Towing

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bz88

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Hi. I’m looking to change my car in near future so I can safely tow horse trailer.
I currently drive Nissan qashqai 21 plate and although it can pull centre axle trailer up to 1800kg(trailer plus load) Can anyone advise me on what my car can actually tow? How much does trailer weigh approximately? I have cob weighing about 450kg. Or what car and trailer you recommend?
Thank you
 
In general, go as big as you can! Depends on your trailer, how much that weighs and the weight of your horse and anything else in the trailer (if you carry tack/water etc in there too). The older Ifor trailers can be very heavy, we have a Cheval Liberte which is around 950kg plus weight of horse/tack...we have a VW Toureng which can tow 3500kg and it tows like a dream. I wouldn't tow with anything less than 2500kg capacity from experience, regardless of the horse size.
 
You want a car as big and heavy as possible really, it's not so much the problem of getting the trailer moving, but the risk of the trailer shoving you and your car down a hill or over a junction that you should worry about. Most trailers are around a ton, so by the time you've added a horse and all it's gubbins you'll want at least 2000kg capacity and probably more like 2500 minimum to get the extra wiggle room for steep hills.
 
FitzyFitz said:
You want a car as big and heavy as possible really, it's not so much the problem of getting the trailer moving, but the risk of the trailer shoving you and your car down a hill or over a junction that you should worry about. Most trailers are around a ton, so by the time you've added a horse and all it's gubbins you'll want at least 2000kg capacity and probably more like 2500 minimum to get the extra wiggle room for steep hills.
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Yep exactly this, the bigger the better!
 
There is a weight plate on your car usually in a door frame or under the bonnet with 4 weights on it
I need the top two weights to give you the info you need for your max tow limit for the trailer including its load
 
I have just been looking at towing vehicles and tried a few, I had my heart set on a VW Touareg but I test drove an Audi Q7 as well and fell in love with it. It was more expensive so had to get an older version of the Q7 than I would have had of the Touareg but it was worth it for the feel it gave me.
I did have a Kia Sorento but it did struggle very slightly with a horse and pony and was also useless on grass.
 
I tow with a Kia Sorento with a massive 3.5T tow capacity. And only tow ons 500kg horse. When going down hill , I can feel the trailer and I would not feel safe doing that with a smaller car , even if strictly speaking towing one horse plus trailer was within the stated limit.
It would be all too easy for speed to gather up and next thing you know your breaks are failing to slow the trailer.
The going towing isn't the problem- the stopping and slowing is.
 
Sossigpoker said:
I tow with a Kia Sorento with a massive 3.5T tow capacity. And only tow ons 500kg horse. When going down hill , I can feel the trailer and I would not feel safe doing that with a smaller car , even if strictly speaking towing one horse plus trailer was within the stated limit.
It would be all too easy for speed to gather up and next thing you know your breaks are failing to slow the trailer.
The going towing isn't the problem- the stopping and slowing is.
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There is a problem with uphill too, if your car is not that gutsy, towing up a good few hills will soon kill it.
 
Sossigpoker said:
I tow with a Kia Sorento with a massive 3.5T tow capacity. And only tow ons 500kg horse. When going down hill , I can feel the trailer and I would not feel safe doing that with a smaller car , even if strictly speaking towing one horse plus trailer was within the stated limit.
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Surely this just goes to show that it isn't quite as simple as big car = better? I have an old Volvo XC70 which only has 1800kg towing capacity, but it tows my single trailer and cob just fine, including extracting us from grass or mud. It hauls us up some awful hills and I don't particularly feel the trailer doing downhill either. I do think that towing ability varies between makes and models of cars.

(....the Toureg does sound nice though!)
 
Sossigpoker said:
I tow with a Kia Sorento with a massive 3.5T tow capacity. And only tow ons 500kg horse. When going down hill , I can feel the trailer and I would not feel safe doing that with a smaller car , even if strictly speaking towing one horse plus trailer was within the stated limit.
It would be all too easy for speed to gather up and next thing you know your breaks are failing to slow the trailer.
The going towing isn't the problem- the stopping and slowing is.
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What version of the Sorento is that? I thought they only went up to 2.8T towing capacity and most were below that. Mine was ok but not great but I am guessing I didn't pick the best version by the sound of it!
 
I always used to check the kerb weight of the towcar, as well as it’s towing capacity. It used to be recommended that your trailer weight plus your horse should not exceed 80% of your towcar kerb weight. This avoids the ”tail wagging the dog” situation. I’ve always found it a good ruling to stick to, having done years of towing.
 
musk said:
What version of the Sorento is that? I thought they only went up to 2.8T towing capacity and most were below that. Mine was ok but not great but I am guessing I didn't pick the best version by the sound of it!
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It's a 2008 plate , it's only the older ones that have the 3.5 capacity. In hindsight,.the 2.8 would have been fine for one horse toom
 
Time for Tea said:
I always used to check the kerb weight of the towcar, as well as it’s towing capacity. It used to be recommended that your trailer weight plus your horse should not exceed 80% of your towcar kerb weight. This avoids the ”tail wagging the dog” situation. I’ve always found it a good ruling to stick to, having done years of towing.
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Oh, that old chestnut again! That applies to caravans - big, light, empty boxes that are more affected by wind and drag than horse trailers 🙄

My Disco has a max towing capacity of 3.5t, it weighs about 2.2 ton, the MAM of an Ifor is about 2.6t (CBA to google and check the weights exactly but feel free).

