[jimmy123]

Hey everyone, about to buy an i30.

First post. Ive sussed out a 2009 i30 cw (wagon) that seems to ge a great buy. Its manual diesel 155, 000. Got my mechanic friend to look at it and he liked it too. At first i was really unsure about going diesel as ive always been a petrol guy, and ive heard about slightly higher servicing and repair costs etc.

So anyway heres some background to my question. Turns out it has a towbar, so I called then during the week to ask if its done much towing, as i figure thats a pretty unknown factor on how much the car has worked. It was at this point, after we had already looked at it, that the owner told us that the previous owner before him had had electric brakes fitted (trailer/caravan brakes). Current owner tells me that hes only done a couple of short box trailer trips to the tip. But i have no idea what the previous owner did with it. New owner said he asked when he bought it 3 years ago, but why would someone put electrix brakes unless its doing big towing yeah?

This puts doubt in my mind as to why on earth someone would put electric brakes on a 4 cylinder. I wouldnt tow anything that big myself, which makes me wonder of theres a risk its been overworked towing a large load that needs electric brakes.

Its is a manual diesel. So please tell me your thoughts about possible impact to the engine/running gear and wether you think its a deal breaker or no big deal. Everyhting else about it seems great.

Jimmy

[John B]

  jimmy123. Hard to tell what weight they were towing except they would have been taking a big risk if they towed anything that was not the legal weights for that car. I do not own a diesel but many on this forum do and they all praise the ability to tow with the the i30 diesel. Having towed a camper trailer in the past with the weight below what was Legal for my car and by law did not require electric brakes I found the braking inadequate so I had electric brakes fitted. I am not saying this is the case with the i30 you are looking at to buy but maybe a possibility. The tow bar should have a weight stamped on it that may help providing a clue. Good luck hope it works out for you. Other members with the diesel i30 will no doubt be along to give you some comments on the engine and running gear, they all speak very highly on the i30 diesel.

[Asterix]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

[Dazzler]

Welcome Jimmy, I thought of Asterix (Henning ) straight away. If it checks out ok by your mechanic, clutch etc.. is ok, then I don't see a problem.

I've said this many times a diesel manual CW is the pick of the litter in the FD (series 1) version..

[jimmy123]

thanks guys, some really helpful thoughts so far...

[jimmy123]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

just wondering asterix would you go past 4th gear into 5th or 6th while towing that kinda load?

[Asterix]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

just wondering asterix would you go past 4th gear into 5th or 6th while towing that kinda load?

Mine's only 5 speed, but yes I do use 5th gear when towing. When past 2000 revs (85-90 km/h) in 5th there's no problems on flat roads, but on inclines or in strong headwind, I need to go to 4th.

I have had the car for 6 years now and have done at least 25,000 km towing that van. By the way, I'm still on the original clutch....

[jimmy123]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

just wondering asterix would you go past 4th gear into 5th or 6th while towing that kinda load?

Mine's only 5 speed, but yes I do use 5th gear when towing. When past 2000 revs (85-90 km/h) in 5th there's no problems on flat roads, but on inclines or in strong headwind, I need to go to 4th.

I have had the car for 6 years now and have done at least 25,000 km towing that van. By the way, I'm still on the original clutch....

see heres the problem im concerned about. I promise asterix im not having a go. My Dad always told not to use 5th (or 6th) gear when towng a big load (or potentially ever) not beacuse of revs but becaus of gearbox. He warned me that the the high gears are essentially just overdrive gears (or something like that) and dont work the same as the lower ones. Much weaker and get damaged easier. I even thought that the cogs were smaller or break easier. Shortening the life of the gearbox if you tow in 5th (or 6th). But not many people realise this (as my old dad tells me) so they do it anyway...

[The Gonz]

It's not a hard and fast rule. It differs from model to model, make to make, box to box as well as load and speed. Your Dad's advice may have been perfect for a certain range of boxes but it can't apply to all designs and variables.

I recall my 83 Commodore had a Borg Warner 5-speed described by many as having the 5th speed as an overdrive. That just means that it goes beyond the 1 to 1 ratio of the 4th gear in a 4-speed box, but there are 5 and 6 speed boxes whose top gears are 1 to 1.

It always depends.

[mickd]

Agree with the gonz
,it varies - had ford courier turbo diesel,  blew the main shaft at 80k km and at 150k km . Oh and pressure plate at 10k km
Gearbox company said  it cant handle being left in 5th and just floored from 70 km/h. Work ute , heaps of dead boxes.
Sigma boxes same trouble.
Talk to those that tow a fair bit and ask for advice on how they do it.  If box feels and sounds ok should be good.

[mickd]

PS
When I tow with the Challenger, I go back from 5 to 4 sometimes but rarely back to 3rd up steep hills & long inclines to keep the engine from loading up too much. Don't change back and it just dies in the rrrs.
3.0L V6  Petrol - Max torque @ 3000 , max kw @ 5800, loves to rev hard ( pity about the fuel, then again not many 4wd owners manual say "not recommended to exceed 135km /h in 3rd " & "speed limited to 175km/h in 4th and 5th" and the limiter does it job.)

[Asterix]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

just wondering asterix would you go past 4th gear into 5th or 6th while towing that kinda load?

