Budget Towing Vehicle

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Where’s My Cow

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Hello all,

I know towing threads are a dime a dozen but I’m struggling to find one that is relevant to me.

I’m hoping to find a reasonably affordable vehicle that will allow me to start towing a trailer. I have a friend who is happy to share her trailer, but my current car can’t tow.

Budget is £7k, which I appreciate isn’t a lot. I’m happy to have an older or higher mileage vehicle as long as they have good reliability.

My horse is 500kg and it would be an Ifor Williams HB510. I’d like the car to have 3000kg towing capacity just for peace of mind, but also so I could in theory take another horse.

I’m looking at some older VW Touaregs and Ssangyong Rextons. When I say older, 2011 - 2015, mileage up to 125k.

Does anyone have any experience with a 2010 - 2015 towing vehicle that has higher mileage? How is it running now? Are you finding higher service / repair costs or is it continuing on nicely?

Happy to budget for annual services etc and would look to buy one with a good service record. I also always check MOT records.

But experiences would be great, because the other option is to keep saving and get something newer with less miles eventually.

Thank you!
 
Older car if well maintained should be fine.

Ssangyong Rexton (the older ones) have Mercedes engines and good reputation, also Hyundi Santa Fei, Kia Sorrento, Mitsubishi Shogun, Daihatsu Fourtrak all worth considering if you can find a good one.

My towcar's a 1999 Fourtrak, 177k miles now, old but well maintained and a lot of welding done on it, owned it for most of its life.
 
A well maintained older car is generally much more reliable than new cars. Built back when they were made to last, rather than die at 3-5 years old. And try and avoid anything with fancy electric mod cons.

The main issue you’ll need to look out for on an older car is a rotten chassis - because often their chassis dies before that good old reliable engine!

VehicleSmart is an app that tells you all previous MOT faults etc so you can get an idea of what work they’ve had done.

Depending on what you need, I’d look at:
- pre 2010 Kia Sorento are great and very cheap to pick up, but check for rot
- Shogun. The LWB are less trendy than the SWB ones so often cheaper
- Hyundai Santa Fe - check towing cap on this
- Toyota Land Cruiser

Basically, you’re generally safer in a Jap/Korean car than British. Stay away from Landrover.

I really good idea is to try find an ex-fleet vehicle from BT or another big company as they maintain them super super well. My Shogun is 2006 ex-BT, cost me £1,500 to buy and I’ve only spent on general expected maintenance in the four years ive had it. Fantastic car and now owes me absolutely nothing.
 
Trot_on said:
A well maintained older car is generally much more reliable than new cars. Built back when they were made to last, rather than die at 3-5 years old. And try and avoid anything with fancy electric mod cons.

The main issue you’ll need to look out for on an older car is a rotten chassis - because often their chassis dies before that good old reliable engine!

VehicleSmart is an app that tells you all previous MOT faults etc so you can get an idea of what work they’ve had done.

Depending on what you need, I’d look at:
- pre 2010 Kia Sorento are great and very cheap to pick up, but check for rot
- Shogun. The LWB are less trendy than the SWB ones so often cheaper
- Hyundai Santa Fe - check towing cap on this
- Toyota Land Cruiser

Basically, you’re generally safer in a Jap/Korean car than British. Stay away from Landrover.

I really good idea is to try find an ex-fleet vehicle from BT or another big company as they maintain them super super well. My Shogun is 2006 ex-BT, cost me £1,500 to buy and I’ve only spent on general expected maintenance in the four years ive had it. Fantastic car and now owes me absolutely nothing.
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I’ve had so many family friends have issues with landrovers, old ones and new ones, so I’ll definitely avoid those!

I’ll definitely have a look at Shoguns, thanks! How can you find ex-fleet vehicles? Are they usually auctioned?
 
