Do I Have to Buy a "Proper" 4x4?

[Willy Nilly]

I followed a Citroen C6, or was it C5,(?) along the motorway in France that was doing a good 80mph pulling a pretty big 'oss box with 2 'osses in it a couple of years ago.

[caelite]

jamieduff1981 said:

RDMcG said:

I tow substantial weights (5500kg) over very long distances (a single tow is 2500 miles). I have used a couple of Touareg and a Cayenne S V8 to do this with no problem.

Can you tow 5.5 tonnes legally? I'd be surprised if either of them was rated above 3500kg and/or a total train weight exceeding 6000kg.

Impressive even so though.

Legally no, I've towed similar weights though on a 800kg steel tri axle behind either a ford ranger, defender 110 or dually transit(which was plated for it). A good heavy duty trailer behind something with a bit of heft to it and you will find its more stable than most of those awful aluminium dual axles folk use to get past legislation, my work runs them up in rural areas, where they are better for access than a 7.5ton rigid. Our defender with ~600kg over the back wheels as well as the 3000-5000kg trailer on the back actually can get pretty far into the bog, although in my opinion a properly loaded pickup is going to offer the very best stability for towing on the road, it's what they are designed for, all the ones I've driven are capable of pulling much more than they are legally plated for.

Towing laws in the UK really are a joke for cars, but the obsession with weight over everything else (rig capability, driver experience, how the load is placed, etc) must be a nice little money maker for VOSA.

[V8A*ndy]

ZX10R NIN said:

I say get one of these if you want something built to last & comfort then try one of these(you can have them converted to RHD for not to much if LHD is a problem) yes it's a bit leftfield but worth a look.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Fabulous but not great for narrow rural country lanes. Imagine the stand off with a new Holland.

Our Yeti is too small and doesn't have a great towing capability but it's perfect down the lanes and traversing the muddy fields.

The new Disco is on my radar but it does look ste.

[spookly]

fossilfuelled said:

Get a defender! Will be able to tow the entire stable and....it will break weekly which inevitably means you'll d given a brand new Land Rover product of your choosing until the defender is fixed....best of both worlds for you it sounds like! When ours broke I was given a disco sport for four weeks....I couldn't wait to have the defender back!!!

FTFY

[ZX10R NIN]

V8A*ndy said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I say get one of these if you want something built to last & comfort then try one of these(you can have them converted to RHD for not to much if LHD is a problem) yes it's a bit leftfield but worth a look.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Fabulous but not great for narrow rural country lanes. Imagine the stand off with a new Holland.

Our Yeti is too small and doesn't have a great towing capability but it's perfect down the lanes and traversing the muddy fields.

The new Disco is on my radar but it does look ste.

The thing is it's just as wide as the Discovery so it's only the length that'll be the problem

[V8A*ndy]

ZX10R NIN said:

V8A*ndy said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I say get one of these if you want something built to last & comfort then try one of these(you can have them converted to RHD for not to much if LHD is a problem) yes it's a bit leftfield but worth a look.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Fabulous but not great for narrow rural country lanes. Imagine the stand off with a new Holland.

Our Yeti is too small and doesn't have a great towing capability but it's perfect down the lanes and traversing the muddy fields.

The new Disco is on my radar but it does look ste.

The thing is it's just as wide as the Discovery so it's only the length that'll be the problem

Length is the issue with passing places or just having a field gateway to pull into. The amount of times I've got caught out with the trailer on and tractor drivers.

The best thing about that beast is tractor drivers might give you more of a wide berth as it's certainly a lot more imposing.

I'd love one in RHD or the new Raptor. Living rural and having to drive miles to get anywhere wouldn't be great on the pocket though.

[ZX10R NIN]

I know what you mean you'll note I did choose the diesel admittedly it is a 6.2 V8 one but hey.

[ecsrobin]

V8A*ndy said:

Length is the issue with passing places or just having a field gateway to pull into. The amount of times I've got caught out with the trailer on and tractor drivers.

The best thing about that beast is tractor drivers might give you more of a wide berth as it's certainly a lot more imposing.

I'd love one in RHD or the new Raptor. Living rural and having to drive miles to get anywhere wouldn't be great on the pocket though.

The solution to this problem is to go bigger



The Ford F650, everyone will get out the way for you

[BugLebowski]

Benengo said:

I'm lucky enough to be able to buy a new car, tax free. I'd been planning for ages (with Mrs Benengo) to get a landy disco sport, as DragonOps has always had 'orses and we're out in the sticks... plus i like the idea of a 7 seater.... However, as I started to look, I stumbled across the Skoda Kodiak which i really like the look of and the excellent value for money. It also appears that I am able to get a really, really good deal on a Touareg, bringing it in at about the same money as the Landy DS we speced.

I cant decide whether I should go down the purist Landrover 4x4 route for the horses or something more Chelsea tractor... Plan is to keep the car 10 years plus.

Thoughts?

The discovery sport seems to have a towing capacity of 2.2 tons which is a bit crap. Touareg on the other hand seems to have a towing capacity of 3.5 tons. I'm pretty sure the discovery sport comes closer to being a 'Chelsea tractor' than a purist 4x4 anyway. Isn't it more like a freelander than a proper discovery?

