Trailer Owners - What car do you tow with?

Hope I can be helpful in return!
We tow with an Isuzu trooper 3.1 SWB N reg with off road tyres, totally wonderful!! We got the one with citation trim which is the smarter one - heated seats, a/c etc - great for comfort for winter evening sj trips! Totally reliable (touch wood, so far) and pulls our Wessex Olympian with two 16hh mw mares with ease. It has a 3.5t limit which I think is the max you'll find. You can also put it into 4wd low ratio if you are on a deep slick field - I think you could actually tow a house with it in that, just pulls through anything!
It cost just under £2k and we gave it a bit of a blitz with new tyres, full service, new alternator, waxoyl etc so it lasts well.
It really is a fab truck (oh loves it I think a little more than he loves me!)!
 
I had 3 very, very good Isuzu Troopers, but now I use a Cherokee Jeep Grand. It is one of the few that can tow 3.5 tons.
 
I tow with the a lwb nissian terrano and i find it an absolute beast for towing, before that i did tow with a pajero which also towed very well but not as gutsy as the terrano. I also use my terrano as my everday car and to be fair it drives just like a car, depending on my journeys and whether im in boy racer mode its not too bad on fuel. lol
 
Old range rover it's the best 4x4 ive ever had it pulls like a train and is lpg i would highly recommend it to anyone they're great for towing a trailer with smooth on your horse even if it doenst travel that well gets 10 out of 10 from me. :D
 
used to tow with an old izuzu SWB commercial - it was fab - then wanted something more 'car' like - ie 5 seats and a radio ;) and got a ssangyong rexton and i'm v impressed tbh - tows really well and with proper tyres on it towed out of muddy comps where must more expensive 4x4's were getting stuck :D

ETA - i'm a stickler for safe towing - i'd never tow with anything that does not exceed the trailer MAW - i hate to see estates/rav4's/freelanders towing :o i'll always have a truck that can tow at least 3T
 
I had a SWB Terrano II 2.7TD and that pulled like a dream - had to keep checking the trailer was still on back as it towed so so well.

So much so I am on the hunt for another one now I am getting a new horse...
 
Ford Modeo estate (diesel) - the biggest heaviest car I could find (before that I had a citroen xantia estate)

I can't afford to run more than one vehicle and even then for normal journeys a 4x4 is too expensive to run. I tow about once a fortnight/every 10 days.
I worked out that I do about 10k miles a year in just the car and no more than 4k towing. The car does about 50mpg on its own and 35 or so towing.

BUT I can still only tow one horse, especially when you take into account the weight of gear people (max two) and water etc. I also took the patition out of my trailer to make it lighter with the added benefit that tacking up is easy and the horses seem to travel better (mares especially like more space).

That said you do need to watch the weight as many smaller 4x4s can't legally tow 2 horses anyway (I'm also a stickler for watching the MAW etc)

Its a car so its comfy and quiet on long journeys and big enough for pleanty of stuff. It was a good compromise for me but may not suit everyone.
 
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Posy Honey - how on earth did you decide on the SSangyong Rexton? I'd never heard of it but looks nice. Can you give more info on engine size and did you put new tyres on?

Juno XV - like the Jeep Cherokee but aren't repairs expensive?

Thanks both.
 
aeg123 said:
Posy Honey - how on earth did you decide on the SSangyong Rexton? I'd never heard of it but looks nice. Can you give more info on engine size and did you put new tyres on?
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reason for choice - wanted a 4x4 within my budget (8.5k), that could tow at least 3T and newish - so ruled out most 4x4's lol! so expanded my search
also - engine and gear box made by merc - so same as their 4x4 ;)
got - 07 plate, 25k on clock rexton for that :)

tyres- i never drive a 4x4 on slicks - they are used as work horses - for towing horse, shoot, driving hay into field etc - so i alwyas have all terrains on my trucks :) luckily my old izuz had same tyres size etc so just swapped them :D
 
Hi, I too have a SsangYong Rexton and it is amazing. It will tow anything, I drive it through the muddy fields when I am feeling lazy and I have put snow tires on for the winter(live in Italy) and it is ace. It has a huge boot which fits in 5 bags of shavings. The dogs love it too as they have loads of space and can see in all directions. It came with all optionals that you can imagine, it even has TV and DVd in it which is great when it is raining as the kids sit in the car and wait for me to feed the horses. It is very comfy on long drives but it does drink a bit as it is petrol but what the heck I love it.
 
