At long last I have a tow bar. Not the one I wanted, but it is functional and I installed it myself. What has been a simple transaction for all the other cars I have ever owned became a nightmare for this car. First a picture of the tow car on the car.
While it is invisible, you need to swing up the trailer connector (large 7-pin round) and remove the heavy penis-thing, wrap it in a towel and drop it into the spare wheel.
Let me tell you the many ways I tried to get the proper tow bar that is advertised here -->
https://cupraaccessories.com/au/product/product/29005/290017/29061
My first attempt was after I ordered the car and then found it would take over a month to move from Adelaide to the Sunshine Coast. I rang the
dealer and asked for a tow bar to be added to the order. The response after a call was, "I thought that we had one from an
Ateca. But that does not fit. So we can't
help you."
The second attempt was the day after I took delivery of the car. I rang one of the large
dealers in Brisbane. First response was, "go get a non-genuine tow bar". I politely told them that I wanted the genuine tow bar. To her credit she rang back and said that it would cost around $3,000. I said great, when can you book me in. Silence. "I will have to get someone to ring you back.", she says. Two days pass - no phone call. I phone them again. "Oh sorry", she says, "I forgot to pass on the message." Two more days, I decide to use their website contact page. Needless to say, no reply from there either.
At this point, I started this post and was contacted by East Yorkshire. The conversation was great and I really seemed to be getting close, and then nothing from 3 December 2025.
Last month Cupra announced the new
service dealer on the Sunshine coast. I asked for a price on having a genuine tow bar fitted. After going through the usual conversation about getting non-genuine fitted, I finally convinced her to give me a price. $2700 for parts. I referred her to the Cupra website with the price of $2917. "We can't do that we would make a loss", she says. Why is that my
problem? I then asked for the full install price and was told she would phone back. By this time, I am letting off steam.
I phone Cupra Australia and explain the situation, " Leave it with me", she says. She phones the
service centre and they came back with A$4200. She puts this in writing for me, but cannot
help me further. I put it to her that I would contact a Sydney
dealer and ask them to sell me the parts, and would Cupra
help me to find a
dealer to code the tow bar to the car. She agrees to this.
So, I phone a Sydney
dealer, who asks for my VIN number (Sunshine coast did not do this), and apologised that they would have to check with Cupra. The guy came back and said, "we can fit this to your car for A$3200." That was awesome, but Sydney is around trip of 2,600km. I explained the discussion with Cupra and I asked for it to be shipped to where I lived. Never heard back!
In the meantime, there is a jungle of green waste waiting to go to the dump, and I have no car able to tow my trailer for the first time in over 25 years.
This left me with no choice but to go non-genuine. I tried the sunshine coast, different place, and was quoted A$2925, for the same towbar, fitted to my car, that I bought and fitted myself for A$1899 in three hours including the time to connect the wires to the number plate light connection in the ceiling of the car.
The really sad thing is that while I fitted the tow bar to my car, I found this unit mounted on the left rear void.
Yep, the car has tow bar prep. That module 5H2 907 383 C is the Control Unit for Trailer Detection, and the cut-out was already in the rear bumper. It would have taken the
dealer about 2.5 hours to do the whole job.
I love the car, but this will be the last Cupra. I shudder to think what my
service experience is going to be, when it comes around for it's first
service later this year.
Anyway, for the Australians brave enough to go down this path, you need to ignore the wiring instructions that come with the tow bar. Australian trailer plugs are wired completely differently. You also need to know the wire colours:
Green / Grey - Number plate light (for the lights) - Wire is near passenger side tailgate hinge.
Yellow/ White - Brake lights
Brown - Ground
Green / Black - Right Indicator
Black / White - Left Indicator
Red - Power - take it up to the front of the car and use a Blade Piggy Back Fuse holder.
More detail on the plug wiring is here -->
https://www.outbackequipment.com.au/assets/brochures/TDR06909.pdf
I only have a small box trailer, so I did not wire in the trailer brakes or the reverse light pins.
