty of torque. Never did ant modifications ours was a manual. Jim

From memory I think it was 75kg. Jim

The caravan I'm looking at, a Scamp 16' has a 113.6 kg tongue (nose) weight when fully loaded. Would stronger rear springs and a weight distribution hitch help make this possible?

Towing with S70 T5 

I towed with a V70 T5 auto all round Europe over a number of years without any problems, fairly heavy van too. Fitting an oil cooler wont do any harm but not necessary. Only comment is that this rig is pretty heavy on gas, even by New World standards!