Some advice from the experts please - excuse my ignorance

Homeagain

Hi there, I have a very very very old (1997) Toyota 1.3 starlet. I look after it well and it hasn't let me down so far. If this question amuses everyone, its ok, but here it goes.
I want to buy a very small caravan for my daughter and I and I am wondering if it would be possible for my tiny little car to tow it (not very far, we are not too adventurous), but that's part of my question for today.
The other part is that I was also thinking to buy a very small car at a later stage, (nothing to do with the caravan story), low on fuel, tax etc etc. What is the best thing going? Any ideas?
Thank you all

colino

While theoretically you could legally tow something around 3/4 tonne with the car, it would surely kill off the poor old thing. Research the caravannners sites online and find your ideal car/van combo for the future.

Inner_Zone

According to this site the nearest car:

http://www.gocaravanning.com/towcars/Toyota-Starlet-90-96-1-3-GLi-5d-Tow-Weights.html#.USd23oYn0SU

You cars kerbweight is 840Kg, recommended max caravan weigt 85% of Kerb weight: 714 kgs.

So something like this at 680Kg might work:

http://www.freedomcaravans.com/freedom-microlite-bijoux-2012-i989.html#tabs-2

Does your licence cover BE? But as above the car is really too small and slow.

gilbert_and_sullivan

If your Starlet is in as good condition as you say, then it would be perfectly possible to tow a small light caravan about, definately worth fitting an anti-snake stabiliser though.

Keep that maintenance up, Starlet is one of the very best quality trouble free small cars ever made, one round the corner from me looks like it just left the showroom, i saw several really nice examples (less than 50k miles) rendered to nothing via the ill founded Scrappage scheme, criminal waste.

Another small car, i'd be looking at mk1 Yaris, Starlet's replacement

maninthestreet

http://www.teardroptrailers.co.uk/cargo.html

agrinnall

Given that you'll be driving everywhere at a maximum of 20 MPH can I please ask you to a) stay away from Scotland (although as you're in Kent it would be time for you to go home as soon as you arrive anyway), and b) keep an eye on your mirror and pull over frequently to let the huge tailback of enraged motorists pass you.

Homeagain

Thank you so much to everybody (well nearly everybody) for their kind help. The Teardrop Trailer sounds so interesting .... perfect for us and could be handy for other things too. Thank you also for your kind comments about my little car, she is in great nick.
And no agrinall, we would never even consider travelling to Scotland even if I had a brand new Porsche and a villa.
Unnecessary, sarcastic and unhelpful comments - there's always one who manages to spoil everything! Rather stay off this site and read a book (if you can).

agrinnall

Dearie me, we are a bit touchy aren't we? Not got much of a sense of humour in Kent?

muckybutt

Another alternative would be a trailer tent or folding camper ? bigger and still roughly the same weight.

Ich_2

Does your licence cover BE?

Only needed if the Gross Train Weight is above 3.5 tonne, which it will not be in this case

forgotmyname

With a kerbweight of around 800kg and 75bhp you wont be towing much and avoiding hills like the plague.

The only caravans you will find under that are the Eriba puck's, Feedoms and as mentioned teardrop types.

It may give the clutch a hard life though.