Best Budget Tow Car...!

Alright, the mrs is kicking the sh*t out of my Accord Type-S and thinking early next year I need to get her a bash van and me a tow car for maybe activities😁
4x4 because gravel drive, isofix because I’m weak, less than £550 a year to tax and diesel.
There seams to be a sh*t ton of options sub £4000 but I can think of these in particular...
Discovery 3, Touareg, X5, ML270, XC90, Patrol, Land Cruiser, Cherokee and maybe Shogun.
Any recommendations, warnings or any I’ve missed??
Obv less than 3.5t gross with a trailer, track car and usual track day sh*t.

Shogun all day long,reliable as a brick

i think you will really struggle with any 4x4 plus a trailer and a track car and remain under 3.5T

 

for instance shogun gross weight is 3T, discovery 3 is 3.2T, X5 is 3T

 

trailer is done on gross weight too so depends on the trailer tag it has on there, plus the gross weight of the track car

 

i think you should really think about doing your trailer license, its a piece of piss to pass.

I need the trailer ticket anyway my license only covers 750kg but that’s only up to 3.5t after that I’ll need a class 2 hgv.
Most normal cars have towing limit of around 1500kg which means race car and kit has to be less than 900

Class B allows you to tow a car/trailer combination up to a plated MAM of 3500kg.

Over that you'll need B+E

I need the trailer ticket anyway my license only covers 750kg but that’s only up to 3.5t after that I’ll need a class 2 hgv.
Most normal cars have towing limit of around 1500kg which means race car and kit has to be less than 900

 

remember gross weight is max carry capacity, so dont worry about kit as that will be included in the cars gross weight

I bought a 2005 Touareg 3.0 diesel to tow the Caterham. It’s a nice place to be and despite what the internet might say it’s been reliable towing me all around the UK and across to Spa.

Had to deal with a few issues (snapped rear coil springs, replaced the heater fan, rusty discs, faulty parking sensor, faulty air con) but it was the cheapest one around and I knew what I was getting in to. Parts are reasonably priced. Even with the repairs it only owes me £4.5k.

Full leather, electric heated seats, permanent 4wd, low range with a locking diff, great stereo, cruise control, 19inch alloys etc. It’ll eek out 35mpg on a run if you tickle the throttle, 25mpg with the trailer. 150kg nose weight and rated to 350kg in other parts of the world.

It is 2.5T though so it’s over 3.5t with the trailer, car and parts.

To add, we had an older ML320 for a few years and it was nice inside but was starting to rust quite badly and making noises that sounded like they could get expensive. VW seems better built.

If you're worried about weight, the Nissan x-trail is worth a look. It weighs under 2t but is rated to tow up to 2t.
I had a 2004 2.2 dci to tow the race car. That car gave me no issues at all. Just added fuel, tyres and brakes. Everything just worked. Down side was that the inter cooler mounted on top of the engine could get heat soaked during long uphill runs but it would still happily maintain 60mph+
It was noticeably more economical than the Touareg as well..

I use a skoda octavia vrs estate. Absolutely love the car and have done 53k miles with no problems and the car doesn’t have a easy life to be honest!

Fwd tho but can easily tow a trailer and vx / lotus.


I had a bmw 330d which was the most unreliable car I’ve ever had.. had only done 60k and cost me 3k in 10minths. However when the car worked it was the best car I’ve used for towing, with a remap it didn’t even feel like you where towing

I use a skoda octavia vrs estate. Absolutely love the car and have done 53k miles with no problems and the car doesn’t have a easy life to be honest!

Fwd tho but can easily tow a trailer and vx / lotus.


I had a bmw 330d which was the most unreliable car I’ve ever had.. had only done 60k and cost me 3k in 10minths. However when the car worked it was the best car I’ve used for towing, with a remap it didn’t even feel like you where towing

I have the same, find it low at the time hitch, ground the hitch quite a bit

And it's a great car to drive,over 50pmg not towing, 35-40 towing ( m cycle trailer)

I'm watching this with interest as I'm considering tow cars. Little un limits driving to places with all of us!

Whats all this crap about trailer licence too? Am I old enough not to need it?

Small words for me please, I've only just thought 'lets have a tow car' and gone no further. Little un up every hour limits brain function to almost zero too.

Pre 97 licence you can pretty much do what you want.

Post 97 the combined GVW and plated MAM of the trailer must not exceed 3.5t. (Not actual weights, which is what usually puts combinations too high without having the trailer plated down.)

Post 97 license holders can take a test to increase towing limit to match the pre 97 limits (7 ton gross train weight, 3.5 ton trailer weight). Search B+E towing limit on google.

Fantastic, something good from being old(er)

Fantastic, something good from being old(er)

 

Works for me too. One of the few times being a grumpy old b@stard goes in my favour.