How much weight can I put in my Chevrolet Lacetti Estate?

According to https://www.auto-data.net/en/chevrolet-lacetti-wagon-1.6-i-16v-109hp-14442 I can the car has max load of 515kg, which seems very high!

I need to get some bags of gravel, and local merchant cannot deliver at the moment. I really need around 16 x 25kg bags, so 400kg.

If just me in the car, and I spread the bags over the seats and boot, will that be OK?

would seem fairly reasonable as 5 big adults of 80kg would be 400 kg.

515kg isn't that high if you consider that 4 fat americans at 100kg each would weigh 400kg. Add in 25kgs of luggage each and you're up to 500kg....

400kg of gravel in your car will be fine, though i would spread it about as you suggest.

jonbey said:

If just me in the car,

Click to expand...

You need to add on the weight of the fuel in the tank also(approx 1kg per litre), that's not counted in the 'curb weight'.

You could be pulled over and escorted to a weigh bridge if you're car looks particularly 'flattened', but the police are mostly on the lookout for vans/tippers/etc, often as part of a joint operation with VOSA.

You'll be fine if it is uniformly distributed. When the manufacturer type approves the car, he starts off at "Mass in Running Order", which is a 90% full tank of fuel, 75kg in the driver's seat, plus full reservoirs of oil, water, screenwash, AdBlue, etc, and the jack and spare wheel if thus equipped. By regulation, the car must then be capable of carrying AT LEAST:

68kg per seating position (not counting the driver as there is already 75kg in there) AND
7kg per seating position in the luggage compartment AND
whatever maximum nose weight of trailer the manufacturer states can be carried on the towball (if the vehicle is capable of towing).

The Gross Vehicle Weight of the car is not allowed to be less than this - and manufacturers invariably allow more than that anyway.

You can't easily check the Mass in Running Order of your car, I'm afraid, but the Gross Vehicle Weight will appear on the same "chassis plate" or label that has the car's 17 character VIN on it and type approval number. Don't know where they are on that car, but usually on a door pillar or engine bay. The first number on there will be the Gross Vehicle Weight. (The next will be the Gross Train Weight (i.e. vehicle plus the heaviest trailer it is allowed to tow). However, half a ton of payload doesn't sound unreasonable for an estate car.

If you're really worried, most scrapyards have a weighbridge and if you ask them nicely (and maybe part with a tenner), they'll let you drive on to it and they'll weigh your car for you.