Best budget tow car

ROMANY 1959

ROMANY 1959

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My niece has passed her trailer test today, and now looking for a towing car. She is going for a light weight trailer, not found one yet.. but need recommendations on vehicles, that won’t cost an arm and a leg for a 24 year old with 30% NCB ..THANKS IN ADVANCE
 
If you can find a Terrano in decent condition, they're the bargain bucket tow car (2800kg!) - should be looking at well under a grand. Getting very old now, but the engines go on forever, so it's rust you're looking for. Mine is a 1994 and does the job, despite having had a hard life from me and the previous owner.
 
Whats her budget? I love my Korando and they are very, very cheap for what you get. Your looking at 5k for even an older on though. You can pick up old 4x4s for £500 with a years MOT on them. You just need to be really careful they arent rusty underneath. You dont want to be towing anything with a rusty chassis!
 
Virtually any 4x4 (which in all honestly is all I would want to use to tow a horse trailer), will be thirsty on diesel and expensive to insure. My old Shogun was both (22mpg on a good day and circa £800 a year to insure with full NCB).

Bargain basement 4x4's are generally knackered through rust or a very very hard life.

Below £2k they WILL be a money pit...
 
I have a 2004 ssangyong Rexton which has overall been very reliable. It has a 2.7 litre mercedes engine in it and will tow 3.5 tonnes. With some you need to look out for rust underneath, and the automatic is the better version. Depending on where in the country you are there's a chap in the west midlands who repairs them and he will post parts to you (I've taken mine to him a couple of times from Devon, worth it as he knows them inside out!!) I use it as my daily runaround, my insurance isn't horrific.
 
Older style Kia sorento - plenty around and good prices. I had an 05 auto and kept it for 11 yrs, towing capacity of 3.5t (which the new model doesn't), not too thirsty or expensive to insure. Also nice enough to have as a 'car' and comfy for long journeys.
 
I have had 2 old Terranos. Neither has been a money pit, and whilst not exactly economical, they compare very favourably to a landy, shogun or landcruiser.

Nice thing about a really cheap vehicle is that if it throws you a big bill you can scrap it and you've not lost much. Mine is just a field runabout and tow car, so I couldn't care how it looks, and I really enjoy not looking after it - who wants to spend their weekends hoovering hay out of footwells :D

Wouldn't want it as my only car, but that's the same for anything which will tow well. If you only tow occasionally, consider an estate (volvo, skoda, audi?) and a lighter trailer.
 
L&M said:
Older style Kia sorento - plenty around and good prices. I had an 05 auto and kept it for 11 yrs, towing capacity of 3.5t (which the new model doesn't), not too thirsty or expensive to insure. Also nice enough to have as a 'car' and comfy for long journeys.
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I had a 54 plate Sorento Manual with a 2800kg capacity & I only part ex'd it this year with 160k on the clock, never caused me any issues & I loved it. Previous to that I had a Terrano SWB with the same towing capacity which was great, but it was too utilitarian & thirsty for the daily 40 mile motorway commute so I swapped for the Sorrento - plus the Terrano very rapidly at one point started to rust away lol.
 
For a lightweight trailer with one up, go for an estate car with part time 4x4. Skoda Octavia Scout will tow 2t (though some of the older ones may only be 1800kg so check). Can easily cope with my Ifor 510 (1000kg) + my 16.1hh 650kg IDx mare.

Sensible reliable everyday car that eats up non towing motorway miles too, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to run.
 
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