# Best Car/4x4 for Pulling Trailers??



## aldato_daz (30 May 2008)

Hey all...

Im currenctly driving a wee black puegeot 206, which i obviously cannot pull a horse box with.  So im looking for something which will!

What do you all drive??

I said to my dad about gettin a nice wee second hand 4x4 and he says it may not be a good idea as tax is meant to be going up and so will cost me a fortune to run!  So what about a good car?

Bearing in mind i wont be spening a lot but could maybe afford to get one through finance and could maybe pay roughly £150 a month on that...

So what is the best car/4x4 for towing??

Thanking you all in advance for your kind help!!  
	
	
		
		
	


	





Carrie


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## scotsmare (30 May 2008)

A 4x4 will cost you a fortune in fuel and tax but ultimately it depends on the size of your horse and trailer.


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## CheziBrown (30 May 2008)

I've got an Isuzu Trooper 3.0ltr turbo diesel which is fab to pull a trailer.  It's an R reg and cost me £2,500 to buy about 6 months ago.  When I first bought it, was costing me about £80 to fill the tank up, put £50 in the other day from empty and just about went 1/2 way thats how much diesel has gone up !!   Just taxed it for 6 months and that was about £118 I think.  Insurance is about £600 for the year and i've had my licence for 6 years.  Ace car but running a 4X4 is not cheap at all !


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## aldato_daz (30 May 2008)

oh my god..thats a fortune!!! i really dont think i can afford it!!

fuel is just getting terrible! how do they expect us to live?!

so what about any good cars?


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## millerj (30 May 2008)

i used to tow my 17.2 in a lightweight trailer with  a n plate Vauxhall Omega, i was within my weight limits and never had any problems towed like a dream. 

This was last year so obviously fuel prices were lower and tax wasn't cheap at about £100 for 6 months.

Have 7.5 tom lorry now and still miss nipping around with my trailer.


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## Toby_Zaphod (30 May 2008)

You may find it cheaper to buy a 3.5 ton lorry. It will be cheaper on the insurance &amp; tax &amp; will do more miles to the gallon than a thirsty 4x4.


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## star (30 May 2008)

i would never tow a trailer with a car - they're just not designed for it and most of them aren't capable anyway.  The law says the towing vehicle must be capable of towing the MAM of the trailer which for a 505 is about 2.5tonnes - dont know of any cars capable of towing that.

i've just swapped my Clio for a Toyota Hilux Surf 3.0TD.  Payed £4000 for an M reg, but it's very low mileage for its age.  You could get a higher mileage one for less.  Tax is £180 a year (£120 for Clio), insurance is £460 a month (£260 for clio), it does 23mpg (Clio did 33mph but I drove it hard).  Also now have to pay for MOT and when things go wrong (which didn't happen with Clio as it was new).  No way could afford a new 4x4 - tax is absolutely horrendous.


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## aldato_daz (31 May 2008)

Thanks for all your replies!!

well considering I am not a big competitor and will only be going to local riding club every week and hopefully a few local shows and riding club events i dont want to be spending too much.

a lorry wouldnt be an option with me as i also need a car to get about non horsey wise and will def not be able to afford two vehicles...

I have heard different opinions on towing with a car. my bf says it wrecks cars but if u have a decent one it would pull no bother, so considering i wont be doing too much towing i wouldnt think the car would have much stress on it!

im thinking a 4x4 wil be best option though, just goin to have to work harder to run it! and fingers crossed my sports massage service takes off well!!!


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## sachak (31 May 2008)

land rover discovery


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## Blondievik (31 May 2008)

Hi I am a bit new on here so bear with me. I tow with an Isuzu Trooper 3.1 TD. Fantastic vehicle but like every thing else very thirsty. In todays market you can pick them up pretty cheap. I would agree about cars not really being suitable. But alot depends on the trailer, horse and where you live, We live in Wales and have steep hills and distances to travel (and most expensive fuel £1.35 ) not funny, and the fuel prices really are effecting how much people are competing!