It’s worth checking, but I think parts for Shoguns can be quite difficult to get now though that probably does depend on the age. Only saying that as someone at our yard had a fuel tank issue and their garage was struggling to get the parts to repair it. Also check the vehicle size duty. A friend has a VW Touareg which I’m sure I’ve probably spelt wrongly, but the road tax is about £700 per annum. It is a fabulous towing vehicle though.
 
Trot_on said:
A well maintained older car is generally much more reliable than new cars. Built back when they were made to last, rather than die at 3-5 years old. And try and avoid anything with fancy electric mod cons.

The main issue you’ll need to look out for on an older car is a rotten chassis - because often their chassis dies before that good old
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Really? I don’t know anyone who has had a car die at 3-5 years old, can you cite some examples?
Trot_on said:
Stay away from Landrover.
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Nothing wrong with Land Rovers, they’re nice well built cars and like anything, well maintained they last a life time! Plus they’re lovely to drive.
 
Shoguns are great towing vehicles, and the more modern ones are pretty comfy - my 64 plate one has lots of bells and whistles such as air con, reversing camera (highly recommended) and heated leather seats. Shoguns were sadly discontinued a few years ago.

Owned ours for 9 years (it was an ex Hertz rental car) and fingers crossed it has had very little wrong with it barring routine maintenance. Mine’s LWB so has a 3.5t tow limit.

Stay away from anything JLR! Terrible reliability!
 
humblepie said:
It’s worth checking, but I think parts for Shoguns can be quite difficult to get now though that probably does depend on the age. Only saying that as someone at our yard had a fuel tank issue and their garage was struggling to get the parts to repair it. Also check the vehicle size duty. A friend has a VW Touareg which I’m sure I’ve probably spelt wrongly, but the road tax is about £700 per annum. It is a fabulous towing vehicle though.
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I do like the look of the Touareg. And yeah, the tax jump is… considerable! I currently pay £35 a year!
 
humblepie said:
It’s worth checking, but I think parts for Shoguns can be quite difficult to get now though that probably does depend on the age. Only saying that as someone at our yard had a fuel tank issue and their garage was struggling to get the parts to repair it. Also check the vehicle size duty. A friend has a VW Touareg which I’m sure I’ve probably spelt wrongly, but the road tax is about £700 per annum. It is a fabulous towing vehicle though.
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Yes find a mechanic who’s happy to work and tinker on an older car ajd you’ll be fine. Most garages around here won’t touch mine, but luckily my lifelong mechanic is a massive fan so is always happy to do what’s needed. He doesn’t seem to struggle too much for parts xx
 
Where’s My Cow said:
I’ve had so many family friends have issues with landrovers, old ones and new ones, so I’ll definitely avoid those!

I’ll definitely have a look at Shoguns, thanks! How can you find ex-fleet vehicles? Are they usually auctioned?
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Im not actually sure - I worked for an ISP so bought directly from them x
 
HopOnTrot said:
Really? I don’t know anyone who has had a car die at 3-5 years old, can you cite some examples?

Nothing wrong with Land Rovers, they’re nice well built cars and like anything, well maintained they last a life time! Plus they’re lovely to drive.
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I’ve had Numerous friends Discovery Sports have had to have thousands plus spent on them due to turbo, DPS, engine and gearbox failures within their fifth year.

Tow trucks collect them all the time.

It’s a running joke even with Landrover fanatics that they tend to spend more time in the garage than out. My Dad had a garage and was an MOT tester for years - always said to stay away from JLR. Which is gutting, coz I really like them!
 
HopOnTrot said:
Really? I don’t know anyone who has had a car die at 3-5 years old, can you cite some examples?

Nothing wrong with Land Rovers, they’re nice well built cars and like anything, well maintained they last a life time! Plus they’re lovely to drive.
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Land Rovers... amazing when they work! The pits and expensive when they go wrong.
Owned multiple discovery's 3 and 4. Every single one cost me a fortune to keep alive. Absolutely ridiculous. Wouldn't touch another with a barge pole!
 
