Best tow car?

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ponypins

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www.ponypins.co.uk
Hi, was recommended on BD to come here and ask things...and they advised that ROG was a bit of a guru...
I currently tow a richardson rosette trailer with one 16.1 wb in, using my 2.2dci xtrail (that I share with my OH) which is allowed to pull 2t.
However I need to have some living as I've got some stay away shows coming up and so I'm eyeing up an Equitrek show treka. They can downplate it for one horse, to 2t. But I am concerned about hills etc...
So, I'm wondering what are the best cars to tow say 3t, they must be reliable and economical like the X trail is....and easy on the bank account to buy as it would be a shared vehicle.
Any clues? Finding towing weight on auto trader is impossible!!
TIA x
 
Do you have a B+E licence ? = if yes then OK

Check out the last link in my signature below for tow vehicle ratings by site members
 
ROG said:
Do you have a B+E licence ? = if yes then OK

Check out the last link in my signature below for tow vehicle ratings by site members
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm old enough..! Thanks, will do re cars. I'm hoping the xtrail will be fine, it doesn't straight at all with my current one but there is about 400kg difference...
 
Meant to ask also, assume weight should still be on right, so for backwards facing right side loading with one horse, one should load alongside partition beside ramp?
(If that makes sense..!!)
 
ponypins said:
So, I'm wondering what are the best cars to tow say 3t, they must be reliable and economical like the X trail is....and easy on the bank account to buy as it would be a shared vehicle.
Any clues? Finding towing weight on auto trader is impossible!!
TIA x
Click to expand...

You don't necessarily need to go up CC on a car, something with more horsepower would be just as good. I have a Rice Richardson weighing in at 650KG and a horse weighing in about 670KG and I have 1600KG towing capacity with my car. The old Peugeot 406 used to pull well and I was within my towing weight but it used to struggle up inclines.

The car I have now, Vauxhall Vectra Elite is a 150BHP and has much better towing capacity, especially up the long inclines that the Peugeot used to struggle with.
 
I have to say that the X trail pulls well currently so I'm going to see how it goes but wondered what I should be looking at. Ours is the one with the increased BHP so is quite gutsy!
 
If you're old enough to have passed with B&E and not taken the separate trailer test, I believe you don't need to downplate a trailer. Just ensure that your towing rig ie. equitrek and nag, are within your 2 ton limit.
 
9tails said:
If you're old enough to have passed with B&E and not taken the separate trailer test, I believe you don't need to downplate a trailer. Just ensure that your towing rig ie. equitrek and nag, are within your 2 ton limit.
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This - maximum admissible mass (MAM) only applies to licences, when it comes to vehicle set up actual weights apply. This might mean loading up the car with your equipment rather than the trailer. A basic Show Trekka M is 1280kg unladen (I stress the "basic" as any extras will add to the weight) which would allow you 710kg of a load. A 16.1 Warmblood would probably weigh about 600kg which doesn't allow much of a margin of error.

If you do want to change I don't think there's a better tow car than a Defender. They're not great as an every day car though so if you do lots of miles on a day to day basis, something a bit less utilitarian would be better.
 
I've been through all the same "make it fit" stuff as would like to travel two horses in an EquiTrek sized thing that has living but pull it with an economical Nissan Note that runs on fresh air.

What I've ended up with for peace of mind to know it will pull ANYTHING and my horses will be as safe as can be, is ludicrously large and has the running costs of jet plane 😩
 
I used to tow my Equi-trek (5*) with a Discovery and to be honest would not have wanted to tow it with something as small as your car. It is not just the going up hills but going down you want to worry about. The trailer is big and heavy and I would have not felt safe towing it with something light. Realistically you would be looking at something like a Discovery/Range Rover/Shogun. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
 
Sprig said:
I used to tow my Equi-trek (5*) with a Discovery and to be honest would not have wanted to tow it with something as small as your car. It is not just the going up hills but going down you want to worry about. The trailer is big and heavy and I would have not felt safe towing it with something light. Realistically you would be looking at something like a Discovery/Range Rover/Shogun. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
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The star treka weighs 1900 unladen though! So quite a different beast. Our car needs to also do regular runs into London for my OH kids to be collected and taken back and do our 'about town' stuff. If I don't need to downplate that's fine, but my friend was told by VOSA your trailer plate must match your cars legal towing weight, so think I would do that to be sure.
 
In regards to the weight laws this is legal on a B+E licence

Vehicle GVW 2200 with a 2000 towing capacity towing a trailer at 1000 empty with a 2800 MAM and loaded with 1000
 
To alleviate any of this "can I, can't I" I just sucked it up and bought a Discovery3. Yes it costs the earth to run and it makes me cry everytime I fill it up knowing I only get 19mpg (I do really short commuter journeys so highly uneconomical) but if I want a big trailer in future, I don't want to be worrying about if it can/can't. Especially as I live up some ridiculously big hills as well!

Just makes my life easier, if not a little poorer 😊
 
Apologies for gate crashing thread but am considering buying a 2.5 XE auto Kia Sorento circa 2003/2004. I believe it tows 2800kg, would be used to pull ifor Willian's 505 & 2 x 500kg cobs. Anyone have any opinions on this car? Will be 2nd car so not too worried about economy. I have a B&E licence.
 
Myloubylou said:
Apologies for gate crashing thread but am considering buying a 2.5 XE auto Kia Sorento circa 2003/2004. I believe it tows 2800kg, would be used to pull ifor Willian's 505 & 2 x 500kg cobs. Anyone have any opinions on this car? Will be 2nd car so not too worried about economy. I have a B&E licence.
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Yeah, I have one though mine is an XS and I love it. I think the XE is the one where you choose 4wd and the XS is permanent 4wd, XE should be better on fuel but TBH they're pretty good anyway compared to the many others. Get leather seats, they're a godsend for mud and general dirt.
 
Landrover defender !! Swear by mine :)

At an event this season it was torrential rain the day before & on the morning so the field was just liquid mud! People with x trails, hondas, smaller 4x4s were even getting stuck!

All of us with defenders were fine! Along with the discoverys & shoguns

Wouldn't get anything small to pull an equitrek tbh
 
I've got an equitrek star treka and tow with a VW Touareg - get 29 mpg when towing and up to 40mpg + when not. Love it and as Ive now done 87k miles in mine just changing for a newer very low mileage one. Wouldn't tow with anything else
 
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