Just been to the weigh bridge

Have just been to the way Bridge before going away for the weekend, full water, full diesel tank, the wife and one mobility scooter, change of clothes and very little food as its an eating out weekend. 

The van has a bike rack, tow bar, ladders and roof rack with the solar panel that I added and twin leisure batteries. 

Weight was 
Front axle  1700kg
Rear axle  1800kg
Gross weight 3520kg
Can now work out my tyre pressures and a good job that I had it up plated to 4500kg

The clothes and food wouldn't add up to more than 25kg, the scooter weights is 27kg and a full tank of water is about 70 kg, if these are removed from the 3500kg gross of the WXL, would leave us with a very low payload with us both on board, up plating was the only way we could use the van to its full potential, getting the vans on the weigh bridge is the only way to be sure that you know your limits

FreelanderUK wrote:Have just been to the way Bridge before going away for the weekend, full water, full diesel tank, the wife and one mobility scooter, change of clothes and very little food as its an eating out weekend. 

The van has a bike rack, tow bar, ladders and roof rack with the solar panel that I added and twin leisure batteries. 

Weight was 
Front axle  1700kg
Rear axle  1800kg
Gross weight 3520kg
Can now work out my tyre pressures and a good job that I had it up plated to 4500kg

Best to be safe but I'm sure DVLA would allow you and extra 20KG.

A good friend of mine actually does the job of stopping and checking vehicles and told me he allows motorhomes 35kgs

If the van was packed for one of our 4 week trips it would have been well over the weight limit with the extra stuff and my bikes before the up plating 

Anybody who has fitted bike racks, towbar's or other extras are best getting the van on the weigh bridge just to see how much  payload they actually have

Freelander
As you are saying a tow bar the swinging arm and then the rack and then what ever bikes is just one example of using a large amount of the payload and is why like you have done people should be going to a weigh bridge

from the latest webpage it says the XL weighs in at 174kg more than the Duo....3066-2892.
from Freelanders figures its fairly obvious that the XL would be 'tricky' at best to run at 3.5t....he's over that with the minimum of clothing, no bikes, little food etc....
however, as he has been able to upplate to 4500kg this van must be running on the heavy chassis....
the Duo looks better at 3.5t but, again, depends on what might be carried, but it looks like all XL 6.36m versions (with just 430kg ish payload) will be tight once OH and water are  added...instantly dropping this figure down to around 250kg.
certainly doable but this has to accommodate any after market extras (think tow bars or bike racks), bikes, clothes, books, electrical items, pots, pans, cutlery, crockery, bedding, outdoor chairs, tables, bbq, awning, walking/wet weather gear/boots, dog(s), beer, wine, fridge full of food, tinned/dried food, extra drinking water (if not using the fresh tank)....
just a few items that are on most folks list.....soon adds up...

On the Auto trail we had that was 3400kg gross, with the extras on it it weighed empty  apart from full fuel tank 3175kg ( extras, awning bike rack dome satellite solar panel air suspension) we had to have it up plated to 4000kg, just goes to show how much payload there really is

Take note all over 70's unless you retain your C1. Take into account when buying a new van.
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Richard

It is worth noting that the Peugeot WXL comes on the heavy chassis as standard so up plating to 4500kg is easy and unlikely to ever exceed either axles capacity.
The auto option on the Fiat are usually on the light chassis and coupled with the heavier transmission leaves a lot less payload availability even when uprated as I believe they can only get to 3850kg

its also worth noting that the heavy chassis incurs a weight penalty of around 40kg so, while axle weights are unlikely to be breached, that 40kg makes a tricky situation at 3500kg, just that bit harder to manage.

bolero boy wrote:its also worth noting that the heavy chassis incurs a weight penalty of around 40kg so, while axle weights are unlikely to be breached, that 40kg makes a tricky situation at 3500kg, just that bit harder to manage.

But the heavy chassis is standard on the Peugeot WXL base so the 40kg is already accounted for. The Fiat auto adds 50kg so if on a light chassis it only puts it 10kg more than Peugeot. However a Fiat heavy auto chassis will be 50kg more than the manual Peugeot

having the heavy chassis as std is a two edged sword...makes it easy to upgrade for those with a C1 but takes 40kg away from those who wish to run an already heavy van at 3.5t.
other makes allow the customer to choose the chassis, even at 6.36m....
eg...a Malibu 6.36m on the light chassis van comes in at 2845 kg MIRO, thats 221kg lighter than the WXL...OK, 40kg is for the weight if the heavy chassis and another 35kg is needed for packs to bring the base vehicle upto a similar spec.
however, that still leaves almost 150kg which makes a real difference between 'comfortable' and ' tight' at 3.5t.
id certainly find it 'difficult' to run a 3.5t plated van with only 250kg of payload (after water and OH).
with more and more new customers coming to the market, many of them younger drivers without a C1, payload is (should be) at the forefront of their thinking, not just shiny paintwork and nice upholstery.
im certainly not saying this is true of the WXL, but there are many vans (heavier than the WXL) being touted at 3.5t that are just not for for purpose at that weight.

My local dealer has a 2-berth autotrail coachbuilt in stock with 190kg payload!

Once the wife is in that with her shoes there is nothing left

Once the van has been upgraded from 3500kgs are you subjected to lower speed limits?

Col

Speed limits in the Uk are dependent on the unladen mass of the vehicle from how I understand it, I have just entered the vans details in to my Garmin sat nav and that tells me the speed limit

Thanks Chris.  I've been thinking about doing this for a while just so I don't have to worry about what I carry but the thought of lower speed limits put me off lol

Col

Sign on Hayling Beach, 3.5t limit.

So glad I bought the Duo and not the XL, as the dealer had both at the time, but did advise me to go for the Duo, thanks Dolphin Motorhomes.
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Richard

the UK law on light commercial speed limits is a real throwback....as mentioned above, it references the 'unladen weight' (which isnt quoted on the AS website although it is on my own brand site) and compares it against the metric equivalent of three 'old UK tons', 3050kg.
... but as the MIRO of the WXL is 3066kg and this includes 90% fuel and the driver over and above the 'unladen weight', its fair to say the WXL (at approx 2900kg) would not be restricted to the lower limits, even if upplated beyond 3500kg.

rgermain wrote:Sign on Hayling Beach, 3.5t limit.

So glad I bought the Duo and not the XL, as the dealer had both at the time, but did advise me to go for the Duo, thanks Dolphin Motorhomes.
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Richard

Does that mean tho if the van is allowed up to say 4000kg but it's actual weight is 3400kg it's still allowed?

Col

It goes by the weight on your V5

FreelanderUK wrote:It goes by the weight on your V5

Didn't see the sign officer lol

abmnw wrote:

FreelanderUK wrote:It goes by the weight on your V5

Didn't see the sign officer lol

never mind, heres a ticket anyway....should have gone to Spacsavers