Best smaller towing cars

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[170742]

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I’m a 23 year old girl looking for a towing car. I’m new to towing and want something absolutely safe and reliable, easily goes up hills etc whilst still being a fairly small 4x4 car that I can drive around everyday.

I have an Ifor Williams 510 trailer and a 600kg horse.

I have been looking at Mazda CX-5 as well as the Volkswagen Touareg as these are supposedly good towing cars but the Touareg looks quite big.

Does anyone have any experience with either of these cars or have any recommendations for cars that are safe and reliable to tow but are small enough to drive around everyday.
 
Our Touareg is great to tow but is a very big car! It wouldn’t be very economical to use as an everyday car either.
 
Touareg is a very thirsty car, and huge!

If you're getting a diesel car, I would buy as new as you can afford. I bought a 9 year old Tiguan for towing and it constantly had issues, ended up getting rid of it after a year. My garage told me to avoid older diesels like the plague.

Ended up buying another Tiguan, this time a 2020 plate and *touchwood* haven't had any issues. It's very economical for my commute - I get over 50mpg - and it's a lovely size. I only tow an Ifor505 and one 500kg horse.
 
You need to tow 1600kg so anything with a 2000kg will give you more than enough for a safety margin. Tiguans seem to be a very popular choice for a smaller tow car as do Honda CRVs. Depending on your budget and the age of car you're looking for, the very last of the Freelander 2s (2015-16) are very good tow cars but they hold their value so are still fairly expensive and are quite hard to find.

You could also look at 4 wheel drive estate cars, they tow a decent weight and are often a bit more economical as an everyday car. The Skoda Octavia 4 wheel drive has won awards as a tow car, the VW Passat Alltrack and the Audi A4 Allroad is basically the same car but a lot more expensive.
 
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MBass4 said:
Do you have an automatic or a manual? Are the automatics best to tow?
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It's personal preference really. I like to hold the car in a gear for more power / control when I'm towing and that's easier in a manual but you can manually select in an auto too, it's just that often it doesn't cross your mind to do it until you don't quite have enough power and then it's too late. Putting it in sport mode for towing can help with that as it will hold it in a lower gear for longer and change down sooner. It's probably that I don't drive (and particularly tow with) an auto often enough and I'd get used to it if I did.

There are benefits to an auto such as not burning out your clutch and hill starts being easier etc but be careful with towing capacity as some autos have a much lower towing capacity than the manuals. When you're checking the capacity, make sure you check the exact model - in some cars even a difference as small as whether it has 5 or 7 seats can change the capacity.

This website is very useful - https://www.towingcapacity.co.uk/
 
I've had two Kia AWD sportages and I really like them. 2L diesel manuals and tow 2.2T

With towing my mpg is currently at 39.1

My last one was a newer GTI and I've now got an older basic model. It still has reversing camera, 4wd lock, Lane assist and heated seats.

I really like driving them and they are easy to park.

I tow a 511 with it.
 
MBass4 said:
Do you have an automatic or a manual? Are the automatics best to tow?
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I have the 2l r line auto version and its very, very easy to tow with a good auto I have to say! Ive also towed with a manual freelander (never ever having one of those to tow again) and the big manual kia sorento that can do 3.5t. Since i dont need that kinda tow power I much prefer the Tiguan. Its just easy and things like the auto handbrake hold makes hill starts 100% fine.
 
I tow with an AWD Ford Kuga - generally only have 1700kg maximum in the back and it has a capacity of 2100kg, it's not struggled yet with our big hills and is very easy to park in car parks/economical to drive.
 
TPO said:
I've had two Kia AWD sportages and I really like them. 2L diesel manuals and tow 2.2T

With towing my mpg is currently at 39.1

My last one was a newer GTI and I've now got an older basic model. It still has reversing camera, 4wd lock, Lane assist and heated seats.

I really like driving them and they are easy to park.

I tow a 511 with it.
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Me too although when towing mpg is about 29, when not towing it is around 42 .
Lovely car to drive have done about 70k on mine no problems so far .
 
Friend has towed with a Kia Sorrento (older model) for one horse.

Don't for god's sake consider the "poor man's 4X4" aka an X-Trail. I bought one with admittedly 90K on the clock, but frankly it wouldn't have pulled a flippin' toilet chain. I live in Devon where there are lots of hills and every time I wanted to get up one particular hill near us I had to have a serious conversation with Jesus to get me up to the top of it.

I'm currently looking for something to tow with. A few local farmers have consistently said the same thing to me which is (1) it isn't just towing whatever's behind you UP the hill - you've also got to think of braking power and the tail-wagging-the-dog coming down it; and (2) also the advice is "go for more towing capability than you need" not less.
 
We had to replace our lovely old Shogun and for reasons best known to himself, Mr SC got a Dacia Duster.

It pulls ok but its not heavy enough really. We have to put some of Mr SC's weights in the back footwells. We've only got a 13.2 pony in the back!

Don't get a Duster!
 
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