Vehicle for towing

[Coops666]

Hello,

I`m sure there have ben loads of these questions/queries over the years....

Started up in the horsey world around 3yrs ago, daughter has a 14.2 Welsh Cob. This year via a friend and her trailer/car have been going to fortnightly shows, were now getting to the stage whereby our main car needs upgrading and we want some independents interms of traveling with Pony.

We dont travel far, just local shows 5 to 50 miles max.

Budget for Vehicle would be up to 16-17K with the look to be buying a single trailer Ifor William HB401 or similar.
Has to be Petrol or hybrid.

any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[Wheels]

Is there a particular reason you dont want diesel?

 

[ROG]

What licence B or B+E?

 

[Coops666]

Is there a particular reason you dont want diesel?

This will be a 5+ yr Vehicle so long term I dont want to get busted for TAX rises on Diesel vehicles or congestion charges. I`m seeing local towns having congestion charges being introduced now around me.

Understand with todays market it can be quite difficult to get a "cleaner" towing vehicle that's suitable, maybe the Volvo XC90 Hybrid but thats out of my price range.

I have test driven the Mitsu Outlander Hybrid.

 

[Coops666]

What licence B or B+E?

Me & The Wife would take our B&E

 

[Tiddlypom]

Some Skoda Octavia 4x4 estates are petrol, but I don't know their tow limit. The diesel version is a great tow car.

 

[Annagain]

With a 14.2 Welsh cob and a single IW you could do it without taking the test - unless daughter will be moving on to a much bigger horse in the next few years. To tow on just a B licence, you have to ensure the car's Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and the trailer's Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) does not exceed 3500kg.

If you got a vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Weight of, say, 2100kg (roughly what a lot of small SUVs have) you could downplate the MAM of the trailer (just a paper exercise) to 1400kg to comply with the licensing requirements. That then means that the trailer + horse cannot weigh more than 1400kg. The IW 401/403 weights 770kg so as long as the horse weighed less than 630kg - a 14.2 Welsh Cob would weigh considerably less - you'd be fine.

The only other consideration is that the car's towing capacity must exceed the ACTUAL weight of the horse + trailer but as you've reduced this to 1400kg anyway, virtually every car you come across that's suitable for towing will have a capacity greater than that.

Obviously these are examples so if you decrease the car's GVW, you can increase the Trailer's MAM so 200kg+1500kg or 1900kg +1600kg would also work. The IW has a plated MAM of 1600kg so if you can find a car with 1900kg of GVW that works in every other way, you don't even need to downplate the trailer. Generally, the lower the GVW, the lower the towing capacities though so what you gain in one way you lose in another.

ETA an example https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/tiguan/prices-specs/97404/1.5-tsi-150-active-5dr-dsg

This Tiguan has a GVW of 2000kg with a towing capacity up to 1800kg so if you got an IW403, you'd need to reduce its MAM from 1600kg to 1500kg. You do this by sending IW some paperwork and a fee and they'll send you a new plate to attach to your trailer instead of the existing one. The trailer itself weighs 770kg and the pony is probably around the 500kg mark so the trailer + horse will weigh in at around 1270kg - well within the trailer's new MAM of 1500kg and well within the car's towing capacity of 1800kg.

This isn't a recommendation by the way, it's just a car I found where the figures were fairly straightforward!

 

[holeymoley]

As said above you have a wide variety of cars to chose from. If you go for a single Ifor you can pretty much use anything that has a towing capability. I personally wouldn’t go under something with less than 2000kg towing capacity though. Also 4x4 option is also a bonus!

 

[Coops666]

With a 14.2 Welsh cob and a single IW you could do it without taking the test - unless daughter will be moving on to a much bigger horse in the next few years. To tow on just a B licence, you have to ensure the car's Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and the trailer's Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) does not exceed 3500kg.

If you got a vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Weight of, say, 2100kg (roughly what a lot of small SUVs have) you could downplate the MAM of the trailer (just a paper exercise) to 1400kg to comply with the licensing requirements. That then means that the trailer + horse cannot weigh more than 1400kg. The IW 401/403 weights 770kg so as long as the horse weighed less than 630kg - a 14.2 Welsh Cob would weigh considerably less - you'd be fine.

The only other consideration is that the car's towing capacity must exceed the ACTUAL weight of the horse + trailer but as you've reduced this to 1400kg anyway, virtually every car you come across that's suitable for towing will have a capacity greater than that.

Obviously these are examples so if you decrease the car's GVW, you can increase the Trailer's MAM so 200kg+1500kg or 1900kg +1600kg would also work. The IW has a plated MAM of 1600kg so if you can find a car with 1900kg of GVW that works in every other way, you don't even need to downplate the trailer. Generally, the lower the GVW, the lower the towing capacities though so what you gain in one way you lose in another.

ETA an example https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/volkswagen/tiguan/prices-specs/97404/1.5-tsi-150-active-5dr-dsg

This Tiguan has a GVW of 2000kg with a towing capacity up to 1800kg so if you got an IW403, you'd need to reduce its MAM from 1600kg to 1500kg. You do this by sending IW some paperwork and a fee and they'll send you a new plate to attach to your trailer instead of the existing one. The trailer itself weighs 770kg and the pony is probably around the 500kg mark so the trailer + horse will weigh in at around 1270kg - well within the trailer's new MAM of 1500kg and well within the car's towing capacity of 1800kg.

This isn't a recommendation by the way, it's just a car I found where the figures were fairly straightforward!

TY very much for the detail response, much apricated and I never knew any of that. TY

 

[Kizzy2004]

I have an outlander phev (company car) and I wouldn’t recommend it for towing. Capacity is only 1,500k and although I can tow 1 within capacity it’s pretty gutless so limit using it to locally. I’m now getting a 2nd vehicle just for towing

 

[Wheels]

Many of the hybrids are small SUVs and may not quite be up to the job, even with one pony and a single trailer.

Out of the larger 4x4s, not many are hybrid but some of the more modern range rovers. Although probably out of price range. You might be able to pick up something like an older or high mileage porsche cayenne petrol or petrol hybrid within budget or if you can push the budget a bit then low mileage hybrids might be on the cards or a petrol macan - lovely cars

 

[ROG]

You can tow on a B licence with a down plated single trailer and a vehicle which does not have a high GVW

Using your idea of a HB401
Down plate trailer from 1600 to 1300 - contact IW with a cost about £50 - you change the plates
Trailer weight 780 empty so that leaves a max of 520 for the trailer load - should be plenty for your horse
Vehicle plated at max 2200 GVW means legal for B towing - no B+E test needed