Towing vehicles - advice needed - which one to buy?

Andiamo

Andiamo

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I want to buy a 4x4 for towing a trailer (probably will get an Ifor 505 or 510).
I want something cheap but reliable, preferably diesel or LPG, and it has to be automatic transmission.
I was burned last year after buying a dodgy Isuzu Trooper - it had a fake MOT certificate with it, it was completely unroadworthy (should've been scrapped) and caused me no end of stress until I got rid of it as a "repair job".
  • Japanese imports - seem good, but then people say "oh, it's expensive to get parts
  • UK cars - LR Discovery - seem to have their own set of problems and servicing is expensive.
  • Range Rovers - they are available cheap - 2001 models or around that year - any experiences anyone? I think they are exteremely expensive to run though due to V8 engine.
  • German - BMW X5 - seems like a good option, but even a year 2000-2002 costs around £6K with 130000 miles on it (ebay).

Can anyone suggest something cheap-ish -Ideally I would like to pay around £1500 max, but will stretch the budget for something reliable. Dents and scratches are all ok, I just want something that is mechanically sound.
If you have something to sell, and are within a 100m of SO43 postcode, feel free to PM me.
Thanks
 
For good value but still able to tow, look at the large Pickups, I'm not sure how many (if any)are auto's though, so that may not be any help!
 
Am on my 3rd Shogun. Mine is my company car, and I drive a top of the range one, but irrespective of the trim, they are fantastic towing machines. I always have a SWB as I dont like the length of the LWB, and they are slightly less powerful, but I never have an issue at all, plus there is plenty of room if you are organised. I even packed everything I needed for a 4 day stay at the PC Nationals away in my car, plus Mini TX and a friend in m car. A friend of mine has a Rexton which is vile at towing. Its a 2.6 cc engine, but has no ooomph at all. I guess you can pick up an older Shogun fairly cheaply. They are also fairly reliable as well, and unless I end up buying a lorry and then having the Mercedes that I want as a company car, I will stick with Shoguns. Cant really praise them too highly.
 
thanks for the replies so far.
There are a couple of additional requirements - I want one that is fine for a lady driver - I don't want to have to use all my body strength to keep it going straight on the road. The Isuzu bit of nastiness that I had also shuddered under the bonnet the whole time from the moment it was switched on, and this came through to you as a driver, so I was constantly being shaken up like a milkshake. It was very tiring. I want something that drives fairly easily and smoothly, and will stay on the road without needing lots of muscle. I would love to have a BMW X5 - that would be my first choice, but they are out of my budget, as I need to buy a trailer as well. I want my independence! to be able to go wherever / whenever I want!
 
big pickups wouldn't really suit me, I'm a lady driver.

Like another poster said, and I agree, the SWB's are nicer, I don't really like the LWB (long wheel base) ones - they are just too big. I did wonder if a SWB would tow as well as a LWB - it sounds like they do.
 
Yes it is Andiamo.

If you stick towing/ 4X4 or something similar in the search function on here, there are literally hundreds of threads comparing road worthiness, towing, MPG, the works.
 
a friend recommended Jeep Grand Cherokee, diesel. One poster has a good experience of them. Has anyone else had one ? There is one for sale that I like the look of, it has 91K miles on it, it is diesel, 3125CC.
 
I tow with a pick up, I don't think that they are great, I find that it is very bouncy when towing and not sure how good a ride it gives my horse. I used to tow with a defender until it died (I rolled him on black ice), I wish I had bought another one. It was sturdy, would tow a trailer through muddy field no problem, my Ranger skids a lot even in 4 wheel drive low ratio. Defenders go on forever (if you don't crash 'em). :o
 
The Jeep Cherokee / Grand Cherokee have a good towing capacity. I understand that the Grand Cherokee from 2006 with the 3.0 litre engine is far better than it's predecessor with the 2.7 litre. The engine is made by Mercedes so should be fine. Jeeps also come with a lot of toys as standard. The down side is expensive road fund licence.

Have you considered a Kia Sorento? These can tow 2800Kgs and if you get the manual the tax is a lot cheaper. They have a very good reputation as tow vehicles.

Regardless, if you can wait until the spring prices always drop once the winter is over.
 
I had an automatic pajero which I have just sold last year. It was the swb version 2.8l and was a fantastic tow car. I used it for two years as my everyday car as well as towing to events up to three hours away and in the whole time I had it it never missed a beat and it was an n reg!