Well I can comment on 3 vehicles that I have owned and towed with and the Discovery 3 that we had to borrow when mine went to the garage.
1) first I had an older Mitsubishi Shogun 2.8td, this I towed 1 or 2 large horses and it towed lovely. It didnt struggle at all and drives like a car.
2) Next was a Discovery 51 plate. This was a 2.5d and it was OK with one horse but when I had the 2 horses on, you could tell that I had some weight and it wasnt as agile as the shogun, it felt a bit boxy,
3) Next was the Discovery 3 that I towed both horses to a show and although it was lovely to drive without the towing, and it was automatic, I felt the weight when towing with it.
4) Now I have the newer Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2 DID. This is lovely as it drives like a car, not like the Discovery as they are in 4wd all the time and the shogun is in 2wd unless towing. It doesnt struggle when I have 2 large horses on and it is so smooth too.

Of course it also depends on what you are towing as i have the Richardson/rice supreme ultra and it has dual suspension ( I think this is what its called) and feels great to tow.
Hope this has helped.
 
aeg123 said:
Juno XV - like the Jeep Cherokee but aren't repairs expensive?
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Depends where you get them repaired. ;)
For example, rear exhaust box for mine from main dealer is £300 +vat = stupid money. Same item including centre pipe can be purchased for £45 from places like mansfield 4x4. Set of rear brake shoes are £29, rear brake cylinders £14.95 etc so really isn't expensive for parts as long as you dont use the crysler dealer.
Interestingly though it doesn't require parts very often. Its now done 125,000 miles and is still on original exhaust and has only just had new brake pads and shoes. Pretty much everything else is still original. :D
 
I've got an Isuzu Trooper LWB 3ltr Duty called 'trico'! Fab car, brill to tow with and you just feel so secure!
 
We tow with a 2.2 dci sport 173 hp Xtrail.

Great car for towing and driving very good on milage and we havent had much bother with it so far other than a new shock and a new turbo. had it 3 years now :)
 
We once towed with a 407 peugeot! we pretty much always tow with a normal car and only used a 4 x 4 if we are going to somewhere with field parking and its been muddy and raining! even then our 407 was the only car to drive out of a muddy field when we were out competing once...everyone else was stuck in the mud being pulled out by tractors!
 
Used to tow with a Range Rover (LPG) managed Welsh lanes and hills very well, also a pretty good family car, but not much room in the back:(

LR Defender 110, beast of a towing vehicle, went anywhere, pulled anything but pretty basic, cloth seats :eek:, wind up windows :eek::eek: but carried up to 12 people and was permitted in bus lanes!

Currently have a Nissan Titan, 5.6l V8, internally a bit more basic than our GMC Sierra, easily takes a 750lb round bale in the bed and pulls 14 more on a trailer. Haven't towed anything much with it yet but come summer it will be working on the farm pulling trailers etc, it will be expected to pull two 30' fully loaded hay wagons from place to place, after that a piddly little 18' stock trailer will be a doddle. Very comfy family vehicle, lots of leg room front and back, but still cloth seats:mad: only advantage to those is that at least you don't freeze your butt off, or fry according to the weather.

We really wanted a Ram but it wouldn't fit in our walk-through garage and we can't be bothered to walk to the barn to get it, especially if you have to dig your way there in winter.
 
We used to tow with an older range rover (x plate) but it was a gutsy 4.6 (I think) petrol and while towing we were only getting around 10 miles to the gallon so traded it in for a newer rangey, 3ltr diesel and its fab, tows brill and we are getting much better mpg.

Liz
 
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