Golf Mk7 Towing/Towbar Thread

[DV52]

Good to hear DV52, I've been waiting since late April - initially for the car, and still for the towbar - so this could be a good option for me. Does the Hayman Reece involve cutting the rear bumper?

bc: Yes, the Hayman Reece Towbar requires a square cut-out. I have included a pic showing this albeit you can't see that the bottom of the black part of the bumper (i.e. at the bottom of the toungue) is not cut-through. This means that the hole is a rectangle with the bottom of the black part of the rear bumper still intact (hope this makes sense) . I chose an in-line plug which you can't see in the pic. Don't take any notice of the black piece of metal that sits directly under the rusty old ball in the pic. This is an attachment that I made for my bike carrier.

[b c]

Thanks DV52, certainly looks workable. I'd like to know more about what VW are intending to offer - some of the european setups look good - before I commit, but if they take too long then its nice to know there is an alternative.

[Alex31]

Any more info on a genuine tow bar kit yet??

[Kevin_67]

I'm also in the 'waiting for the VW towbar' club. When I asked at my local parts dept last week they told me the MK7 tow bars have ADR approval but are still waiting on sign off from Germany (I assume VW HQ). I will call back in a few weeks to check again. Pricing will be around $1,000 for all required parts (inc wiring harness) plus labour.

Another alternative might be these guys:

Golf Hatchback (MK7) 3 and 5 doors | Towbars Australia

If VW take much longer then I might end up going down this route and enlisting the help of a friend or 2.

[warrick]

i am getting a towbars australia bar fitted to my v6 cc by them, weds next week.will report back once fitted.
cheers
warrick

see this post for report back

cost of fitting Towbar to passat 3cc v6 4motion?

[b c]

My dealer tells me he can't get VW Aus to even say "yes" or "no" when asked if they will be providing a tow bar for the Golf ....

Love the car, but I have problems saying anything positive about VW Aus' approach to customers...

[DV52]

My dealer tells me he can't get VW Aus to even say "yes" or "no" when asked if they will be providing a tow bar for the Golf ....

Love the car, but I have problems saying anything positive about VW Aus' approach to customers...

b.c. : You have certainly been waiting for a tow bar for a very long time and I entirely agree with your sentiments about the inaptly named "Customer Car" folk at VW Australia. In the 21st century I would have thought that getting a model specific tow bar on the market wouldn't have been all that difficult - it ain't rocket science!

Your understandable annoyance at VW Australia's deplorable lack-of-action notwithstanding, the extended delay does raise an interesting question; If you have tolerated not having a tow-bar for this long period of time, do you really need one?

In my case, I went for the Hayman Reece tow bar in desperation, but this doesn't appear to be the case for you.

[b c]

b.c. : You have certainly been waiting for a tow bar for a very long time and I entirely agree with your sentiments about the inaptly named "Customer Car" folk at VW Australia. In the 21st century I would have thought that getting a model specific tow bar on the market wouldn't have been all that difficult - it ain't rocket science!

Your understandable annoyance at VW Australia's deplorable lack-of-action notwithstanding, the extended delay does raise an interesting question; If you have tolerated not having a tow-bar for this long period of time, do you really need one?

In my case, I went for the Hayman Reece tow bar in desperation, but this doesn't appear to be the case for you.

HI DV52. The operative word is "tolerated" - I've been able to work around a number of things I'd be using the towbar for:
- bike fits in the back of the car with the seats down, but not a great solution as the commuter bike has hydraulic disc brakes and I need to remove the front wheel. There will come a day when the brake lever is bumped and I can't just slot the wheel back in.
- rubbish bins are being walked out to the road, rather than towed (200m down/up a significant 30% slope hill)
- fire fuel reduction on my property done by burning the prunings, rather than towing to the tip

The show stopper for me is that I want a Hobie catamaran for next season, and I don't have a work around for that. Dealer manager I spoke to last week said he doesn't see a big demand for towbars for the Golf. I suspect in relative terms he's right, but I don't need to tow a heavy load, just a big one.

Good to know there are now alternatives. However, while I'm trying to get VW to come to the party over other issues, I'm leaving this outstanding. They have agreed to install the LED plate lights (I have bi-xenons), but the best they have offered on Voice Assist is a free install. Next step is to talk to Vic consumer affairs, and then I'm thinking about VCAT.

[lambertia]

phil38555615: I purchased a Golf Mk7 Highline in June 2013 and the same problem arose then (i.e. no tow bar). After many months of waiting I eventually negotiated with my Dealer to fit a Hayman Reece towbar instead . The tow bar was fitted in October 2013 . It was designed for a Golf Mk6 and it fitted OK (both mechanically and electrically).

Hi Phil,

Did the dealer use the genuine loom or did he use the electrics that came with the HR?

Cheers,
--
Greg.

[DV52]

Hi Phil,

Did the dealer use the genuine loom or did he use the electrics that came with the HR?

Cheers,
--
Greg.

Greg: My understanding is that the Hayman Reece towbar was installed with its own "black box" and loom. As I have said in a previous post, I have connected the tow bar to a trailer with standard incandescent lamps and I have also connected it to a bike rack with LED lamps. I've never had the bulb failure indicator appear on the MFD with either item attached to the towbar.

I've also checked the status of the "trailer" function on my car using a VCDS cable. As you can see in the picture below, and notwithstanding that I don't get a bulb failure indicator on the MFD, the "trailer installed" entry (i.e. bit 4 of byte 5 in the "engine" controller) is NOT ticked on my car. Yet the trailer electrics works wonderfully!