What car for towing?

We are currently contemplating changing cars (currently drive a 12 year old Quashqui as a second car) and getting a bigger vehicle so we can tow a horse box and associated stuff. I have a pretty limited budget of around £6-£8k and my initial thoughts are a Kia Sorrento (I can get slightly newer/lower milage for the money), Volvo XC90 (I assume will be pretty bombproof although servicing might be a bit pricier) or even a Land Rover Discovery (this might be a silly choice with their reliability issues). I am not bothered about getting a pristine example as it will just be a workhorse car used for going to horsy events and getting generally grubby with horse stuff.

So – what else should I be considering? Or should we stick to hiring a horse box (which costs about £100 a day) but can be a bit inconvenient at times.

Finally – why didn’t my daughter choose a cheaper hobby?

Mondeo?

Anything with a 2L TDi engine will have enough torque to tow the Moon.  A mate of mine once beached his original-shape Mondeo (really rough ground and he bottomed out with the driven wheels off the ground).  I was about the fourth driver to try and drag him out, my Mondeo pulled it clear like there was nothing attached.

If pulling a full horse box out of a muddy field is important a proper Landy with decent tyres is pretty much unbeatable (apart from by the old default answer of Unimog obviously)

If you’re towing it hundreds of miles on a motorway to get there first there are much better options… Mondeo is a good shout. How heavy is the full horse box?

How much capacity do you need for the horse?
Will you just be towing between yards or going into fields for events?

£500 Porsche should do it 😆😉

Honda CRV seems to be the popular choice around here

There are weight restrictions depending on the towing vehicle, Welsh farmer and muffinman have probably got some knowledge?

That’s a point actually.  Does “associated stuff” include the horse, or are you just using the box on arrival at events?

Hire the horsebox.

👋

As a tow-erist with an XC90 and a Cayenne

A facelift 2009 XC90 is better than an earlier one for a few reasons that I can expand on if wanted. Will tow 2.4t
The XC90 is front wheel drive but with Haldex rear wheel when the fronts slip. No low range.

I also have a 1st gen Porsche Cayenne, it’s a 250hp V6 3.2 petrol. True 4×4 with a transfer box (low range), tipronic auto/manual gearbox. Will tow 3.5t.

The Cayenne is an amazing bit of kit, tows really well, is as good as a Rangerover off-road as you can lock the centre diff. Low range is great for reverse with trailer. Only downside is thirsty @low 20’s when towing.

A good well looked after 957 (2007-2009 year) diesel would be a good choice, has the same drivetrain as mine but with the robust Audi diesel engine, or save a few thousand and buy a 955 petrol.

A Cayenne is the same as a VW Tourareg underneath so the same comments apply.

As a previous LR Defender owner/fettler I wouldn’t buy a Discovery unless you were competent with spanners.

One thing to be aware of is road fund licence – good tow cars are potentially expensive especially post 2006 although the Volvo D5 is okay.

Does “associated stuff” include the horse

Yes – the car is for towing a box plus a horse (maybe two after some time getting used to it), tack and associated stuff needed for day events (no plans for overnighting yet).

I like the idea of a Mondeo (I have always liked them and the car will end up being my runaround) but the towing capacity is lower (the ones I mentioned are all around 2400kg, Mondeo is 1800kg) and, for what I have read, as inexperienced towers, we shouldn’t be towing anywhere near capacity so, if we get a vehicle with higher towing capacity , we’ll have more flexibility to take more than one horse (two horses + trailer would be around 1800kg)

Land Cruiser ? It’ll likely run forever.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405280168216?sort=price-desc&advertising-location=at_cars&make=Toyota&model=Land%20Cruiser&postcode=BD22%209QL&price-to=9000&fromsra

One thing to be aware of is road fund licence – good tow cars are potentially expensive especially post 2006 although the Volvo D5 is okay.

Very good point – I hadn’t considered that.

Case in point – my Cayenne is £415 road fund as its pre March 2006 after that date it’s £710.

That LC posted above with 173bhp is £710 road fund. An XC90 with 185bhp is £415 – but just be aware around 2006ish Volvo reclassified the D5 so some are £700+ road fund so double check. The torque values are similar for them both.

