Towing?? Cars??

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jkenny

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Looking at purchasing a car (SUV being definitely outside the budget), and eyeing up a 2 litre diesel (probably a Vectra or something equally unglamorous). I have towed my RIB (boat) around without any problems on a similiar engine but i'm wondering whether anyone tows a horsebox with a car? In my head the weight shouldnt be too different (with one medium horse), although the centre of gravity of the box will be much higher. Anyone out there have any experience, good or bad of towing with a car rather than an SUV? Many thanks
 
i would say you want a 2.5l to tow horses with or you're just going to pull the car's insides out like happened to my dad's audi estate! but that was a few years ago now.

my concern (aside from the engine) would be that the trailers centre of mass would be higher than the car's and you risk fish tailing the trailer too easily ona corner.
 
We have a 306 Peugeot diesel turbo 1.9. WE have towed our caravan with no problems with it and we wanted a trailer. I was going to ask whether it would tow a lightweight trailer with 1 small donkey in?
A friend told me her dad used to tow two horses in a trailer with a 1.9l petrol with no problems.
 
What you need to check is the weight of the trailer - eg my Ifor Williams 510 weighs just over 1 tonne. Then add the horse, my horse weighs about 650kg - your car then needs to be able to a minimum of 1650kg (unbraked weight). You can check this in its manual. I would never go under 2.5litre engine to tow a trailer, as if you have to go up steep hills or pull away quickly a smaller engine would really struggle and you dont want to put yourself or the horse in danger.

We checked practically every 4x4 on the market before we ended up going for a Terrano 3 litre. Even cars like the Freelander and Shogun (3 door) weren't powerful enough to tow my trailer with my huge horse!
 
Depends what you plan to tow.

A ifor 510 needs a long wheel base care and needs to be at least 2.5 diesel or 3 litre petrol.

If you are towing a 505 then a 2 litre diesel 4x4 will be sufficient for one horse
 
I tow one little cob - about 480k with a Bateson Derby - 600 with the partition out or 675 with it in. I am within the weight limit for my car and the engine does not struggle.

I take things very carefully and do have to take into consideration the venue and have to avoid those with very muddy and wet fields unless I know I can get someone to take the trailer off for me - normally there is a kind person to help me.

I try to plan motorway routes to avoid strain on the engine and my car is very happy at 50. I avoid travel on very windy days but I would even if I had a 4 x 4. I normally tow about 800 miles a year.

It can be done, but you have to carefully work out the weight and be realistic about the trailer and only allow for one smallish horse.
 
I tried using my Volvo 2.5 diesel esate, 5 cylinder audi engine under the bonnet, towed double trailer with 14.2 pony, stabilty wise it was fine but power wise uphill was going to wreck it, so got 2.5 Frontera, that ended up with gearbox problem at 51,000 miles so now got 2.7 diesel Terrano2, think it comes down to gearing and torque ect so maybe some cars will do it and some not.
 
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