Pajeros are basically japanese imported shoguns which means they are far more likely to have cleaner bodywork do to being in a drier warmer country plus more in terms of gadgets etc mine was spotless and had ipod docking station etc etc plenty come up on ebay too
 
Andiamo said:
big pickups wouldn't really suit me, I'm a lady driver.

Like another poster said, and I agree, the SWB's are nicer, I don't really like the LWB (long wheel base) ones - they are just too big. I did wonder if a SWB would tow as well as a LWB - it sounds like they do.
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Yes girls shouldent drive pick ups they are for us boys :D mind sounds like you have never been to the states!!!?? huge 4x4 pick up pulls
up and tiny woman gets out not once but on quite a few occasions nice !!! anyway yes on a budget maybe a shogun / pajero or maybe a jeep cherokee BUT get someone to check it out before you buy some great buys but also a lot of nails good luck ...
 
Why does a "lady driver" think they need something small.

I tow my trailer (takes 2 x 17hh) with a Ford Ranger. It's about the length of a small lorry all put together. I can manage it perfectly fine.
 
There have been quite a lot of posts on this topic... I've just copied & pasted from a past post below. I do think you need to up your budget though if you don't want to sit at the side of the motorway on the way back from shows - I say that from experience!!!

xx

I used this link when buying my 4x4 and trailer. It was brilliant and saved me clicking through the specs of all the cars looking for the braked towing weight.

http://www.towinghorsetrailers.co.uk...g_vehicles.htm

Personally, I went with the Kia Sorento Diesel based on its reviews for reliability and fuel economy and that it was £1000s less than any other. The brand new ones come with a 7 year warranty!!!!!
It tows my Ifor 510 with 2 horses of 600kg each both with ease and legally (v important!). You have a max braked weight of 3000kg.

My other half pulled a face when I suggested Kia, we went for a test driver and read the many reviews which & what car and he soon changed his tune. If you put a different logo on the front he wouldn't turn his nose up but the lesser known Kia logo is why it is £1000s cheaper!!

Don't bother with a Freelander - even Landrover told me it was underpowered for more than one horse! Do you want a car or a twin cab for your day to day use? As that rules out about 50% of the vehicles with enough grunt.

Hope this helps!

PS factor in £900 for your B+E!!!!
 
Another lady driver who would far prefer to drive my pickup rather than the toy Maverick OH usually leaves me with:rolleyes: For towing though would also recommend a Cherokee.
 
For that small a budget it might be worth looking at the 4track? Daihatsu that is. I was having a quick look yesterday as my lease car goes back in 6 months (can't flipping wait I hate it) and you can pick up a daihatsu for under £3k now - will be high mileage but they are serious work horses and will go on forever, and tow a small house.
Otherwise I personally am hoping to get a shogun. Had a Pajero before and loved it although wasn't the most reliable, I think I was probably just unlucky tho.
Double can pick up - be wary of older navara model, just google 'knackered navara' to find out why, it happened to me and I lost a lot of money!
 
I know that you had the bad experience with a Trooper but on the whole they're quite good towing vehicles, would you consider another one?
 
skint1 said:
I know that you had the bad experience with a Trooper but on the whole they're quite good towing vehicles, would you consider another one?
Click to expand...

I would second that. Very reliable, & will tow anything. They are also almost at the very top of the weight range (3300kg, LR Disc/Defend 3500) so you shouldn't have any worries on that score.

The main problem with Troopers is finding one - people tend to hang on to them ! Try buying through a reputable dealer for a bit more protection under the sale of goods act.
 
ecrozier said:
For that small a budget it might be worth looking at the 4track? Daihatsu that is. I was having a quick look yesterday as my lease car goes back in 6 months (can't flipping wait I hate it) and you can pick up a daihatsu for under £3k now - will be high mileage but they are serious work horses and will go on forever, and tow a small house.
Otherwise I personally am hoping to get a shogun. Had a Pajero before and loved it although wasn't the most reliable, I think I was probably just unlucky tho.
Double can pick up - be wary of older navara model, just google 'knackered navara' to find out why, it happened to me and I lost a lot of money!
Click to expand...

Daihatsu are great, but not sure if they do an auto?
My friend tows off an Automatic Pajero & loves it.
 
Second the comments on the old navara, I'm looking for a pick up and have been warned off. But you could get a mitsubishi L200 for under £3k easily, or a Ford ranger, they tow about 2.8 tonne I think.