But the LC can tow 3.5t and is 4wd.

Another cheap but good tow car is a Hyundai Terracan. Just check MOT history for rust.

How many times do you tow the horse in a year? At £100 for the horse box vs 6k-8k + servicing for an old car where is the break even point?

^^^ totally agree, but the horse box solution means collecting and dropping off every time and, if we can’t get back in time it means paying for two days so it’s simply not very convenient (it’s what we do right now and last weekend we got a text message at midnight saying the box wasn’t available when we were meant to be collecting at 8am the following morning)! Fortunately a friend helped out on that occasion otherwise we’d have not attended the event and lost all entry fees.

Haters are always going to hate on here but hard to beat a pickup for your requirements.

Touareg with the full towing pack.  Got two mates who do 50k towing miles a year, nothing gets close according to them.

3.2 DI-D Mitsubishi shogun.

My wife tows with a Kuga. We are coming to replacement time, so this thread is interesting. The Kuga has been fantastic a fantastic towing car, so it’s not easy to replace. Plus the 4WD is reassuring if towing through fields is ever involved. Obviously larger cars like Touareg’s or XC90s will be good for towing, but we would really like something the same kind of size as the Kuga. xC90s are mahoosive from memory of boring one for a week.

Buy a van based self propelled horse box?

two horses + trailer would be around 1800kg

Unless you have a small pony I think you are underestimating the weight.  An Ifor 506 has a kerb weight just under 1000kg, 15 hand horse about 500kg each.  Assuming a 506, I would look for something that can tow its gross weight of 2600kg if you plan to take two horses in future.

we shouldn’t be towing anywhere near capacity

This advice tends to be aimed at people towing wobbly caravans, I don’t think you need to worry too much about the 80% rule with a horse trailer.  They are more stable and compact than a caravan.  A towing course would be sensible though as they will teach you some tips and tricks to make things easier, how not to drop the trailer off the towball (the potential catastrophe is much greater than a little trailer or even a caravan), and no one wants to be the twit that can’t reverse out of a crowded showground!

Mondeo

Don’t do it!  As you’ve noticed, its not got the towing capacity required.  I would avoid any front wheel drive car, you’ll struggle to get off a wet field and you will probably struggle to do a hill start in the wet on tarmac too.  The minimum I’d suggest would be a large rear wheel drive saloon, and then 4×4’s.  I use a large RWD campervan to tow our Ifor 511.  Most vans and many pickups won’t have the tow capacity.  If you are going places where you will be parked on grass, I would recommend some all-season M&S tyres (nothing crazy but eco tyres won’t stand a chance).

The other option is to try and get a 3.5t horsebox, if your daughter is anywhere near driving age this opens up the possibility of them taking themselves to an event.  My wife now tows our trailer so I don’t have to go to more local/low key events but a horsebox makes it much more appealing to a younger/inexperienced driver vs a trailer.

WARNING!

Do not believe the published capacities for a make and model without checking the VIN plate on the actual car you are going to buy first.

Skodas (as one example) are a pain for this.  You look on Parkers and it says “Towing Capacity 1800kg”.

Look on the VIN plate and it says 0kg

This is because the car has a theoretical capacity of 1800kg but you had to spec it for towing when new.  If it wasn’t spec’d, it has 0kg legally.

Not all manufacturers do this (interestingly I’ve never seen an issue on VW or Audi in VAG only Skoda) but just be absolutely sure before you spend your money.

I suspect not an issue on a big SUV but…

If it were me at those weights and for fields with a horse box I’d definitely be favouring an SUV or pickup of the big and heavy variety and decent 4wd.

Yes – the car is for towing a box plus a horse

So… unless I’m missing something, your alternate solution of hiring a box instead would still need towing?  If you hire a box, does it come with a suitable vehicle?

Keep up Cougar, the horsebox hire is for a 3.5t van!  We’ve done hire too, its incredibly inconvenient if its not very local, and even if its cheaper over a year, adding £100 on to the cost of a local event is normally going to limit the amount of times you can justify going out.

Would you also still need a run about vehicle if you were hiring a van?

My yeti pulls our single horse trailer no problem, but obvs reduces the flexibility of two horse towing in future. This does put you in the range of smaller SUV 4×4’s though, 2t capacity is fine.

