Smallest Towing Car?

lisan

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One of the girls from my old yard is looking at getting a single horse trailer, what is the smallest car they would be able to pull it with? (Said I would ask for her!)

Or if anyone knows of any cheap 3.5 tonners in the Northwest -let me know!

Thank you
 

Super_Kat

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I know of somebody who tows an old trailer and one horse with a ford focus (which I'm sure isn't heavy enough to tow)
 

sarah07

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I used to have a Mondeo and single trailer and it was great went up the steepest of hills no problem and horse always travelled happy and chilled.
 

echodomino

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My friends dad used his Vauxhall Vectra hatchback to tow one horse, never had any problems. A Ford Focus would pull it, dad say's my Daewoo Nubira would tow! I think I'll give towing altogether a miss though!

IMO Freelanders aren't that brill. My friend has one, she has a really light Ifor Williams to tow and only 1 horse and it struggles like hell to pull - whether or not this is because it is petrol not diesel I don't know.

I get dad to tow Nelson, but we have a Nissan Nivara pick up. - which is really good because you don't know you're towing at all (except for the fact there's a mahoosive trailer behind you
tongue.gif
)

Not quite the same but we've had an Astra estate and a Mondeo estate to pull a 22ft caravan and these didn't struggle though the Mondeo was the better of the two.
 

Sooty

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The difference with towing a horse as opposed to towing a caravan is that you are not dealing with a stable load. It is infinitely preferable to have extra weight in the tow car to avoid a situation where the trailer is pushing the car downhill; this is why most people opt for heavier vehicles such as 4x4s.
 

Theresa_F

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I have a Bateson Derby which at 670 k is one of the lightest trailers you can buy. I have a 15 hands cob who weighs approx 485 k.

My car is a 2.0 TD Nissan Primera. Very happy towing my trailer and Chancer, goes likes a dream on the motorway and no problem so far with hills met to date. Whilst my trailer can take two 15 hands, I will only take one horse up to a max of 550.

Only thing I have to be careful with is very muddy or deeply rutted fields as it is not a 4 x 4.

I have been careful to make sure that I am within the weight limits for towing with my car.
 

lisan

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So they really need to find a box. Her mum is very keen to get a 3.5 tonne so Charlotte can drive it next year, but Charlotte is just desperate to get out to some shows and wanted to know all the options!!

Have just looked on Horsemart, there is a severe lack of cheapish 3.5 and 7.5 tonners in our area at the mo!
 

lisan

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[ QUOTE ]
Can they not change the Clio?

[/ QUOTE ]
Charlottes mum only just got the clio to cut down on travel costs! But If they can't find a 3.5 tonner, then she probably will!
 

at work

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The best way I found for checking this was to go to What Car's website - then look up the car you are interested in choose a model (drop down box) and Towing weight (as the recommended maximum given by manufacturer) is given under performance & measurements.
According to this, the Ford Mondeo Hatchback 2.0 TDCi 115 LX 5dr has a very respectable towing weight of 1800kg

and something like the Fiat Multipla MPV 1.6 16v Dynamic Family 5dr a meagre 1,200kg.

As far as I understand it, it is this 'recommended maximum' that insurers etc would look at when deciding if you were towing safely (and therefore within the law and still insured) or not? I used to look at the weight of the vehicle and do that 80% thingy but almost nothing other than a tank could tow a horse if you use that
wink.gif
 

conniegirl

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It is illegal to tow over the manufacturers maximum weight, it invalidates your insurance. And as for the 80% thing our merc with 1 cob and a pony in an ifor williams is quite happily withing the 80% reccomended!
 

at work

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Merc - like I said, a tank
grin.gif

It may just be, if cob and pony are relatively small.

Take two horses at about 500kg each plus trailer - 2 ton?

So (if my sums are correct), your tow vehicle should weigh 2.5 ton for that load to be within 80%. As cars are built smaller and lighter for fuel economy that becomes less and less plausible. But as I said, I think that 'guide' is pretty much invalidated nowadays, anyway.

Just to add confusion there is also the MAM for each vehicle- maximum the trailer and car are allowed to weigh together - so the more you are pulling the less, in theory, you can put inside the car!
 

lisan

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[ QUOTE ]
Can you drive a 3.5 Tonne box with a normal driving licence?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes. You need an LGV test for anything over that, or a Trailer test in addition to a normal driving licence - unless you passed your test before 1997.
 

mrdarcy

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Having been in a bad towing accident caused by the load being too heavy for the car (2.0l BMW towing a small cow trailer with two young heifers in) I would really urge people not to take the risk of going over the recommended 80% towing weight. There's little more terrifying than the feeling of the trailer starting to wag... then it taking control of the car and finally seeing the trailer start to overtake the car and jack knife on a busy main road.

Don't take any risks with towing please.
 

lisan

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[ QUOTE ]
Having been in a bad towing accident caused by the load being too heavy for the car (2.0l BMW towing a small cow trailer with two young heifers in) I would really urge people not to take the risk of going over the recommended 80% towing weight. There's little more terrifying than the feeling of the trailer starting to wag... then it taking control of the car and finally seeing the trailer start to overtake the car and jack knife on a busy main road.

Don't take any risks with towing please.

[/ QUOTE ]
People just don't realise, especially if they have not towed before and it becomes a different situation again once you have a moving load in there!
 

conniegirl

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[ QUOTE ]
Merc - like I said, a tank
grin.gif

It may just be, if cob and pony are relatively small.

Take two horses at about 500kg each plus trailer - 2 ton?

So (if my sums are correct), your tow vehicle should weigh 2.5 ton for that load to be within 80%. As cars are built smaller and lighter for fuel economy that becomes less and less plausible. But as I said, I think that 'guide' is pretty much invalidated nowadays, anyway.

Just to add confusion there is also the MAM for each vehicle- maximum the trailer and car are allowed to weigh together - so the more you are pulling the less, in theory, you can put inside the car!

[/ QUOTE ]

Its an ML270, weighs 2.5 tonnes or there about. cobby weighs about 600kg and the pony about 450kg. so were just inside the 80% with the ifor 505.

I realy dont think that you should tow livestock when the trailer out weighs the car.

I reacently saw a freelander pulling a boat, over on its side, coming down a hill on the motorway. not a nice site concidering the boat was in bits accross the carriage way and the freelander had a tarpaulin over the cab area so someone had died in it. A boat is a relatively stable load so god only knows what would have happened if it had been an unstable load like a horse
 

at work

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To me it is stupidity to exceed the manufacturers guidelines so I wouldn't be towing horses with a small car like the Clio, which is where this started. Other estimates, like percentages, are unofficial off-the-cuff guesses and simply don't hold up. Also, modern horse trailers are braked, which makes them less dependant on the size and weight of the car.
 

K9Wendy

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Can't see a Clio pulling much, but you could look here and see what it will match. This site is used for checking car & caravan suitability but if you select a make of van and car you then have a choice of models, just pick a caravan model closest to the weight of your horse, equipment & trailer..

http://www.whattowcar.com/
 
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