Tow car at ~£35k?
Discussion
Hi All, hoping this is an appropriate place to post.
I've been happily towing with a D5 Volvo V90 for a few years now, initially in use for 4-6 trackdays per year but things escalated last year for my first season of racing, with it being dragged all over the country all year towing ~1800kg.
It really has done well, and gives me a great balance of capable tow car without being an agricultural utility for the times in which we want it to nip to the shops etc. It's a nice place to sit for a long journey, and hasn't really thrown us any big problems BUT it is starting to get a bit leggy, and I suspect the odd thing will start creeping in.
My only way to fault it is the ride quality whilst towing. We went for an R-Design model which is on very skinny tyres, and no air suspension so the rear is really slammed down when towing. Had we bought a cross country model I'm sure it would have been perfect.
Idly shopping for a potential replacement for a busy 2026 season and I defaulted to the latest versions of the V90, specifically in T8 Plug in Hybrid trim. This still boasts the power and torque to hopefully cruise the towing, but with the PHEV side of it, the ability to do school runs and shopping runs won't contribute to any possible DPF issues etc. It may also be cheaper to run overall, even though I suspect the towing fuel economy would be a bit worse. The T8 Ultra trim comes with air suspension as standard, and though the tyres are still on the slim side - they're a few % chunkier than what the current car has.
An XC90 perhaps is an obvious choice, but we tested one in T8 trim recently and it had a horrible drive quality on the test drive.
A decent budget for one is looking like £35k, so that's become the logical arbitrary budget for potential alternatives, but this is a class of car I'm really not that experienced with, nor enthusiastic about... so it's hard to know where to look.
I've ruled out a pickup because after having the generous use of one a few times this year, I've found it quite awkward to clamber into the back for retrieving luggage/toolboxes/etc that make up part of the race weekend supplies. I'd also like to keep some degree of 'luxury' in the cockpit.
Not too fussed on fuel type, but when it's not towing it will be doing a 4 mile school run... and that's about it, so some sort of plug in hybrid could be an advantage. The D5 managed around 25mpg on a long tow, so would be nice to not go too far below that.
It needs to be able to tow anywhere between 1500 and 2000kg depending on what car I'm towing and how much stuff.
I had a look at Touaregs tonight purely because I remember them reading all of the caravan club awards back in the day my Grandad used to take us caravanning... and that was a long time ago! Seems to be some decent options in the ~35k bracket, but not sure where to turn on engine/trim choice.
Happy to be pointed in a direction, even if that direction is to stick with Volvo!
I've been happily towing with a D5 Volvo V90 for a few years now, initially in use for 4-6 trackdays per year but things escalated last year for my first season of racing, with it being dragged all over the country all year towing ~1800kg.
It really has done well, and gives me a great balance of capable tow car without being an agricultural utility for the times in which we want it to nip to the shops etc. It's a nice place to sit for a long journey, and hasn't really thrown us any big problems BUT it is starting to get a bit leggy, and I suspect the odd thing will start creeping in.
My only way to fault it is the ride quality whilst towing. We went for an R-Design model which is on very skinny tyres, and no air suspension so the rear is really slammed down when towing. Had we bought a cross country model I'm sure it would have been perfect.
Idly shopping for a potential replacement for a busy 2026 season and I defaulted to the latest versions of the V90, specifically in T8 Plug in Hybrid trim. This still boasts the power and torque to hopefully cruise the towing, but with the PHEV side of it, the ability to do school runs and shopping runs won't contribute to any possible DPF issues etc. It may also be cheaper to run overall, even though I suspect the towing fuel economy would be a bit worse. The T8 Ultra trim comes with air suspension as standard, and though the tyres are still on the slim side - they're a few % chunkier than what the current car has.
An XC90 perhaps is an obvious choice, but we tested one in T8 trim recently and it had a horrible drive quality on the test drive.
A decent budget for one is looking like £35k, so that's become the logical arbitrary budget for potential alternatives, but this is a class of car I'm really not that experienced with, nor enthusiastic about... so it's hard to know where to look.
I've ruled out a pickup because after having the generous use of one a few times this year, I've found it quite awkward to clamber into the back for retrieving luggage/toolboxes/etc that make up part of the race weekend supplies. I'd also like to keep some degree of 'luxury' in the cockpit.
Not too fussed on fuel type, but when it's not towing it will be doing a 4 mile school run... and that's about it, so some sort of plug in hybrid could be an advantage. The D5 managed around 25mpg on a long tow, so would be nice to not go too far below that.
It needs to be able to tow anywhere between 1500 and 2000kg depending on what car I'm towing and how much stuff.
I had a look at Touaregs tonight purely because I remember them reading all of the caravan club awards back in the day my Grandad used to take us caravanning... and that was a long time ago! Seems to be some decent options in the ~35k bracket, but not sure where to turn on engine/trim choice.
Happy to be pointed in a direction, even if that direction is to stick with Volvo!
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