Clutch smells after hill start when towing caravan

Bought an Evoque Pure SD4 manual January 2014 to tow our Bailey Unicorn Valencia caravan. It seems to struggle with hill starts when towing. Often have to lift the revs to 2000 to set off on relatively small inclines. This causes the clutch to smell even after one start. When doing this I do have to let the clutch slip but for as little time as possible 1 to 2 seconds before letting the clutch out completely.

Recently go stuck in heavy traffic on A30 clutch really smelly after 3 or 4 starts gentle starts on hill sections.

Other than this issue very happy with the vehicle.

Anyone else experiencing this type is issue when towing.

(16-08-2014 04:22pm)Alan.Cawthorn Wrote:  Bought an Evoque Pure SD4 manual January 2014 to tow our Bailey Unicorn Valencia caravan. It seems to struggle with hill starts when towing. Often have to lift the revs to 2000 to set off on relatively small inclines. This causes the clutch to smell even after one start. When doing this I do have to let the clutch slip but for as little time as possible 1 to 2 seconds before letting the clutch out completely.

Recently go stuck in heavy traffic on A30 clutch really smelly after 3 or 4 starts gentle starts on hill sections.

Other than this issue very happy with the vehicle.

Anyone else experiencing this type is issue when towing.

Hi
That's interesting we have a Evoque Pure SD4 manual. 2014 with 5000 miles on the clock.
We have just got back from a holiday in Cornwall where we experienced clutch burning smell twice on the hills of Cornwall. This really surprised us both, wondering why the clutch burnt from just holding it on a hill??
The cabin stunk with the smell so we had to stop.
Anyway when we got back and made two further journeys there was the smell. On the way to Liverpool, at 70 mph on the M6 there was again the smell of burning and on a trip to London. The smell was experienced when we were travelling at averages speeds but not towing or on a hill.
After having a landrover engineer look at it, it's now with the dealer having a new clutch fitted.
It's a bit of a worry with a vehicle that should work well up hills, and should be capable of towing.
Or is it a manual gearbox/ clutch problem..
I have to say the service we have had so far has been very good.
They have supplied us with a new discovery for as long as it takes to repair.. Auto

Well if you are holding it on a hill, the clutch is slipping and you will soon wreck it. That smell of the clutch burning us similar to that of your money going up in smoke.

Are LR replacing the clutch under warranty? I assume you are starting in first gear. How does the weight of the caravan compare with the rated towing ability.

I think automatics are a much better choice for towing...

I tow a power boat weighing approx. 1000Kg and have not had any problems with burning clutch smells when towing either on the road or up steep (and wet slippy) slip ways.
As peak torque is delivered at 1750rpm there shouldn't be any need to go above this when setting off.
Mark_n is correct in saying automatics are now considered better for towing, but in 37 years of towing boats with manual gearboxes I've not had any burnt out clutches.

(16-08-2014 09:51pm)mark_n Wrote:  Well if you are holding it on a hill, the clutch is slipping and you will soon wreck it. That smell of the clutch burning us similar to that of your money going up in smoke.

Are LR replacing the clutch under warranty? I assume you are starting in first gear. How does the weight of the caravan compare with the rated towing ability.

I think automatics are a much better choice for towing...

I agree an automatic is a better choice for towing but has poor mpg and is significantly more expensive than a manual.

The caravan is 80% of the Evoque's laden weight so towing should not cause problems.

I'm not talking about holding the vehicle on a hill by slipping the clutch. I'm saying that setting off on a relatively small hill 10% slope requires revving the engine to about 2000 rpm and then letting the clutch out gradually. Doing this twice over a period of a few minutes causes an awful smell.

When Landrover are developing vehicles they will do multiple hill start with a fully laden vehicle and a trailer at maximum weight. MIRA' s 1 in 4 hill is often used for this test. Land Rover also drive their test vehicles for many thousands of miles in the hills of Derbyshire again fully laden and towing trailers. So what I'm doing shouldn't cause problems.

I suspect the clutch is faulty. Either the friction material is contaminated or the drive plate does not have sufficient clamp load. Either will cause the clutch to slip when it has to transmit the additional torque required to get the vehicle rolling.

Sorry to go off on a tangent, but we are now saying that an auto has benefits over a manual for towing? I am specifically interested, as my Evoque needs to tow a 1250kg caravan, and I have deliberately specced a manual.
Any advice gratefully welcome.

(16-08-2014 11:31pm)Haggis Wrote:  Sorry to go off on a tangent, but we are now saying that an auto has benefits over a manual for towing? I am specifically interested, as my Evoque needs to tow a 1250kg caravan, and I have deliberately specced a manual.
Any advice gratefully welcome.

Hi

I originally towed my caravan 1450kg with a Mercedes C class auto. Driving the combination was trouble free apart from poor fuel economy. At the beginning of this year I purchased an Evoque Pure SD4 manual. It was a dealer demonstrator 3 months old with 2000 miles on clock. The automatic gear box fitted to Evoque's at that time were like most other vehicles had 6 forward gears and we're not as fuel efficient as the equivalent vehicles fitted with manual boxes. The main reason from my Mercedes experience was the rarely got into top gear.

The main advantage of a automatic when towing is when setting off especially on hills. Automatics apply the torque from the engine to the road wheels more progressively via a torque converter which is used instead of the clutch to connect the engine to I the gear box.

Landrover an Jaguar now fit the new ZF 9 speed automatic gear box which improves fuel economy.

Recently one of the caravan magazines tested a new Evoque with the new ZF box. It was praised for improved fuel economy and smooth gear changes.

At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference automatics are more relaxing to drive as you don't have to think about selecting the right gear for the prevailing conditions. Manual boxes are cheaper.

^^^^^ Thanks for this Alan, and for putting the time and effort in.

I have always driven a manual, but my Evoque was probably going to be my first ever auto. My test drive was in the 9 speed auto, and I was very impressed.

However, the reasons that I went for the manual were all financial. I was prepared to pay the extra for the auto box, but when I learned that it had higher CO2 (thus higher car tax) and reduced MPG (albeit marginally) I thought the manual made more sense.
My excellent salesman looked into the residual value of the two gearboxes, and was shocked to find that the extra spend on the auto, only equates to £400 additional value in 4 years. Another loss for the auto, and was the nail in the coffin for me.

It does sound as though your clutch is faulty so good it is being replaced.