Trailers & Tow cars.

[rcarr]

Range Rover 3.9 efi or LSE
Land Rover Series 3
Land Rover Discovery (Series 2 Tdi)
Land Rover Defender 90 or 110 (Tdi or T5)
Mercedes E-class estate (Diesel or Petrol)
Chevy Silverado
Dodge Ram Day van
Volvo 240 Estate

All have done an excellent job for us over the years

[Tim Falce]

I just stick with my 93 Tdi Disco, it does it's job and doesn't let me down.

[eclectic]

I'm leaning away from big 4x4s.

I live now in the middle of York just outside the city walls and this has to be an everyday car as well as tow car, personally the Blazer, Merc ML, R-Rover Disco etc are OTT for everything except towing on road, they might be good off road, but I don't have the need or opportunity, I sold the farm more than a decade ago, and I wouldn't go back!

So I think it boils down to;

Audi Allroad, A6 quattro (do they do one?) or Avant quattro, Volvo S6 AWD (do they do one?) or V7 AWD.

The Audi has already been well reccomended but is at the top of my price range, for a 3 year old 50,000 mile car, has anyone used any of the others for towing?

[Al Weyman]

The tri axle Brian James like the one I have shown below is or was the only one in its class capably of legally transporting the new Disco.

What about a Vauxhall Monaro, bet that would tow well :-)

[1200Datto27]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

What about a Vauxhall Monaro, bet that would tow well :-)

The Auto ones can tow Ok, the manuals are only rated to 1200kg (in Aust) The big problem with them is the design of the rear suspension being unsuited to heavy loads, and chewing up tyres very quickly. My commodore wagon, which runs the same engine/drivetrain/suspension configuration wore a brand new set of rear tyres through to the belts in less than 500k's, towing my Impreza on a properly balanced trailer.

[Al Weyman]

I'm surprised at that, one thing I did do on my Blazer was fit adjustable Air Springs as it sagged a touch when loaded and I would highly recommend these to anyone doing a lot of towing and lugging around, you can load the car then set it level, they are great.

[1200Datto27]

I've got all the load levellers, air springs, etc, to set the car up properly, the problem is that the trailing arm rear suspension that they use gains a lot of camber with a little bit of load, and has some fairly major toe control issues when accelerating and braking under load, hence leading into a situation where the inside shoulders of the tyres are overworked. The outside shoulder on the set of tyres that it killed still had the paint marks on them.

[Al Weyman]

I think its a similar chassis to an old Carlton I once towed with (once) and to be honest hat did not feel all that. I think the 70's design of the Blazer chassis that is shared with the Astro van and all the S10 pickups etc, i.e. cart sprung solid axle and double wishbone fronts makes for a stable towing platform.

[terence]

AUDI A6 Quatro is available Avante/Saloon.

[Notso Swift]

Blair's best tow car bible:
Golden rules:
Long wheel base
Short rear overhang
High tow ball, get a custom made gooseneck because they cost begger all and it will shorten your stopping distance by half. This is the main reason old school 4WD's are so good at towing.

Get this right and you will be able to tow a 2000 kg rig with a 1000 kg car and be safer than someonr with a 2000 kg car and a 1000 kg trailer! (We will not mention any legal ramifications at this stage...)

If you don't have those basics right you need compensation, such as load leveling/air rear suspension.
Nice things:
4WD or RWD are prefered (FWD is OK if the above ratio is OK, otherwise you need RWD or 4WD)
Solid/live rear axles are the best for towing, but harder to live with every day.
Minimum 120 bhp/ton in Petrol, 70+ bhp/ton diesel (car only)

Sorry but a CRV just doesn't cut it as a tow car, you would be better off buying a 5 Series touring, even if it was 20 years old. 2nd gen Disco's are ordinary as well, but at least thay have self leveling rear, problem is when you continuely tow and the self levelers wear out (which happens too qucikly IMO) they start to be handicaped by their short wheelbase to long overhang. In the light 4WD lifestyle vehicles, the X trail is probably the best.
design

[Al Weyman]

Almost sounds like you are describing my 2000 model Blazer there NotSoSwift, with the Air Springs of course and the archiac 70's design truck chassis with live axle and cart springs makes for a very stable base even if not the most comfortable ride when not towing as you correctly point out.

[Peter Mallett]

This has worked pretty well for me over the years. I've got a Race Shuttle now but haven't towed it yet.

http://tentenths.com/forum/attachmen...1&d=1159363947

The only problem with a Jeep Cherokee or indeed a Blazer is the amount of load space behind the seats.

[Al Weyman]

Got lots more in the Blazer and indeed the Explorer than the Cherokee Peter, I have the Blazer and two of my mates have the other two and the Cherokee is smaller by far in fact I can get a good nights sleep in the back of the Chevy and I am 6ft.

PS I do have the long wheel base model!

