Towing one pony with Grand Vitara anyone?

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Mossi

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Hi, Does anyone have any experience of towing with a Suzuki Grand Vitara? I am considering towing my 14hh Welsh D, with a 2L petrol, long wheel base Suzuki Grand Vitara (2002 model), which has a braked towing capacity of 1850kg. My pony weighs around 430 - 450 kg and I'm hoping to get a lightweight trailer. Also, are single horse trailers ok, or are they less stable than a double? I will only be going to local shows and hopefully not up/down any very steep hills! Thanks.
 
doable but very expensive petrol wise, is it the kind that is permanently in 4 wheel drive, we sold ours far too expensive on a normal journey.
 
Hi, thanks for replying. I already have a 1.6 SWB Grand Vitara and that has the option of 2 or 4 wheel drive (but wouldn't like to tow with SWB with 1600 kg capacity), so I would think the 2L petrol would have the same 2 or 4 wheel drive options (but with 1850 kg towing capacity), but I will check thanks. I have seen a pristine one previous owner 2L petrol model for sale, which is why I am asking about towing with it. Did you tow with yours Postputasocinit, and was it the 2L petrol model? Thanks
 
I've never driven one so can't comment on performance but an Ifor Williams 505/506 (used it as it's the most popular make but it's one of the heavier ones) is 905/920kgs so with a 450kg horse on it that would take you up to 1370kgs - well within the towing limit for either of the vehicles you're talking about. The bigger the limit the better though. The single IW403 is about 780kgs I think so that would be roughly 1200kgs but you could get a double trailer that weighs less. Something like a Bateson Derby is only 675kg (but rear unload only) so you'd barely be over 1100kgs with that one, or a single Cheval Liberte with front unload is about 650kgs so again around the 1100kgs. I've towed a single and didn'f find it any more unstable than a big Equitrek.
There's a lot of useful info on trailer weights and tow cars on this website: http://www.towinghorsetrailers.co.uk/index.htm
 
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I tow my 350kg pony with a 2L diesel Citroen and a single Ifor Williams trailer. It pulls like there's nothing there and I've never had a problem with the single trailer being unstable.
 
I imagine the vitara is a bit like the Toyota rav 4. I remember looking at them a while ago. When we had the rav, we towed my 14hh pony with an old bahill trailer with the partition out , this took us up to roughly 1300kg max , and the rav could tow 1500kg. We went on motorways to shows, parked in fields at shows, went along potholed roads to forests and we managed absolutely fine! I imagine the vitara would be fine. The only thing is in reality these cars are not made for towing so you may find that it takes its toll on it.
 
I have a 2006 1.9 Diesel Grand Vitara. It is not a towing machine like a Pajero etc but it is perfectly able to tow an IW 505 with 1 horse mostly 15.1HH but have had a 161HH. For me it is 99% of the time my run around and I only travel with a horse box locally occasionally so fulfills both requirements for me. If I had a need to travel further or more frequent I would consider something different but for your needs I would think it is perfectly adequate
 
I tow my 401 with my 15.3 section D with an automatic 2.5l Grand Vitara. It is brilliant, although the petrol consumption is awful, I don't travel far to shows so that isn't an issue.
 
Thanks for your replies everyone. I have a pre-97 license so that's not an issue. I don't use my car for commuting to work or the yard (I live that close I practically live on the yard) so that's not an issue either. Anyway I'll have a think and thanks again for sharing your experiences.
 
Mossi said:
Hi, Does anyone have any experience of towing with a Suzuki Grand Vitara? I am considering towing my 14hh Welsh D, with a 2L petrol, long wheel base Suzuki Grand Vitara (2002 model), which has a braked towing capacity of 1850kg. My pony weighs around 430 - 450 kg and I'm hoping to get a lightweight trailer. Also, are single horse trailers ok, or are they less stable than a double? I will only be going to local shows and hopefully not up/down any very steep hills! Thanks.
I have a pre-97 license so that's not an issue
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A double trailer with an empty weight of 1000 with a horse weighing 500 will still leave a margin of 350 with a 1850 towing capacity
 
Hi, I don't know much about towing weight etc but I have towed with a 2l petrol grand vitara for the last five years and haven't had any difficulties. The clutch is now starting to go, but that is after 5 years of abuse and probably towing more than I should (usually 15.3 TB, and sometimes with another pony or horse). It definitely struggled with two but was manageable providing I remembered to pick up enough speed before going up hills! With the one horse it was fine- albeit I'm sure not as good as a car that is more built for the job!

I am about to switch to a diesel version of the same car purely because I don't want to invest in a clutch when I know there are probably other things starting to to as well.

Overall I love my car, and to tow short distances with a pony I think it would be fine.
 
Friend used to tow with this, it was awful, I didn't think we would make it up hills and often used to have to find an alternate route, Very expensive too.
 
Hi everyone, I have an update. I have sold my Vitara and have bought a 2003 reg short wheel base Terrano, which can tow 2.8 tonnes. I have also managed to get a nice refurbished Rice Europa lightweight trailer, so both vehicle and trailer should be more than adequate for towing my 14hh Welshie. Thanks again everyone for your advice and opinions.
 
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