Best 4x4 for pulling a trailer

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hectorandbella

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Wondering what are the best 4x4s to pull a trailer, they need to be fairly cheap (up to £5000), at the moment we only have one pony but will at one stage be pulling two horses; we will be pulling them in something similar to a IW 510.

Thanks for your help
Hectorandbella
:)
 
They say the best 4x4 for pulling is the Discovery. We may have to go down the trailer route if things dont work out with my lorry and if so we'l be getting a Pajero as we only have Jap stuff :)
 
I tow with a Discovery. It is fantastic to tow with, so easy going up hills etc. I use my Dad's which is a 56 plate but you could get a decent older one for £5k.
 
Ive had bad experiences with land rover in the past so a tad biased but my recommendations are shogun/pajeros, nissan terranos and diahatsu fourtraks. All great workhorse cars which have bombproof engines and could pull a house down!
 
I really liked my Cherokee (2.8Td auto) which towed like it had nothing on the back, was brilliant. FiL rated his Isuzu and OH the fourtrack.
 
I have had two disco's, when they are working they are great, mind you, WHEN they are working....
p.s My dad is a lecturer in mechanics as well!

Also Shogun's seem pretty good.
 
Can't beat the 3.1 isuzu troopers. I have a swb one which tows IW510 with two big horses no problem. Brilliant workhorses. I'll be gutted when mine eventually dies, shall struggle to replace her (she's called Trudy..... the Trooper!).
 
We used to use a Isuzu trooper and when that died got a disco. Both were good although I prefer the disco. Problem is even old discos hold their value quite well. We have had. No reliability problems with ours - it's a 2002 plate.
 
Pajero/ shogun. Same thing, different internal comfort spec. Fantastic super select gear box, get a 2.8l lwb IMO as length adds stability and boot space, and 2.5 a bit gutless,the 3l and above a bit too thirsty!

If you use the search function on here this has been done to death- you'll find 101 threads on it ;)
 
Oh and lissy bear that will be because they are not man enough for the job and are usually over laden! Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding in my opinion, and more importantly could not stop it either!!
 
I don't know what your trailers weigh, or what the laws are in the UK but when I was looking at towing vehicles nothing with a 2.8L engine had sufficent braking capacity to stop a bog basic straight load 2 horse float carrying 2 x 16hh horses.

Most only say 2000kg braking capcity - I worked on my trailer weighing 800kgs, 1 horse = 500, if you then allow for gear, carrying water, feed etc your soon very close to the 2000kgs.
 
I have a LWB Shogun....3.5l V6. It tows upto 3200kgs legally and has even pulled a recovery truck out of a ditch in the snow last winter ! It's big and comfortable but a little juicy. It's a 53 plate and would probably cost around £4-£5k nowadays. I would like to upgrade to something a bit newer bit tbh it'd cost a small fortune to get anything remotely as good so i'll probably just run it into the ground...
 
There are plenty of 2.5l + 4x4's in the Uk with capacity to tow trailers (2500kg-3500kg capacity) - the problem with 2.5l cars though is that they are a bit more gutless. I'd personally opt for 3.0l just for the oomph.

OP - IMO you have 2 options LWB jap cars (Shogun, Trooper, Landcruiser) or landrover (Dicovery, Range Rover, defender). Personally I'd always go Jap given the choice, but where you source the car and how it's been maintained is always going to be important. You'll get good and bad examples of many.

If on a real budget some others that would also do the job are fourtrak or terrano.
I'd run a mile from Jeeps!
 
Have had 2 shoguns and currently have a Pajero,love love love them! They are work horses,are sooo comfy to drive,not as bad as some 4x4's for fuel,can really go when you put your foot down,have air con and all mod cons and you can pick them up at a fair price
 
ihatework said:
If on a real budget some others that would also do the job are fourtrak or terrano.
I'd run a mile from Jeeps!
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Ha, ha - I love my Jeep but would run a mile from a Fourtrak!! We agree on the Terrano's though, would rate those for towing capability and comfort driving.
 
The thing about fourtrak is that thy are all getting on a lot now. Because thy are good, people use and abuse them a lot, and only seem to sell when nearly dead!!
I wouldn't buy one either- mate had one which he used a lot, was worth next to nothing to sell, also sound, felt and drove like a tractor!!
 
Ford Ranger... my dad's is fantastic to tow with.

Dont buy a Navara, the engines in them have a tendancey to go bang!
 
Discovery without a doubt... BUT for £5k I'd be going for a Kia Sorrento, you'll be stuck with a very old Disco for that money, but quite a new Sorrento. They have a 7 year warrenty, so you should get the tail end of that, are relatively fuel efficient at 35mpg, are comfy, and can tow the same as a Disco more or less (you do need to be careful with kerb weights etc, it limits a lot of the smaller 4 x 4's to one horse only).
 
wench said:
Ford Ranger... my dad's is fantastic to tow with.

Dont buy a Navara, the engines in them have a tendancey to go bang!
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That is the older Navara D22 engine, which is all you would get for £5k, you are looking closer to £10k for the newer one that doesn't go bang! Or you could look for a pathfinder, they have lots of tow capacity.

Polotash said:
Discovery without a doubt... BUT for £5k I'd be going for a Kia Sorrento, you'll be stuck with a very old Disco for that money, but quite a new Sorrento. They have a 7 year warrenty, so you should get the tail end of that, are relatively fuel efficient at 35mpg, are comfy, and can tow the same as a Disco more or less (you do need to be careful with kerb weights etc, it limits a lot of the smaller 4 x 4's to one horse only).
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Be really careful if you decide to go for a Sorrento. We bought one at the £5k price point and discovered that it had a dangerous fault (despite having a brand spanking new MoT and a dealer check etc). The fault would have cost £4k to fix as we discovered it before it caused further damage but it could have written the car off totally. Google Kia Sorrento Drive Shaft issue and you'll see that it is not an uncommon fault.

Luckily for us the dealer who sold it to us took it back, but I know that they have since sold it on through an auction....................
 
I love my via sorrento and although i had to look quite a long time for it the cheap disco 's i looked were rubbish for my budget. Kia cheaper to tax and insure too
 
I am very biased torwards the defender, I had one until recently but unfortunately black ice claimed him last winter!!! :( :( :( :(. I know tow with a pick up but find it quite a bumpy ride for me when towing so don't know what it is like for the horse
 
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