(Much hated standard question) - towing with a Freelander?

little_flea

little_flea

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I need to get a 4x4 and a trailer to tow a big horse - say 700kg. The kerb weight if the Freelander is 1457 and the towing limit is 1800kg. I would like Bateson Deauville trailer, unladen weight 860 kilos.

Would this combination be a)legal and b)safe?

There seem to be so many exceptions to the rules, it is a minefield!
 
dont know if its legal or safe but i would advise against a freelander as they are not designed for towing something to do with diff if bf was here i could explain better.
 
Would it be legal though - the horse+trailer would weigh 1590kg (not taking passengers, tack etc into account) and the vehicle is only 1457kg - ie less than what it is towing - BUT the towing weight is 1800kg?

I don't understand!
 
On 4x4s it's not the kerb weight that's important but the maximum towing weight specified by the manufacturer, ie some Discos have a kerb weight as low as 2.1 tonne, but have a max tow weight of 3.5.

Little_flea, you would be within the law. You are marginally over the 85% 'rule' but this is not a law. Freelanders get quite a lot of bad press for reliability, I suspect that might pose more of a prob.
 
I take it this is a 2Litre freelander as opposed to the 1.8? with that towing weight? If those figures are correct then yes it would be legal as long as you only towed one horse in the trailer. If you need to keep weights down you could look at the requisite 200 which can carry two 17hh therefore ok for your one big horse plus has an unladen weight of 730Kg.
http://www.robinsons-uk.com/template/template.asp?pageName=trailer200
 
I think you'll find that, even if you are legal to drive it, you and more importantly the horse won't enjoy the drive much! A friend towed a small pony and trailer with her Freelander and I was in the car and believe me, it was a hair-raising ride. The car felt very light and unstable compared to the trailer and at times, the pony would move (no partition) and the entire car would lurch. I imagine that would be magnified with a bigger horse...
 
Please don't use a freelander to tow a horse., It is really a toy 4X4 not a real one and your trailer with a horses inside will be far too much for it to tow safely. You will be right on the limit and you should have plenty left over so you can brake in an emergency. The Driving Standards Agency recommend that the weight of the laden trailer does not exceed 85% of the kerbside weight of the towing vehicle. in this case the Freelander weighs 1457kg so 85% would be 1238kg.
 
Oh dear... this is so tricky... thanks for your opinions everyone and keep them coming!

competitiondiva - it is actually the 1.8 Freelander.

Ideally, I would like a trailer to tow two horses (a Bateman Deauville plus two horses would be around 2200kg) - but obviously that would require a very heavy vehicle - and go beyond the 3.5tonnes my licence allows. But I suppose my boyfriend could drive...
 
If you're planning to tow 2, you need a big car that can take it. I've got a Jeep Cherokee 4.0L and that tows my two plus Equitrek well (weight about 2400kg). Boyfriend drives usually as he doesn't need to take the trailer test (pre-1997 license) but if he is in the car and I have L-plates on, I can drive it legally without having to take the test.
 
If it is the 3.5 weight rule for your licence that you are trying to keep under then you have failed anyway as it is the maximum laden weight of the trailer that is used in the 3.5 tonne total train weight not what weight you actually put in the trailer.
 
i'm sure i will be shot down but i own a freelander , have had it for over 5 years , it is very reliable & has cost me little more in maintence than the annual service (i'm talking brakes & about £100 on odds & ends!) it tows one horse comfortably & i live at the top of a big hill with every route in & out involving a pretty steep gradient for at least half a mile
 
Bosworth - in essence I agree about the Freelander not being a 'real' 4x4, it's more an SUV, however if you take the DSA statement literally it means that everyone out there using a Disco to two a 510 with 2 large horses is way over the limit.

little_flea, if you do go for this combination I would contact your local police and run it by them just to be on the safe side.
 
hi
the freelander is ok to do your weekly shopping in lol i have a daiatsu four trax ok thet are not pretty to look at but my god do they pull and is above the legal weight with two average size horses pulling a ivor williams trailor
 
It is the Maximum Allowable Mass that you have to look at - the plates on the car and on the trailer - irrespective of whether you have one horse or two loaded... or whether you towe it empty! It is the plates that the police will look at on the side of the road. I wouldn't recommend towing with a 1.8 freelander. I have a 16.2 warmblood and a 510, was towed once by a pal who has a 1.8 freelander and it wasn't well suited. Usually my OH towes with our short-wheel base defender... and he won't towe it with two horses in because he says it will struggle! It has a Range Rover v8 engine in it!
 
Bubbles - I thinlk you would look at a Freelander under the standard car recommendations - not under the 4X4 regulations, similar to the Suzuki jeep and the daihatsu Sportrak. They are toy 4X4s not the real ones. Discoveries, and defenders were designed as off road 4X4's firstly, then refined for on road usage. They are built with different suspensions, different gearing and a commercial standard clutch/ brakes. My 4X4 has discs all round - huge ones, it can tow 3 tonnes comfortably and has a 1 tonne payload. That can tow a 1.3 tonne trailer with two large horses onboard it up every gradient we come to in comfort. Going down hill the car is in charge of the trailer and can brake for both easily. If you are towing just within the maximum with your freelander your brakes would probably struggle to hold you. downhill you would be in danger of snaking and your horses would probably have a bad ride.
 
Well as stopping is usually a very common element of a journey with a destination, which is what I would intend to be making, I obviously want to make sure that the combination of car/trailer is capable of doing this safely...

So, say that I have a standard license, one horse of 700 kilos and a trailer of 860 (total nearly 1600kg and 1900 left to 3500) - is there a better vehicle I can get for towing that wouldn't get too heavy?
 
I don't know about the swedish licence part but uk licences after jan 1997 are limited to a train weight of 3.5 tonnes, the laden weight of the trailer is called the MAM Maximum Allowable Mass which is the manufacturers laden weight of the trailer, which can only exceed 750Kg IF the MAM does not exceed the unladen weight of the vehicle and the train weight does not exceed 3.5 tonnes:
i.e freelander unladen weight 1457Kg: the MAM of the trailer cannot exceed 1457Kg.
Bateson Deauville MAM is 2300Kg

incase I haven't made sense! here is a link!!!
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/DriverLicensing/CaravansTrailersCommercialVehicles/DG_10013073
 
A Daihatsu fourtrak has a weight of 1790 and can tow 3 tonnes with ease. So that would be a serious towing car within your weight limit. I think they stopped making them in about 2000 though but would be well worth looking at.
 
In an emergency recently I towed a lightweight IW with one horse in with my Freelander, and despite towing for the last 40 odd years it scared me rigid!
The ratio isn't right is all I can tell you, the trailer felt as if it was controlling the car not the other way round.
I vowed never to do it again, because going down hills I could feel the trailer pushing me....
Don't bother, buy something that will tow like a Discovery or other 4 x 4..
 
I wouldn't tow a trailer with any Freelander, even the TD4(which is the best of a lousy range, but still only suitable for carrying the shopping), and certainly not with a pathetic 1800cc engine. Why even consider such a risky combination? Your question is phrased in such a way you surely already know it would be madness, for you, your horse and everyone on the road around you. Whatever Land Rover created the Freelander for, towing horses was not on the list. Use a vehicle built for the job and keep everyone safe.
 
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