Budget of 5k for towing vehicle...

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MegaBeast

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... what would you buy?

Am rapidly going off Land Rover Discoverys for a variety of reasons. Considering Defenders, Mitsubishi Shogun, anything else that can happily tow 3tonne? And your experiences of running costs, reliability, life span etc please?!

Is purely a work horse and not for everday so not interested in toys or comfort, and not too bothered by mpg as I know that decent towing vehicles and high mpgs just don't happen!

Thanks
 
I have a Landrover Discovery and its a brilliant towing vehicle. You could pick up a really good Disco II for £5k easily. Not sure what's put you off them??? We've had ours 4 years and its a 51 plate. I bought it from a main LR dealer, but don't take it there for servicing, coz they charge over £100 an hour for labour!!! I go to a local LR specialist and he charges me less than half their price, plus he is a real mechanic and only works on Land Rovers. He uses LR genuine parts too.

Defenders are brilliant too - a bit more agricultural and a bit noisier but very good towing vehicles. Test drove a Pajero (same as Shogun) and that was horrible - made me feel very sea sick!
 
Long Wheel base Pajero. Put it thru hell and back and still came back giggling. I only lost mine because I did not PAY ATTENTION!!! (oops!) I knew that the radiator needed attention (was 12 yr old by then) promptly forgot about it and the seal blew and fried the engine! My fault entirely. But as I said put it thru hell the 2 years we had the horses in impossible conditions living out. - They loved it but the access was (ahem) less than easy in the winter.

Running costs - realistically 26 ish mpg. I did very little to my Paj in the years I had it. I now have a LWB Shogun.

I love my Landies but not for towing...
 
jules34 said:
I have a Landrover Discovery and its a brilliant towing vehicle. You could pick up a really good Disco II for £5k easily. Not sure what's put you off them???
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Personal experience!! And that of various people I know who say they wouldn't have them again. Once the miles rack up on the older ones they really don't last that long, and the Td5s rot away rather quickly. I agree they're great towing vehicles, but very expensive to maintain. Loved my old 300tdi, but with 210k on the clock it was reaching the point of needing some expensive work done so sold it on and bought a 99T Td5 that is nothing but trouble, and trawling through the Land Rover forums confirms that this is normal for that age. Friends V reg went in for Service & MOT recentlty which cost £800 with very little wrong (independents not main dealer)

I can't help but feel that you pay a lot for the name these days but don't get the quality of yester year, hence am considering other brands, where you seem to get more for your money.
 
Sadly thats my problem with the "new" Landies too. You have to remember that they are not "Land Rover" any more with "Land Rover" technology and build quality. They have been owned by various companies hoping to buy into the 4x4 market but didn't have the experience or technology to keep the [/b]name going.

At least with Mitsubishi its a Mitsubishi not a Ford in Mitsu clothing etc...
 
Kia sorento - you will not be disappointed. I basically did what your doing now, started various threads and did some research and the Kia always came up trumps. Have one now and could not be happier! (well I will if I pass my trailer test at the end of the month)


x
 
I have a defender and it is good. I have the SWB but would advise the LWB as I dont think there is enough room in the back when competing/collecting fencing etc.Plus you would have more weight. We had a Range Roiver before and it was much better. But not as practical(hay sticks to velour seats and carpets) and wallowed when driving. If you get a landy with no windows in the side it is cheaper road tax! It counts as a commercial van. However it is not so good to take people out and about in!

A friend of mine has a Pajero and really rates it. But I am a landrover girl through and through! LOL!
 
MegaBeast said:
Hadn't thought of a Kia.... thanks. Also added Jeep Grand Cherokee to my list as they seem pretty cheap second hand... any thoughts on those?
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3 of my friends tow with these and they are great - I have always been told that the Kia's couldn't pull you out of bed but I haven't looked into it so its work checking.

Personal opinion, The ford Maverick has always been ace and its a ford so the parts are cheap - ok a little old now but really does the job. I think there is a nissan that is along the same lines too, v.popular with caravan towers.
 
MegaBeast said:
Hadn't thought of a Kia.... thanks. Also added Jeep Grand Cherokee to my list as they seem pretty cheap second hand... any thoughts on those?
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I opened this post intending to recommend the Grand Cherokee. We've got a very low mileage 99 reg 4.7 litre (!) petrol engined one which we've converted to run on LPG. Cost about £4.5k all in, including the LPG conversion, and because of the cheapness of the LPG it costs barely more to run than my old VW Passat, even though I probably get only 18mpg. Towing capacity is 3.5T and it has certainly never struggled in any of the awful situations I've put the poor thing in!

