Are ordinary cars still legal to tow horse trailers?

surreyhorsechick

surreyhorsechick

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I am having to sell my Honda CRV in the near future as I just can't afford to run it for a small amount I use it to tow!
Ideally I would like to get a diesel estate or suchlike but I have read an old post on Preloved that it is no longer legal to tow with an ordinary car - only a 4x4. Can anyone tell me if this is def the case?

I currently own an old Rice Europa trailer with wooden floor and would only be towing one 15HH horse weighing approx 450kg.

If I am allowed to tow with a car - does anyone have any suggestions on the best one to go for??

Many thanks!
 
You have to make sure that your car can pull the weight allowed.

As for not being allowed to tow with a car... pure rubbish. Again, this does depend on the stats on the car and trailer. Say for example you buy an old freelander. This would be classed as a "4x4", but I would hazard a very large guess that it cant tow as much as a Volvo V70... therefore why would you ban cars from towing!
 
I tow with a Mondeo diesel estate but I have a Ifor 401 single trailer which is likely to be lighter than your Rice.

The towing clinic sticky thread has loads of useful info which helped me. You will need to find out the weight of your trailer to calculate what size car you'll need to tow it.

Good luck :)
 
It all depends on whether you have a B or B+E licence, and what weight your new car can tow. Either look in the towing sticky or ask ROG. x
 
I would be careful what make and model mondeo you get. I have towed for years with various mondeos. the present one is a 2009 model 1.9 mondeo zetec diesal. Legal to tow a single ifor and the pony I used to have. I found it woefully under powered in low gear apparantly its a problem with the specific engine as I found from a ford forum atfer buying it!
MARDY MARE - where are you based and do you tow in a hilly area as starting to think it might be my driving thats at fault!
 
As long as the car can tow the weight then yes its legal.

Tour trailer is probably quite heavy with a wooden floor.
A more lightweight one would give you more leeway and not put as much stress on the car.
 
Many tow horse trailers with basic ordinary cars quite safely BUT you are somewhat restricted on what type of surfaces are ok to drive on

The Mondeo does have a good rep for this sort of thing so with a B+E licence all you need to worry about is finding a car that has a towing capacity of at least 1500 because the empty trailer + horse already make 1300 and you need a little extra for other stuff you might load in the trailer
 
Rog may I ask please, my mondeo is a 2009 diesel zetec. Plated to tow 1600, pony weighs 450 so with an I for single or a bateson Derby plated to 1600 it's legal and lighter than 75% of gvw. Do you think it's safe though down steep hills? U worry about stopping! We are just off snake pass. Keep being told I need a 4x4 but also told to get a rav or Suzuki which I think would be physically lighter than my mondeo...
 
Forgot to add that ROG deserves an unsung hero award for services to numpty tow car owners like me. Thank you for the time you spend on our queries!
 
Kia sedona is a massive tow weight. You need a big old neavy car. I have a older Rice europa which is very light, so you can have about 900kg pony weight and still use an old heavy car. Newer cars tend to be lighter so old Volvo's ,Rover, but you have to except they are gas guzzlers.
I had a very old LR discovery which cost £725, I sold it for £600 and it cost £500 pounds a year to keep it maintained, it pulled anything. So my ideal would be the disco with a high mpg runaround
 
Good advice Honeypot - unfortunately we can't afford three cars (eg a Disco putely used for towing.......we need something that will tow on the odd occasion but also go up and down the motorway to work and cover the school run so as high MPG as poss! Think anything out there exists??? Oh and max budget of 3K - I don't ask for much do I?!!

And ROG - you are fab, thank you for answering my query so quickly !
 
hackedoff said:
Rog may I ask please, my mondeo is a 2009 diesel zetec. Plated to tow 1600, pony weighs 450 so with an I for single or a bateson Derby plated to 1600 it's legal and lighter than 75% of gvw. Do you think it's safe though down steep hills? U worry about stopping! We are just off snake pass. Keep being told I need a 4x4 but also told to get a rav or Suzuki which I think would be physically lighter than my mondeo...
Click to expand...

% of GVW has no bearing on it
Plated weight can be higher than towing capacity
Up or down hill the vehicle and trailer has been designed to cope so that leaves the way in which the driver handles it

B+E ....
Weight of empty trailer plus load/horse must not be higher than towing capacity or trailer plated MAM whichever is the lower

B ....
Weight of empty trailer plus load/horse must not be higher than towing capacity or trailer plated MAM whichever is the lower
GVW of vehicle added to trailer plated MAM must not be more than 3500 kgs
Trailer plated MAM must not be more than vehicle kerbweight
 
Thank you ROG I am quite an experienced tower, did it for 15 years with old pony but in a different area. I think I will upgrade my mondeo to a titanium and
go for a new I for 403 rather than an older 4x4 . The 75% thing was meant to read as a percentage of cars weight like camping and carjacking club recommend.
 
I tow my single trailer with 380kg pony with an old audi estate 1.9 tdi. its been a brilliant car for us even with almost 200k mileage on it!
 
hackedoff said:
Thank you ROG I am quite an experienced tower, did it for 15 years with old pony but in a different area. I think I will upgrade my mondeo to a titanium and
go for a new I for 403 rather than an older 4x4 . The 75% thing was meant to read as a percentage of cars weight like camping and carjacking club recommend.
Click to expand...

The caravanners are carjacking now??!!!! I always thought they looked a bit dodgy under that respectable exterior......:-DD
 
I think the Rice Europa and one of the Sinclairs might be just as light as Bateson derby.

Entertained by the idea of the camping and carjacking club.
 
I love towing with my Ford C-Max zetec 2ltr diesel, it has NO TROUBLE towing my 15.2 TB (who weighs 511kgs) in my 401. It doesn't struggle going up hills (has lots of power to spare) and can still park on grass if not too sodden. We've even had to do an emergencyt stop when some t**t pulled out in front of us and the car did not budge. Rog checked it and it's all legal weight wise for my b license. Highly recommend the C-Max 2 ltr diesel zetec for towing.
 
sidesaddlegirl said:
I love towing with my Ford C-Max zetec 2ltr diesel, it has NO TROUBLE towing my 15.2 TB (who weighs 511kgs) in my 401. It doesn't struggle going up hills (has lots of power to spare) and can still park on grass if not too sodden. We've even had to do an emergencyt stop when some t**t pulled out in front of us and the car did not budge. Rog checked it and it's all legal weight wise for my b license. Highly recommend the C-Max 2 ltr diesel zetec for towing.
Click to expand...

Glad its still going well

and ...

HOLY THREAD REVIVAL from March 2013 !!
 
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