I would warn you to be careful of the prop shaft if you go for a KIA sorento. Google it, very expensive if they go wrong. We found ourselves with one that needed major work doing, luckily we bought from a dealer and were able to return it.
 
The great thing about Discovery, Land Rover etc is that parts are very easy to obtain and they are quite easy to work on. Plus there are usually plenty of local garages (there are around here in the Midlands).

We had an old Shogun that was lovely to drive, and we kept it until it was 20 years old and it never let me down, but we had, for example, to have a new petrol tank flown in from Japan - expensive.

To my horror, my OH recently went to a sale and came home with a L Discovery that has 238,000 miles on the clock, it is manual. Actually, the engine seems fine and it is nice to drive.

If you find something you like, whatever the make, do
plenty of research on EXACTLY what engine it has and what is likely to go wrong.
 
I would definitely recommend the Jeep Grand Cherokee (the Cherokee is the SWB version and not really man enough for the job imo), but definitely definitely go for the model that started production in 1999 - the earlier ones can be real crocks, especially the diesels. I think you should be able to find one in your price bracket.
 
perfect11s said:
Yes girls shouldent drive pick ups they are for us boys :D mind sounds like you have never been to the states!!!?? huge 4x4 pick up pulls
up and tiny woman gets out
Click to expand...

Don't . . I miss my Dodge 250 4x4 Cummins every day of the week. ;) Not really a practical choice for here though.

Most of the pickups here wouldn't even be rated to two a horse trailer in North America. Of course, that's true for lots of the towing vehicles and also has to do with the size of the trailers etc. but still, I would wonder how well they would do the job myself.
 
I have a Kia Sorento and really rate it as a tow car and an everyday car. Cheap to buy, reasonable to maintain, relatively good on fuel economy. I have a 2009 XS Auto Diesel and it tows like a dream (unfortunately it's very easy to forget that you're towing). I use it as my everyday/work car and I love it to bits. The downside is that this is the first auto Sorento I've had and I don't know whether mine is faulty or whether this is normal, but I'm only getting 23mpg :eek: whereas with my identical but manual Sorento, I got 32mpg, and even better on a long run (I got up to 36mpg on a trip to Scotland).
 
I have an old (W reg) 3.4 litre V6 petrol Landcruiser. When we first got it, I was v doubtful about driving it, but it's really, really easy. Steering v light. Can't really comment on towing as we've only picked up an empty trailer so far. It has all the whistles & bells, & even though it's old, it drives as if it's new.
 
TarrSteps said:
Don't . . I miss my Dodge 250 4x4 Cummins every day of the week. ;) Not really a practical choice for here though.

Most of the pickups here wouldn't even be rated to two a horse trailer in North America. Of course, that's true for lots of the towing vehicles and also has to do with the size of the trailers etc. but still, I would wonder how well they would do the job myself.
Click to expand...
Yes I reget selling my F250 personaly found it very practical, and I had a lance camper, for it and was towing a little two horse trailer,
well my trainer took a shine to the truck and I had a bill to settle so sold it to him , im looking for another now,they are not a bad buy realy as they hold there value and the diesels arnt far of the little uk trucks for mpg,and now the law has changed on width maybe a goose neck trailer would be ok Ive looked at a 2 horse with 4ft short wall LQ, and then sell the lorry... If you want one they are about or its not that difficult to import ive imported a few PM Me if you ever want any information I know a reliable shiping co :D
 
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TheoryX1 said:
Am on my 3rd Shogun. Mine is my company car, and I drive a top of the range one, but irrespective of the trim, they are fantastic towing machines. I always have a SWB as I dont like the length of the LWB, and they are slightly less powerful, but I never have an issue at all, plus there is plenty of room if you are organised. I even packed everything I needed for a 4 day stay at the PC Nationals away in my car, plus Mini TX and a friend in m car. A friend of mine has a Rexton which is vile at towing. Its a 2.6 cc engine, but has no ooomph at all. I guess you can pick up an older Shogun fairly cheaply. They are also fairly reliable as well, and unless I end up buying a lorry and then having the Mercedes that I want as a company car, I will stick with Shoguns. Cant really praise them too highly.
Click to expand...
Hi i know this is an old post, but i was looking at the shogun barbarian swb 3.2 would this also do the job to tow a trailer and a 16.2?
 
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