MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
My mother has had enough of her Range Rover. It isn't that old - less than 10 years, but is becoming increasingly unreliable.
She's looking for a vehicle that fulfills the following:
1. Reliable
2. Capable of towing a trailer carring up to 10 haybales or a couple of sheep.
3. Is an estate or vehicle which can carry a dog in the "boot".
4. Is a damn site more economical (to run and buy) than the current tank - she's now retired.
I said Berlingo. She said whatthe****'sthat?
Start your engines please...
You'll probably want to factor the trailer weight as much as the load - 'some sheep' or 'some bales' doesn't amount to much, but carried in a big burly trailer it does. You might want something heavier than a belingo for towing if the trailer is weighty, a berlingo is a tall small car, rather than a big car if you see what I mean.
Daihatsu Fourtrak
scooby forester
Yuba Mundo 😉
Your mum sounds ace 🙂
Freelander?
My wife's TD auto easily tows a 2 horse box and full gear.
Shogun 3.2DiD , nuff said !
Will have to be a 4x4, if you have a small trailer then a little Suzuki Jimny could do it. They are stupidly capable little beasts, not very fast though and the polar opposite of the Rangey.
I've got a freelander 2 and it tows a 1500kg caravan with ease, it's generally been reliable. I get around 35mpg everyday driving and 29mpg towing the caravan. If she doesn't want a Land Rover, then a shogun or even a CRV/Rav 4 if she doesn't do anything more than wet grass off road.
V70 XC D5
For that sort of stuff I'd get a Mitsubishi L200 4work - that's the very basic, building site spec - steel rims, no radio, no aircon, no leccy windows or any of that rubbish. Just an honest, hard working pickup.
Available in single, king or double cab flavours and I think they'll pull 2700kg.
Ooh. some exciting response.
I think the pulling power (oo-er) is key - folks live in Ceredigion, so it's a bit tumpy (as they'd say in Glos.).
Your mum sounds ace
Steady on old boy..! She has her moments. Not bad for a 64 y.o. Sheep are hers, rather than any that might have been on a passage to freedom, as it were...
Anything but a L200.
Do some proper research, doesn't matter if a car 'tows it fine', it has to be legal! Published towing figures are based on how heavy a trailer the car can pull away with on a 12% gradient so it is quite a good guide to what they will cope with (though not a guide of stability)
Ford Mondeo TDCi 130 will tow 1800kg though I've heard the rear suspension can sag a bit so might want to get one of the nicer versions will the self levelling rear shocks.
Mondeo's towing weight is regarded as excellent for an Estate, I think the other contenders are RWD BMWs/Mercs.
whattowcar.com says estates and hatchbacks for 2000kg trailer, Audi S6, BMW 5 series, Mondeo 2.2TDCi (176bhp) and 2.0TDCi Auto, some 4x4 versions of the Skoda Superb and VW Passat, Subaru Outback IV (3.2 Auto) Volvo XC70 and V70. These are current models, you can search back to older years as well. Either way, you are looking at the biggest and most powerful estate cars you can find.
Bump the weight up to the next option, 2500kg, you are looking exclusively at large 4x4s.
To work out the towing weight for the car, deduct the gross train weight (first and highest number on VIN plate) from the max gross weight of the car (second number on the VIN plate).
If you are towing sheep I guess you have quite a meaty trailer, unlikely to be under 1200kg empty and probably has a max weight of something like 2500-3000kg if its a livestock trailer or horsebox?
Anything but a L200.
Why?
Hilux?
nice one spooky - I shall go and geek out with the site. V useful.
Oh, and they are only small sheep..!
most of the people i see doing that are using L200's, and having had my car, Octavia, towed up a snow and ice covered dirt road the pulling power seems ok.
If clearance isnt an issue- Octavia 4x4 or the Scout (which is higher).
My advice.......
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Tractor?
Assume there's no need for a real off roader? If not, Subaru Outback? All wheel drive, huge boot, high tow rating, low sill for the boot (helpful if you're err, older), and a good diesel engine.
Else, Mitsubishi Outlander.
Subaru Forester or Legacy Outback.
audi 2.5tdi quattro coz they look nice too 😀
Yoda - WTF is that, some sort of Land Rover freak? 😮
I think that a "grippy" estate is where it needs to be.
[b]muddypuddle[/b] - she's definitely not in the farmer category, more the keeper of a randowm assortment of livestock. Sheep are one down now - found a dead one in the field the other day.
I think Octavia 4x4 sounds a sensible place to start. Or a suitably cheap Forester or Outback. Gotta to be better than an unreliable Range Rover, eh?
Cheers all - much appreciated.
Tom
Its a Bowler Wildcat, is part Land Rover and was developed for the Dakar Rally. Think there is a new version based on the Discovery now?
Its a bit mental...