Oh, and don't forget that the road tax will be higher for a 2001-onwards model, so may be worth considering something older but with low mileage.
 
Katie_A said:
I opened this post intending to recommend the Grand Cherokee. We've got a very low mileage 99 reg 4.7 litre (!) petrol engined one which we've converted to run on LPG. Cost about £4.5k all in, including the LPG conversion, and because of the cheapness of the LPG it costs barely more to run than my old VW Passat, even though I probably get only 18mpg. Towing capacity is 3.5T and it has certainly never struggled in any of the awful situations I've put the poor thing in!

Oh, and don't forget that the road tax will be higher for a 2001-onwards model, so may be worth considering something older but with low mileage.
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That's very interesting thank you. There's one advertised locally that's an LPG conversion, pre 2001 lowish mileage whihch sounds very tempting.

How long have you had yours? Any problems with it...? (Hoping not!)
 
*Frantically knocks on wood!* No major issues in the 9 months we've had the beast - it's been fab.

If you do go for an already LPG converted one then I'd recommend getting details of whoever did the conversion and doing a bit of research on them to check that they're good. The conversion industry seems rather unregulated as far as I can tell, and I'd want to know that I trusted the people that installed a large flammable gas containing tank in my car!
 
If you can cope with a pick up the bigger Isuzu Rodeo is a good option as it will tow 3t...don't know if you'd get one for £5k but worth ringing round.
By far the best budget towing vehicle is a Defender...we bought an ex army one for £2500k ( a few years back mind!), towed two big horses in a very heavy rice trailer, and had loads of fun for virtually no ££££...the chap at the local garage liked it so much he worked on it at weekends and refused to charge VAT!
 
Ohh, I vote for the Ford Maverick too! We had one and it literally lasted a life time. Such a warrior! Admitadly, probably not the most glamorous/modern option now, but ours was ace. They were rebadged Nissan Terranos and were very good. They are quite old now though, but if you can find a good one, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will last forever!
 
Katie_A said:
*Frantically knocks on wood!* No major issues in the 9 months we've had the beast - it's been fab.

If you do go for an already LPG converted one then I'd recommend getting details of whoever did the conversion and doing a bit of research on them to check that they're good. The conversion industry seems rather unregulated as far as I can tell, and I'd want to know that I trusted the people that installed a large flammable gas containing tank in my car!
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Thanks for the heads up, will definitely be doing that!

Where does the LPG tank go? Is it in the boot, and if so how much space does it take up?

Colleen_Miss_Tom said:
We hada cherokee and the head gasket went on it :( .

For the past 3 years we have had 2 discoverys . Our old 300tdi . We now have a TD5 which I love to bits .

Soooo was going to recommend you a discovery but looks like you have your mind made on them :o :D :p


Col x
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I loved my 300tdi and want it back - sold it last month to a contractor in Kent! The Td5 we bought has put me right off them!
 
we have a mitsubishi shogun, its fab! easily will tow a ifor williams 510 with 2 16.3hh sports horses in and all of our stuff in the boot and full of people for quite a distance :) ours is the 2006 model tho but i can imagine an older one would be just as good from what friends have told me. would highly recommend them, you can barely tell your towing with it :)
 
MegaBeast said:
Thanks for the heads up, will definitely be doing that!

Where does the LPG tank go? Is it in the boot, and if so how much space does it take up?
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In the Grand Cherokee it's in the spare wheel well under the boot. Means you can't carry a spare wheel of course, but then at least it doesn't actually take up any boot space. I have an automatic inflater thingy with some sort of gunge in it which will get me home if I get a puncture. The LPG installer chap I used recommended the gunge inflater things and said that if I were his daughter (!!!?) he'd rather I used one of them than tried to change the wheel on a hulking great 4x4 on my lonesome - lol!
 
guccigivi2001 said:
we have a mitsubishi shogun, its fab! easily will tow a ifor williams 510 with 2 16.3hh sports horses in and all of our stuff in the boot and full of people for quite a distance :) ours is the 2006 model tho but i can imagine an older one would be just as good from what friends have told me. would highly recommend them, you can barely tell your towing with it :)
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Have to agree with Guccigivi2001. I use the OH's 1998 2.8 Pajero LWB ( I think its the same as a Shogun). Pulls HB510 with two 16.2hh & equipment no problem, you really cant tell its pulling that kind of weight. A real workhorse (excuse the pun!) but it does drink the juice, although living on an Island we pay about 4-5p more per litre than you mainland based riders.
 
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