Another example was the Fourtrak, max towing capacity of 3.5t and weighed only around 1.7 itself and apparently you could tow 5t with them if you had a taco fitted.
 
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Hi
I've got a Kia Sorento 2008 but it's towing capacity is only 3 t is there one that tows more (just asking out of interest)
 
musk said:
I have just been looking at towing vehicles and tried a few, I had my heart set on a VW Touareg but I test drove an Audi Q7 as well and fell in love with it. It was more expensive so had to get an older version of the Q7 than I would have had of the Touareg but it was worth it for the feel it gave me.
I did have a Kia Sorento but it did struggle very slightly with a horse and pony and was also useless on grass.
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We wanted a Q7 but it was a fai²r bit more expensive so we got the Touareg. Wish we had paid the extra though as the Taureg is thirsty! But essentially the same car in terms of engines etc just the Q7 is a bit less of a gas guzzler!
 
I've only ever towed with cars with a 3500kg capacity and you wouldn't know the trailer was there. A friend tows 2 large ponies with her qashqai and says its fine, it probably is on the flat if nothing goes wrong......

If you travel a lot with just one horse it might actually be cheaper/better to buy a 3.5t and a sensible car. I looked at going back to a car and trailer recently and the price of cars is eye-watering!
 
A single trailer might be worth considering - they do weigh a bit less and might give you more wiggle room in terms of towing capacity. I like mine very much.
 
I tow with a Skoda Octavia 4x4 with a Bateson box and one horse.
Never had a problem yet with the set up - car can tow 2t on paper but we are never above 1500kg! I travel quite far for work so couldn’t afford to run a big meaty 4x4 as my daily car. Plus the Skoda has been SO reliable even at high mileage it’s been great.
My next car will probably be a Tiguan as it’s the same car in essence just with a bit of ride height - and the particular model of octavia I have is not common on the market!
 
After an incident yesterday towing where I was in an awful situation where I had to swerve around a transit that pulled across in front of me and I had no time to stop - I would say get the best vehicle you can afford. I was extremely lucky to walk away but as my Touareg is such a stable car it probably saved me and my horse (van driver though he had time to get across road, misjudged an opening and couldn’t pull off the road, blocking my lane. I knew I didn’t have enough time to stop trailer and faced a choice of hitting him or trying to swerve around him which was what I did. Afterwards, I pulled over in a lay-by a few meters away as I was so shaky and the van driver did come and profusely apologise - saying it was entirely his fault, he’d not realised it wasn’t a proper opening and he thought he could pull straight off the road. He said he was convinced I would hit him and commended my driving. Personally I saw my life flash before me and I can’t actually remember steering around his van). So my advice is get the safest, best towing capacity you can afford. You never know when you are going to need it.
 
marmalade76 said:
Oh, that old chestnut again! That applies to caravans - big, light, empty boxes that are more affected by wind and drag than horse trailers 🙄

My Disco has a max towing capacity of 3.5t, it weighs about 2.2 ton, the MAM of an Ifor is about 2.6t (CBA to google and check the weights exactly but feel free).

Another example was the Fourtrak, max towing capacity of 3.5t and weighed only around 1.7 itself and apparently you could tow 5t with them if you had a taco fitted.
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Hmm, yes, I still think kerb weight is important, maybe the 80% thing is a bit OTT but I prefer to be OTT on safe travelling with my horses! I‘ve done 30 years safe towing without a hitch (sorry) with 4 different types of 4W, including an old Daihatsu, the old ones were a bit heavier I think. The best one has been my latest, a Landrover Disco 4, which weighs 2,500kg. It feels so stable. It helps if you get in a difficult situation where you have to swerve, as said in post above.
 
Time for Tea said:
Hmm, yes, I still think kerb weight is important, maybe the 80% thing is a bit OTT but I prefer to be OTT on safe travelling with my horses! I‘ve done 30 years safe towing without a hitch (sorry) with 4 different types of 4W, including an old Daihatsu, the old ones were a bit heavier I think. The best one has been my latest, a Landrover Disco 4, which weighs 2,500kg. It feels so stable. It helps if you get in a difficult situation where you have to swerve, as said in post above.
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I don't think it's advised to tow a live load at max capacity but with vehicles capable of towing 3.5t and the most popular trailers having a MAM of around 2.6, it is unnecessary but sticking to 80% of the towing vehicles weight is also unnecessary.
 
Widgeon said:
Is it a Scout?
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Ours is a Scout - thoroughly recommend them. They have a raised ride height compared to regular Octavias. Awesome tow vehicles, plus recently I drove ours (non towing) to near Badminton last week 3 hours non stop each way, and I was not at all tired afterwards.

Mustardsmum, glad you are ok, how scary. Though I love the Scout, I'd have rather been towing in our LWB Shogun if that had happened to me. The Shogun totally bosses the trailer at all times.
 
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