I’m still waiting for my Ineos tow bar to be supplied, but frankly, I couldn’t wait any longer - I need a vehicle that can tow. So after asking the question of Ineos Heritage in Gloucester if there was any reason I couldn’t just fit a certified 3,500kg tow bar, they confirmed it would be fine. Thank You again for answering the phone, as I’m still waiting for my assigned dealer to return my calls, texts and emails after more than a week - I realise they are not going to! I also have had a formal letter from Ineos telling me they can’t give me a date when a tow bar will be available. So after a visit to my local agricultural fabrication shop and fitters, I picked up a tow bar. Two 16mm bolts, a torque wrench and 5 minutes later - problem solved.
I then decided to fit a 20mm spacer. I could have used the standard tow bar, but the hitch of my Ivor Williams came very close to the tow plate (didn’t measure it, but probably less than 10mm) and I didn’t want it catching on uneven surfaces. Sorry, forgot to take a picture.
This morning went cross country to Gloucester, with the last 10 miles on the motorway, to collect some pallets. Hardly towing much weight, so not much of a test, but it easily coped with the trailer. Motorway was effortless.
One thing I did notice was the lack of Sport mode in the gearbox. In previous BMWs with same engine and gearbox, Sport mode was excellent for towing. It changed up later in the rev range, taking the stress off the engine when climbing hills, and also changed down earlier on descents, giving excellent engine braking. I found leaving it in drive, it wanted to change up very quickly, even going up hills and you could feel the drive train dealing with the low down torque. Switching to manual override solved this, but so would the Sport mode.
I will follow up with Ineos and see if this can be added back into the BMW stack they started with via a software update. I doubt it, but it’s worth a question.
I’m not sure what the towing mpg was, but looking at the impact to my overall average mpg, it was in the ’teens. Most of the miles were minor roads crossing Cotswold hills.
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