PPS Is yours on Autogas Peter, my mate has his Cherokee on gas as I do on the Chevy although I dont like the position of his tank as its in the luggage area but it runs well on it and saves him big bucks. The Cherokee is also a better finished car if the truth be known but I prefer my V6 Vortex to the Chrysler straight 6.

[Peter Mallett]

Then you must have the Tahoe model. The actual Blazer is the same wheelbase as the Cherokee both are a little bigger than the Xtrail. We've got them here in russia.

I tried the Explorer but after a couple of hours I couldn't make it comfortable so went for the Cherokee. Great car and no regrets. It is small but it punches way above its weight.

BTW I'm talking with the back seats up. Folded flat there's loads of room.

[zefarelly]

MOndeo Zetec S V6 I'd give 8/10 ( huge load space, towed and handled well but FWD in the wet meant use of traction control if you floored it)

Subaru Legacy 2.5 I have to say 10/10, 4wd, but otherwise like the MOndeo, huge boot, but handled better, was las long but lower and lighter, hit 95 on the way back from DIjon last summer !!!

Transit 2.5 DT LWB is great too . . .and it has loads of storage, sleeping and food and wine on board !


I have towed with a Mitsubishi shogun, crap, and it blew up
Audi A4 2.6 quattro estate, capable but too small for racing
MK1 Cortina estate, Huge boot, not really enough grunt to make decent progress !!!
Scimitar GTE . . . cool, but the boots too small !

[Peter Mallett]

Of course your towing weight is less than 1.5 tonnes. Mine's around 2 tonnes probably a bit more but less than 2.5.

The reason for the RS5 is so I can put toolboxes, jacks fuel cans etc. into the shuttle leaving space in the car for clothes and stuff.

[andypipe]

I use a Isuzu Rodeo 3L pick up for mine. Tows like a goodun. Also just gone out and bought a LDV Convoy 400 LWB 2.5L Turbo for the other Car and carry all the gear. For one car, we could of got all the gear on the back of the truck with a hard top.

[Tim Draffan]

Me too!

Originally Posted by falcemob

I just stick with my 93 Tdi Disco, it does it's job and doesn't let me down.

[Al Weyman]

It became the Tahoe Peter I believe and looks very similiar to the current Tahoe model.

[Notso Swift]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

Almost sounds like you are describing my 2000 model Blazer there NotSoSwift, with the Air Springs of course and the archiac 70's design truck chassis with live axle and cart springs makes for a very stable base even if not the most comfortable ride when not towing as you correctly point out.

One of the facts of life isn't it? Good tow cars aren't usally that good when not loaded up, and good everyday driving cars are always a compromise for towing!

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

It became the Tahoe Peter I believe and looks very similiar to the current Tahoe model.

Yep, I thought so. Bigger than the current Blazer.

[GordonG]

Anyone tried a people mover as a tow car? My trailer's pretty light (sub 500kg car, 1 spare set of wheels and a couple of jerry cans on a modern small twin axle).

Currently I use a BMW 323 touring, which tows extremely well but is now just a little short on storage space with the missus and bairn (and all his crap) loaded up. I cant afford the space (let alone investment) for a dedicated van and really dont want a 4*4 for the fuel consumption apart from anything else.

It seems to me that something like a Citroen Synergie/C whatever or a Pug 806/807 2 or 2.2 hdi would have adequate power (though not as much as the 2.5 Beemer), woudl give excellent mileage and give a HUGE boot space with 5 seats. They also have sliding rear doors (better access, less likely to clobber the trailer or racecar in the paddock) and the front seats rotate to form a kind of living room arrangement.

Anyone tried one of these? I guess they're not much good if you race a yank tank, but for a wee light rig, ought to suffice?

G

[StephenRae]

Originally Posted by GordonG

Anyone tried a people mover as a tow car? My trailer's pretty light (sub 500kg car, 1 spare set of wheels and a couple of jerry cans on a modern small twin axle).

My seat Inca 1.9 turbo diesel towes my FF1600 adequately at about 40mpg so a people carrier should be fine.

[terence]

The Mercedes Vito is pretty good,sliding door,s etc,you do have to make sure that its loaded properly because they can tend to be a bit light on the front,obviously depends on load but quite a nice drive.

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by falcemob

I just stick with my 93 Tdi Disco, it does it's job and doesn't let me down.

[Al Weyman head on] I had a feeling when I posted the above that it would bite me back.
I've just been out to start it after it has been parked up for about 10 days and it won't start.
There's something wrong with the electrics, I thought it was the battery so I charged it up and it started. I thought no more about until as I turned the headlights on, every thing went dead. It's now gone dark and after half an hour of checking things out it started to pee down with rain.
Very unhappy especially as the sale of my other Land Rover has fallen through due to a couple of time wasters. [/Al Weyman head off]