New 4 x 4 recommendations to tow Equitrek please!

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FrecklesMum

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Teeee heeee - Just got my new company car info and I can basically chose what I want up to Insurance group 12, inc 4x4 and can add a tow bar!

Soooooo, looking at buying a equitrek trailer and want something to tow it with.
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Rather fancy myself in the new freelander which is meant to be the equivelent to a old disco but would it tow 2 17 odd hands horses?

or the kia sorento is quite nice - any other suggestions or feedback?
 
For heavens sake don't get a Freelander - you won't have the towing capacity!
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You need a proper 4x4 and not a SUV as, although they have 4x4 capacity, they don't weigh enough and have the umph to tow something as large as an equitrek!
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Personally i'd go with a Discovery every time! Fab cars to drive and tow with and you'd have more than enough in it's 3.5 ton towing capability
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Kate x
 
youll not get away with using a Freelander to tow an Equitrek, sorry to shatter your dream.
you want to be looking at either a Discovery, Defender, Range Rover,Kia Sorento.

I have a Star Trekka and have a Defender 110 double cab pick up to tow it - tows it beautifully.

which Equitrek are you lookingat buying?
 
Too right H's mum, I have read the new freelander is all singing and dancing, but no way would I trust one.

We tow ours L model with a LandRover TD5 discovery
 
I tow my Equitrek Showtreka L with a Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 LWB. It tows it fabulously.

You will not get away with towing an Equitrek with anything that is not a LWB. When choosing your car check the plated weight. It will need to be able to tow at least 3t or you will be pushed all over the place and more to the point be illegal.

There have been a few posts about this recently. If you do a search you should find some more info on it. I believe there is a website that you can check the tow limits on cars.
 
Nooooooooo - really fancy myself in a freelander! What about with a Ifor or ascot bateson?

Range rover may be outside company budget and dont like the new discos (box on wheels)

God I am vain!
 
i wouldnt have a freelander to tow any trailer, just not worth it,.

if you dont like the new discos, the range is out of the q, and the freeelander discounted then id be going for the Kia - nice car, good towing capacity and nice looking
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im like you, got to like the look of the vehicle, love my landy
 
Any other time and I would have recommended the Kia. Except we recently had a disturbing experience with friends who had a Kia, towing their trailer. We went on a long journey and all was fine until the last part of it when we were going up some steep hills. There was a distinct smell of burning. It started to overheat. It was a new car too...

Once it cooled down it was fine, I just didn't fancy that with livestock in the back... It was well within tow weights as well BTW

Freelanders are not known for their towing capacity. They also had a run of engine problems especially when put under load.
 
Freelanders are the single most unreliable cars! We had one once and it broke down on the M6 with and Ifor Willams trailer attached (the engine blew up) complete with pony in the back! It broke down several more times before my mother gave up with it- she was a very caring, careful driver so can't blame it on abuse of the car either! This was a few years ago but several people I know have had recurring problems with the blasted things! Wouldn't recommend them!
 
totally agree with you daisyL.
the towing capacity on the new freelander is only 2t, so nowhere near enough to tow a equitrek loaded.
really surorised to read that about Kia crazyfriesan. a girl who used to keep her horses on the same yard as me a while ago had one and i drove it once and it was great - she loved it
 
yeah i found out recently that the VW Toureg is also not up to the job however on paper it also ticks all the boxes, glad we didnt get one now as we were going to sell the landy!

however what is this about needing a LWB to tow an Equitrek? never heard this? as far as i was aware as long as it had the capacity it would be fine (not that I have any problem as mine is a LWB)
 
what about a nissan? i tow a IF 510 with an old nissan terrano and she goes beautifully with 2 big boys in the back. dont know about the new ones - pathfinder?? personally everyone i spoke to when buying told me not to touch a freelander with a barge pole.
dreaming of the day i can afford a volvo xc90.
 
aparently the new nissans only have towing capacity of 2.7t, think the path finders arent much more, which is only just enough to tow the smaller equitreks fully loaded (mine is 3.5t fully loaded)

not seen the xc90, got to say im liking the BMW, thinks its z6 or something like that, though dont know if its a proper 4x4
 