[surveyor]

BugLebowski said:

The discovery sport seems to have a towing capacity of 2.2 tons which is a bit crap. Touareg on the other hand seems to have a towing capacity of 3.5 tons. I'm pretty sure the discovery sport comes closer to being a 'Chelsea tractor' than a purist 4x4 anyway. Isn't it more like a freelander than a proper discovery?

yes. It is the new Freelander...

[BugLebowski]

surveyor said:

yes. It is the new Freelander...

Apparently it based on an Evoque with more seats and redesigned rear suspension.... The embodiment of a Chelsea tractor then....

[RDMcG]

caelite said:

Legally no, I've towed similar weights though on a 800kg steel tri axle behind either a ford ranger, defender 110 or dually transit(which was plated for it). A good heavy duty trailer behind something with a bit of heft to it and you will find its more stable than most of those awful aluminium dual axles folk use to get past legislation, my work runs them up in rural areas, where they are better for access than a 7.5ton rigid. Our defender with ~600kg over the back wheels as well as the 3000-5000kg trailer on the back actually can get pretty far into the bog, although in my opinion a properly loaded pickup is going to offer the very best stability for towing on the road, it's what they are designed for, all the ones I've driven are capable of pulling much more than they are legally plated for.

Towing laws in the UK really are a joke for cars, but the obsession with weight over everything else (rig capability, driver experience, how the load is placed, etc) must be a nice little money maker for VOSA.

Legal in Canada. You do have to watch the tongue weight and understand how to balance the trailer and I also have a proper trailer controller fitted so I can adjust the trailer brake bias from the tow vehicle.We typically use 75% of the rated towing capacity as maximum.

[V8RX7]

V8A*ndy said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I say get one of these if you want something built to last & comfort then try one of these(you can have them converted to RHD for not to much if LHD is a problem) yes it's a bit leftfield but worth a look.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Fabulous but not great for narrow rural country lanes. Imagine the stand off with a new Holland.

Our Yeti is too small and doesn't have a great towing capability but it's perfect down the lanes and traversing the muddy fields.

The new Disco is on my radar but it does look ste.

I have run F150 / Rams for several years (V8 on LPG they are very cheap to run) the main problem is that I don't know the width to 20mm and as I'm so high I can't see where cars are (relative to the side of the truck) so on lanes I simply move over as far as I can and hope - many times I've clenched my teeth expecting an impact - driving one around the lanes really isn't as relaxing as you'd think.

[caelite]

RDMcG said:

Legal in Canada. You do have to watch the tongue weight and understand how to balance the trailer and I also have a proper trailer controller fitted so I can adjust the trailer brake bias from the tow vehicle.We typically use 75% of the rated towing capacity as maximum.

Oh aye Canada is golden. Most of the world outside of the EU is pretty reasonable when it comes to towing laws. Issue is over here any 'normal' b class vehicle is legally limited to sub 3.5ton payload regardless of its design. Meaning some SUVs can JUST handle a 3.5ton tow whilst remaining stable, and others can well exceed 5 ton without breaking a sweat, but all will have a rated tow capacity of 3.5ton.

You can get lucky and look at the same car designed for outside the EU market, for instance the Nissan patrol/navara is rated for 3.5ton here but 5 ton elsewhere

[jamieduff1981]

V8RX7 said:

V8A*ndy said:

ZX10R NIN said:

I say get one of these if you want something built to last & comfort then try one of these(you can have them converted to RHD for not to much if LHD is a problem) yes it's a bit leftfield but worth a look.



http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/f...

Fabulous but not great for narrow rural country lanes. Imagine the stand off with a new Holland.

Our Yeti is too small and doesn't have a great towing capability but it's perfect down the lanes and traversing the muddy fields.

The new Disco is on my radar but it does look ste.

I have run F150 / Rams for several years (V8 on LPG they are very cheap to run) the main problem is that I don't know the width to 20mm and as I'm so high I can't see where cars are (relative to the side of the truck) so on lanes I simply move over as far as I can and hope - many times I've clenched my teeth expecting an impact - driving one around the lanes really isn't as relaxing as you'd think.

I passed a Ram on Saturday out near our place, and suffered serious pickup envy. My wife's having none of it though. She doesn't think we need anything larger than our Ranger.

[omfgmynamewontfi]

an xc90 will give you 7 seats and enough pulling power for a horse box. Comfy and fairly inconspicuous.

[V8RX7]

omfgmynamewontfi said:

an xc90 will give you 7 seats and enough pulling power for a horse box. Comfy and fairly inconspicuous.

The most expensive and worst car I've ever owned - terribly unreliable.

[Basil Brush]

omfgmynamewontfi said:

an xc90 will give you 7 seats and enough pulling power for a horse box. Comfy and fairly inconspicuous.

And it may or may not have 4wd when you need it...

[roger1361]

Forget all of the above, get an Evoque like mine:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faYZ_1aBDss

[caelite]

roger1361 said:

Forget all of the above, get an Evoque like mine:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faYZ_1aBDss

Monocoque chassis, 1.8ton tow weight and a short wheelbase. You would be better of with an estate as a tow car