Mine's only 5 speed, but yes I do use 5th gear when towing. When past 2000 revs (85-90 km/h) in 5th there's no problems on flat roads, but on inclines or in strong headwind, I need to go to 4th.

I have had the car for 6 years now and have done at least 25,000 km towing that van. By the way, I'm still on the original clutch....

see heres the problem im concerned about. I promise asterix im not having a go. My Dad always told not to use 5th (or 6th) gear when towng a big load (or potentially ever) not beacuse of revs but becaus of gearbox. He warned me that the the high gears are essentially just overdrive gears (or something like that) and dont work the same as the lower ones. Much weaker and get damaged easier. I even thought that the cogs were smaller or break easier. Shortening the life of the gearbox if you tow in 5th (or 6th). But not many people realise this (as my old dad tells me) so they do it anyway...

Your call, of course, but I don't agree with you or your Dad.

Yes there's less torque available in 5th due to the ratio but I fail to see how it would ruin the gearbox.

[Dazzler]

Jimmy123,

Just for the record, Asterix (Henning) is a former VW Service Manager, so he's pretty knowledgeable about these things. Like the others have said our Dad's often base their advice on older technology. If Henning's transmission was being strained by the way he uses his gearing it would have failed long ago. 

[jimmy123]

No worries about the towing. I tow 1400 kg caravan with my 2008 crdi. It has now 275,000 on the odo without problems.
Our summer vacations go to Italy or Croatia so always around 4000 km towing with plenty Mountains

just wondering asterix would you go past 4th gear into 5th or 6th while towing that kinda load?

Mine's only 5 speed, but yes I do use 5th gear when towing. When past 2000 revs (85-90 km/h) in 5th there's no problems on flat roads, but on inclines or in strong headwind, I need to go to 4th.

I have had the car for 6 years now and have done at least 25,000 km towing that van. By the way, I'm still on the original clutch....

see heres the problem im concerned about. I promise asterix im not having a go. My Dad always told not to use 5th (or 6th) gear when towng a big load (or potentially ever) not beacuse of revs but becaus of gearbox. He warned me that the the high gears are essentially just overdrive gears (or something like that) and dont work the same as the lower ones. Much weaker and get damaged easier. I even thought that the cogs were smaller or break easier. Shortening the life of the gearbox if you tow in 5th (or 6th). But not many people realise this (as my old dad tells me) so they do it anyway...

Your call, of course, but I don't agree with you or your Dad.

Yes there's less torque available in 5th due to the ratio but I fail to see how it would ruin the gearbox.

Thankyou so much asterix and dazzler this is what i needed to hear. While i value my dads wealth of experience and information, i had a feeling it was a bit outdated in this case. ;-)

[nzenigma]

Jimmy123, Its unlikely that your future i30 has done any major towing. Sure the electric brake set up means that it was probably towing more than a box trailer. Possibly a boat.
In Oz we have long distances to travel and plenty of large vehicles available.....and we have a lack of Scandinavians  , so, towing a caravan with a small 4 cylinder car does not happen. MUCH
Good luck.

[beerman]

G'day mate,

The Fd could only tow 500kg unbraked (1300kg braked). I'm not much of a tower myself, but 500kg does not seem like much.

australiancar.reviews/_pdfs/Hyundai_i30-i30cw_FD_Specifications_201111.pdf

If the mechanicals were all good and it passes the gut test, that is where I would be placing my trust. You could worry about the past owner on every car you buy and you'll never buy a car.

On the plus side, you're getting a free tow bar so you can do trips to the tip etc, which is handy occasionally.

[nzenigma]

If it passes the gut test, that is where I would be placing my trust.

Priorities in order.

And with added Tow bar = Braille reverse sensor.

[John B]

If it passes the gut test, that is where I would be placing my trust.

Priorities in order.

And with added Tow bar = Braille reverse sensor.

Braille reverse sensor

[mickd]

G'day mate,

The Fd could only tow 500kg unbraked (1300kg braked). I'm not much of a tower myself, but 500kg does not seem like much.

http://australiancar.reviews/_pdfs/Hyundai_i30-i30cw_FD_Specifications_201111.pdf

If the mechanicals were all good and it passes the gut test, that is where I would be placing my trust. You could worry about the past owner on every car you buy and you'll never buy a car.

On the plus side, you're getting a free tow bar so you can do trips to the tip etc, which is handy occasionally.

Only 500kg unbraked,
most 6x4 trailers weigh about 175 - 225 kg , that doesn't leave much .

[elantraelite]

I have Electric brakes on my 09 FD Manual wagon diesel. We towed a Jayco Swift with it which weighed just over a tonne. The diesel can. Tow it well and the FD is a very solid car. It towed the camper surprisingly well. Doesn't burn any oil and still on the original clutch.

Might be worth the look still.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[mickd]

Jimmy123,
Don't know if you're still thinking about it , but in all honesty,  its all about  STOPPING in a hurry.
You'll take a certain time to reach 100km/h and that will be that, the cars mechanicals will endure, but, when something bad or wrong happens, you'll always want to stop SO MUCH quicker and sometimes that will exceed the braking forces of  the brakes and friction between tyres and the road, so some braking from the load will always help.
Usually you can always get it to move , but sometimes you can't stop it.