You generally dont get the tow capacity on SWB's or the stablity. Its a weight ratio thing. The Treks are surprisingly heavy and "pushy" without the right vehicle in front. I sometimes move our Trek around with our SWB. It does the job (wouldn't have the tow capacity on the road, loaded etc) but I wouldn't rate my chances if (eg) I was fully loaded and (god fobid) had to brake suddenly. A LWB gives you extra stability. TBH if you look at the vehicles legal to tow Treks they are all "LWB" (eg the difference between a 2 door Shogun and a 4 door etc)
 
cheers cf, never thought about it, expected that seen as how (say defenders ) have the same towing capacity they should handle the trailer the same.

yeah the catalogue does have them all towed by a big 4x4, namely the range rover lol. MY OH said it towed fab on the back of his range (and it had 2 tyres punctured - so was very pleased with it - was a temp rush thing to get it away from my yard in case the vandals came back to do more damage to it)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Teeee heeee - Just got my new company car info and I can basically chose what I want up to Insurance group 12, inc 4x4 and can add a tow bar!

Soooooo, looking at buying a equitrek trailer and want something to tow it with.
confused.gif


Rather fancy myself in the new freelander which is meant to be the equivelent to a old disco but would it tow 2 17 odd hands horses?

or the kia sorento is quite nice - any other suggestions or feedback?

[/ QUOTE ]
You need to look at thing that will tow atleast 2.5 tons and is over 2.5 liters engine for two horses and remember you,horses and other road users are safer if the tow car is bigger not smaller than it needs to be
only stupid irisponsble people tow heavly loaded horse trailers with small under powered cars
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make a practical choice not a fashion statement
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Landies (defenders / old county's) are a class all their own. *wicked grin* I do believe they are all plated at something like 4t. HOWEVER in UK it is only legal to tow with a car, on the road, up to 3.5 - or something like that. (racking the deepest depths of the memory bank)

Re: moving with the punctured rangie... the mind she boggles... *roll eyes* Vandals are another case in question however!
 
You def need something meatier than a freelander and, if you don't like the Discovery (although our friends trailer snaked and flipped over on the M1 and took the Disco with it but that's by the by!) then maybe look at the Kia Sorrento or Hyundai Santa Fe, although having had a quick look at the santa fe it appears to only have 2500Kgs capacity for towing which, from the sounds of the equitrek weight wouldn't be enough.

Maybe check out the Mitsubishis? I think Audi and BMW are likely to be out of budget if the Range Rover is but I don't know for sure.

Oh and on a final note - what job do you do and do they have any vacancies?! Lol
 
ah yeah landys have are a different league
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i was told by the dealer that if i got the trailer linked up to the landy brakes then it could tow 4.5t legally but havent bothered as its fine with what it is at the mo.

no meant the trailer not the range, vandals slashed 3 of my tyres so only had 4 road worthy tyres in total incl the spare.
 
I would SERIOUSLY check that bit of info from the dealer out... Be very careful what dealers tell you. Remember that there are lots of changes going on at the mo re towing, plating etc,etc. People being stopped by police, just because...

LOL sorry read that that the Rangy had slashed tyres!
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(call it the drugs for my rotten cold! lol) There are words for those thugs but they are not printable... KMD, MDK!!!!!
 
Agree that the Freelander won't do - my OH had one and it was useless with anything other than an empty trailer. I tow my Equitrek Showtreka M with a Disco 3 series - have nearly always towed with Discos except for a brief dalliance with a Daihatsu Fourtrak - great towing car but uncomfortable to drive.
 
Old Freelanders couldn't tow anything but I thing the OP was thinking about a new Freelander - these are just like smaller Range Rovers and have a much better towing capacity.

When the AA came to my Range Rover most recently, the AA man was raving about his new Freelander and it's ability to tow.
 
i checked the new freelander 2 out tonight on the land rover website before posting earlier - the new one still only has max 2t towing capacity so in my eyes still isnt worth risking
 
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