Or try and find a decent Daihatsu Fourtrak….

Been there with horse trailer and eventually was able to upgrade to a 3.5t Horsebox which is so much easier to manage.

1 horse is pretty easy. Most will tow that ok but if looking at 2 (plus tack, saddles, hay, water and all the associated gubbins that is needed) then I would be looking for something like a Touraeg that is rated to 3500kg. We used an X5 on winter tyres so that it didn’t get stuck in the fields and that worked well for a horse and small pony.

Worth checking the weight of the trailer, standard Ifors are great but weigh quite a bit and there are some lighter versions from other manufacturers.

We’ve got a 2017 4WD Kuga – perfect to one decent size horse or two ponies. We’ve had a CRV and Freelander too. Both towed well.

For two horses you need to be into discovery territory and 3.5ton towing capacity.

Land Rovers do go wrong but there’s also a massive spare network and loads of specialist who know how to fix them. Even Honda main dealer couldn’t fix an issue on out CRV.

I don’t think you need to worry too much about the 80% rule with a horse trailer.  They are more stable and compact than a caravan.

Until you’ve got a horse going bat-shit crazy in the back. IMO it’s more important as your load is moving.

^^^ that – Iceni is a bugger of a horse so a safe option is important.

Would you also still need a run about vehicle if you were hiring a van?

no – we can make it work as we have another car, I work from home, have a bike and can walk to the train station when needed.

Nissan Patrol ?
My mate swears by his for safety towing heavy stuff.
Diff lock , low range box , it’s also coming up for sale soon as he bought a Hilux Arctic thing that Clarkson drove to the north pole in.

Imo a big 4×4 or pickup (need to get one with a rear canopy) is the only sensible option for towing horses, anything else you’ll be on the limit of capacity or struggling to drag the thing out of wet fields.

Both my other half and daughter event, currently using a Ford Ranger which tows really well and has been a super practical family truck. It’ll will soon be replaced by another pickup. Something like a Toureg/Disco/Landcruiser would be a nicer vehicle to drive but would trash them filling the back with horse related junk unfortunately.

We recently had to replace our tow car. We needed to tow 3.5t; two horses + feed and gear.

We had been using a pickup (Nissan ) but found it difficult to manoeuvre around our yard being longer than 4×4.

We ended up with a Ssangyong Rexton. Generally pleased with this.

Land Rover Discovery 4

“Land Rover Discovery 4”

Watch LR Time on YouTube – they’re a humourous German couple who love rebuilding them and the snapped crankshafts. As much I love tinkering with stuff they’ve put me off a Disco3 or 4 for life.

Case in point – my Cayenne is £415 road fund as its pre March 2006 after that date it’s £710.

That’s a bit misleading – my 2012 Cayenne Diesel is £385/year.

^We were looking at Disco’s and ended up with a newish Navara to tow a horse and trailer.  Too many stories of snapped cranks shafts etc.

Kerb weight is important, maybe more so than towing capacity.  The truck pulls and stops as if no trailer was there whereas a car based SUV would struggle for stability. perhaps something like a Touraeg would also be good if a pick up isnt favourable.

A few days ago I would have suggested a Disco 4. I was thinking just how great it’s been for us the past 2 years having had it with no problems but the parking brake has just seized on. Which can happen with them. There’s an emergency cable to release it but it a pain to move. Just coming up for holiday time as well. DOH.

Grand Cherokee well worth a shout, had the 4.7 v8 with LPG and a 4.0 and the v8 was pretty reliable. Both rated to tow 3.5t, both could drag pretty much anything around that was stuck in the snow.  Mine were both second generation (WJ).

Proper comfy place to sit, with decent tyres not likely to get stuck anywhere, very capable tow vehicle, pretty cheap last time I looked.

Third gen (WK) should be available in your budget, they don’t have quite as good a chassis for off-roading but for your use case should be fine and the diesels share a lot of engine parts with Mercedes (ML320 isn’t a bad shout either).

@sharkbait, it’s the case for my 3.2petrol and for the OP if his budget was taking him towards 2006 year cars to just be aware of the road fund change that affected quite a few cars at that time.