VW Touareg!! We’ve had one before which was fab to tow with, they can be thirsty but most cars that size are…

We are just about to get another one this week as our Volvo XC90 is proving to be useless on steep hills, with or without a trailer. So back to the VW we go!
 
I had 4 disco's. I finally said goodbye to the last one in November. Great towing vehicles and I loved driving them. But......not the time they spent in the garage and I used to put aside at least £1k for service and MOT.
 
Another vote for Touareg. I’ve just bought a 18 plate one so more expensive than your budget but the older ones are definitely within that. A few friends have them for towing and they love them, good every day cars too when not towing
 
Another vote for a toureg, friend has just bought one with 125k miles, I have the smaller version - tiguan. Mine is a 2012 with 143k miles and touch wood all fine so far (I only tow one)
 
My older Toureg was fantastic at towing. It has 3.5T of towing capacity if you get the right model and towing 2 was just no problem whatsover.
 
PSD said:
Another vote for Touareg. I’ve just bought a 18 plate one so more expensive than your budget but the older ones are definitely within that. A few friends have them for towing and they love them, good every day cars too when not towing
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I must have posted this half asleep. I have a Tiguan not a Touareg! I only have ponies though, can tow up to 2500kg but I’m way under that with mine.
 
Just reigniting this thread as I am in the exact same situation.

My old car is on its last legs and I now want a towing vehicle. Budget is similar to OP and will be pulling mostly my 400kg pony and occasionally a similar weight pony together.

I am complete clueless! My car is 15 years old and I’ve had it from new so have not bought a second hand car for a while.

It must be good for day to day too and not too expensive to run (10 minute commute to work) similar school run, farm twice a day and occasional longer motorway journeys.

Happy with old and high mileage as that’s what I currently have.

Thanks!
 
I think the answers are likely to be the same - when we were looking a couple of years ago Ssanyongs (specifically the Rexton, I think) came highly recommended as a capable budget friendly tow car. And I don't know anyway who has a VW (Toureg or Tiguan) and doesn't like it.

We ended up buying a 14 plate diesel Subaru because we specifically wanted a diesel estate and I only have a single horse trailer. But they are a pain to maintain (parts only come from Subaru, independent mechanics are few and far between) so while I love ours, I wouldn't recommend them as a hassle free option. Because you're mostly doing shorter journeys you probably want petrol anyway.

My car is an old (06) Volvo XC70, pre-DPF, which I love to pieces, but I'm not convinced by the newer Volvos, hence why we didn't go straight for another Volvo when we were looking. Too much electric-y stuff to go wrong. I suppose you could say the same of all newer cars though.
 
I've just gone for a 14 plate Touareg <90K on the clock, so I am really hoping it lives up to its hype! Reliability was high on the wish list after my ML350 died (timing chain snapped) but had been pretty poor at needing regular garage visits...

I did go test drive a Rexton so it was between the two for me, but found a pretty good deal on a Touareg so decided to get that one instead. I did have a Mitsubishi Outlander which I loved so initially was going to get a Shogun, but parts were a pain to get and I figured with them leaving the UK would only be more difficult to maintain.
 
I have been running a Hyundai Santa Fe for a while now and would confidently recommend it.
2011, 220k on the clock and a pleasure to own and drive. Huge load space / 7 seats. Good on fuel. Tows 2.5 tonnes and makes it feel easy.
Cost £2k (absolute bargain!) 3 years ago.
 
Thank you all!

What is your insurance like on these? I am going to sit and make a spreadsheet and do some research tonight.

Thank you for all your recommendations, it’s really appreciated
 
HaffiesRock said:
Thank you all!

What is your insurance like on these? I am going to sit and make a spreadsheet and do some research tonight.

Thank you for all your recommendations, it’s really appreciated
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Mine isn’t much different to my Astra. I think it went up around £50 for the year however I did only have 3 months left so I think that was a factor. I’m due to renew next month and it’s actually gone down nearly £100!
 
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