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## CrazyMare (31 May 2008)

Depending on what trailer you have, and what horse you have, then towing with a car is perfectly feasable. Pick a good work horse type, diesel (a must for us) with a good weight to it. Our 3l diesel Merc is better at pulling away and braking than a friends Rexton 4x4.

We use a Merc E300 Diesel. Have a lightweight Bateson trailer and ponies.


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## kit279 (31 May 2008)

I have a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 Litre and it tows my 2 16.2h boys and Bateson trailer.  It's a petrol/LPG conversion and is great - costs me 25 pounds to fill up! Also, my road tax is less because it is LPG.


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## Calvo (31 May 2008)

I quite like the Defender 90


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## Orangehorse (31 May 2008)

I have just posted about why LPG isn't more popular.

Was your Jeep already converted to LPG or did you pay to have it done?


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## aldato_daz (1 June 2008)

Kit279...

yours sounds great...but what is an LPG and howcome it costs so little to fill when it is a 4litre??

Not sure what kind of trailer i will be pulling as it differs all the time and im hoping to buy my own, but at the most it will have to pull two 162hh horses (one is my friends) and will be an ifor williams..


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## suzysparkle (1 June 2008)

If you are going to be pulling 2 16.2hh Horses then no chance in hell will any car do that safely. You need one of the bigger 4X4's and the older versions unfortunately are thirsty. I have a very unusual towing vehicle, a Mercedes sprinter van which is bigger than my 510, but has masses of power and braking (it's the higher BHP engine) and more stable than any 4X4 I've ever used (that includes a Defender and a Disco). Only disadvantage is on mud as it's rear wheel drive. Fairly economical and insurance is cheap. We have the van for our huskies, thankfully it doubles up as a towing vehicle. We also have a Freelander which I use sometimes (only if van is being used for something else). It's fine for one Horse and actually pretty good on fuel, but never for two Horses. Some people say they don't have enough power and/or barkes, can't say I've ever had a problem, and I tow under it's max tow weight. 
LPG is liquid petroleum gas and about half the cost of petrol - but not all petrol stations have it. I think converson is about £1-2000, worth it if you do a lot of mileage.


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## star (2 June 2008)

cars just dont have the pulling power or torque to tow 2 16.2hh's in an ifor williams - you're looking at towing over 2 tonnes there which needs serious weight in the tow vehicle as well as towing power.  you should never pull a load which is heavier than the tow vehicle so you'd need to find a car which weighs over 2.2tonnes - good luck with that!  i think only 4x4's come in at that weight.  even my serious 4x4 truck only weighs 2.1tonnes so i will only ever tow a 505 and 2 horses under 16hh with it.  to tow over 2tonnes you need something like a LandCruiser -serious 4x4.  i dont care how many people do it with a car - that's my pride and joy i'm towing around - i would never put them at risk by towing with something even vaguely unsuitable just so I could save money.  Would rather not go anywhere at all.

Most of you are still forgetting the EU legislation which says your towing vehicle must be capable of towing the MAM of the trailer (2.56 tonnes for an Ifor Williams 510), regardless of whether you are going to fully load it or not.


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## TicTac (2 June 2008)

I have a 3.1TD Isuzu trooper. I have had it about 7 years and it is the most reliable and sturdy 4 x 4 for towing. It is not a glamour puss of a vehicle but a good sturdy work horse.

Even if you found a decent car to tow a trailer with ( I wouldn't even consider it) by the time it's pulling a trailer with a horse in your fuel consumption will go up anyway!

My car is called Ruby and she's 12 years old now and still going strong. Old 4 x 4's never die they just need TLC!


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## Tiggy1 (3 June 2008)

Toyota Surf 3.0l turbo diesel.
Very thirsty but great


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## sloulou (3 June 2008)

Landrover defender  
	
	
		
		
	


	





I have one - it is cheap to run on diesel and can tow a trailer easily...  having said that, I actually bought a lorry for the horses because it works out cheaper in the end..  selling the landy at the mo.


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## Arch99ck (3 June 2008)

I would say my honda crv... they are excellent... they are classed as an estate vech.. which makes it alil cheaper to run tax wise...  it doesn't alway used th 4x4 extra bit so saves alil with the petrol... not much thou... lovely vech to tow with!!


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## star (3 June 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Toyota Surf 3.0l turbo diesel.
Very thirsty but great 

[/ QUOTE ] 

I've just bought the same and not finding it too bad for juice as long as I dont floor it everywhere.  doing about 25mpg at the moment.


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## star (3 June 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
I would say my honda crv... they are excellent... they are classed as an estate vech.. which makes it alil cheaper to run tax wise...  it doesn't alway used th 4x4 extra bit so saves alil with the petrol... not much thou... lovely vech to tow with!! 

[/ QUOTE ]

please tell me you're joking or that you only tow a single horse trailer.  The CRV wasn't designed to tow the skin off a rice pudding, let alone a horse trailer!

It only weighs 1.6 tonnes and you should never tow a load greater than the weight of the car.  Most trailers weigh nearly a tonne empty so doesn't leave much for a horse.  Aside from the fact that it's maximum allowed towing limit is only 2 tonnes and EU law says the car must be capable of towing the MAM of the trailer which is over 2.5tonnes for both the double Ifor Williams trailers.


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## dizz4 (11 December 2012)

Hi, I went through all the makes of vehicles and 2 came out top of my list a Kia Sorento & a Hyundai Terracan both can pull 2.8 metric tonnes or 2800 kilos braked towing weight and when not towing do around 32 mpg not bad I thought....

good luck

Izzy


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## ROG (11 December 2012)

star said:



			[ QUOTE ] you should never tow a load greater than the weight of the car.
		
Click to expand...

Total rubbish

In fact many vehicles are designed to tow a load heavier than their own GVW


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## mon (11 December 2012)

We have a newish isuzu rodeo twin cab for farm towing pulls a dream even when over weight around farm, and not bad on mpg and tax, also have x trail which tows very well two large horses in IW 506 and as an 03 reg tax and mpg not bad, so that is for sale as just bought 54 erg jeep Cherokee £275 to tax but as have not picked it up yet can't say what it is like.


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## Highlands (11 December 2012)

Why not just put £500 aside and hire a 3.5 ton for when u want to go out and about!


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## rema (11 December 2012)

Defender...that is all i need to say lol


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## brighteyes (11 December 2012)

ROG said:



			Total rubbish

In fact many vehicles are designed to tow a load heavier than their own GVW
		
Click to expand...

Do not exceed a) the maximum weight of the fully loaded trailer  b) the GTW when combined with that of the car and c) the car's specified max towing limit. 

a) and b) can be found stamped on the respective vehicles and c) in the towing vehicle's official specification.


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## brighteyes (11 December 2012)

rema said:



			Defender...that is all i need to say lol
		
Click to expand...

I'll counter that with Daihatsu


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## ROG (11 December 2012)

brightinsel said:



			Do not exceed a) the maximum weight of the fully loaded trailer  b) the GTW when combined with that of the car and c) the car's specified max towing limit. 

a) and b) can be found stamped on the respective vehicles and c) in the towing vehicle's official specification.
		
Click to expand...

That is not saying that the trailer cannot weigh more than the vehicle

a) 3500 max trailer MAM = law
b) 6300 GTW = law
c) 3500 = not law
d) 2800 GVW of vehicle = law

a) is on trailer
d) + b) are on vehicle plate
c) in handbook


Land Rover Discovery 300TDi:
GVW - 2720kg
GTW - 6220kg
Maximum towing capability: 3500kg Overrun brakes


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## Hairy Old Cob (11 December 2012)

Defender 90


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