Discussion
What would make a good tow car for me?
I know this topic has been covered many a time, but not like this, as i will explain below.
I am thinking about getting into doing trackdays, or the occasional drift day at santa pod or where ever, now i can hire a trailer for the weekend for relativly cheap, and buy a E36 BMW to batter up while I learn. All sounds good so far. please dont tell me its cheaper to insure a 4x4 than a
however, the generic and frankly brilliant towcars most would suggest, defender, shogun, whatever are far too expensive for me to insure (im 18), so I need ideas for cars that would be easily be able to pull a stripped out E36 (1300kgs?) fairly easily and also be within towing regs?
Budget about £2k to £2.5k
Diesel
Hatchback
Manual
Sporty if possible......but i know thats not easy when buying a car burning the black stuff.
I have thought about Fabia Vrs, Seat Ibiza FR tdi? Golf GT TDI 140? Or am i going down the wrong street? please dont tell me its cheaper to insure a 4x4 than a VRS, i know that, i just dont want to drive around in a huge 4x4 all my youth....so its not phesable to insure 2 cars at my age.
I know this topic has been covered many a time, but not like this, as i will explain below.
I am thinking about getting into doing trackdays, or the occasional drift day at santa pod or where ever, now i can hire a trailer for the weekend for relativly cheap, and buy a E36 BMW to batter up while I learn. All sounds good so far. please dont tell me its cheaper to insure a 4x4 than a
however, the generic and frankly brilliant towcars most would suggest, defender, shogun, whatever are far too expensive for me to insure (im 18), so I need ideas for cars that would be easily be able to pull a stripped out E36 (1300kgs?) fairly easily and also be within towing regs?
Budget about £2k to £2.5k
Diesel
Hatchback
Manual
Sporty if possible......but i know thats not easy when buying a car burning the black stuff.
I have thought about Fabia Vrs, Seat Ibiza FR tdi? Golf GT TDI 140? Or am i going down the wrong street? please dont tell me its cheaper to insure a 4x4 than a VRS, i know that, i just dont want to drive around in a huge 4x4 all my youth....so its not phesable to insure 2 cars at my age.
At your age, you aren't allowed to tow anything which has a higher gross weight than your towing vehicle's curb weight; you'll need to buy a lightweight trailer which has a low gross weight, and a heavier tow car.
With this in mind, it's hard to come up with anything particularly sporty.
I towed a Caterham with a Mondeo and latterly a 525i, but something as small as the Fabia isn't going to be practical.
Oh, and on the flipside, you're not allowed to drive anything heavier than 3.5T gross (unless you're towing a little unbraked trailer)- so the towing vehicle can't be really heavy either.
i.e. a trailer that'll take an E36 is likely to have a gross weight of about 1,600kg- so you'd need a tow vehicle with a curb weight greater than 1600 but a gross weight of less than 1900. I'm not sure such a vehicle exists!
With this in mind, it's hard to come up with anything particularly sporty.
I towed a Caterham with a Mondeo and latterly a 525i, but something as small as the Fabia isn't going to be practical.
Oh, and on the flipside, you're not allowed to drive anything heavier than 3.5T gross (unless you're towing a little unbraked trailer)- so the towing vehicle can't be really heavy either.
i.e. a trailer that'll take an E36 is likely to have a gross weight of about 1,600kg- so you'd need a tow vehicle with a curb weight greater than 1600 but a gross weight of less than 1900. I'm not sure such a vehicle exists!
Edited by HustleRussell on Wednesday 20th March 17:42
Its un needed? I think
Licences held from 1 January 1997
If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can drive either:
-a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes or 3,500 kilograms (kg) Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM (with a combined weight of up to 4,250kg in total)
-a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or ‘kerb’ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)
^^^^ from dvla
Licences held from 1 January 1997
If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can drive either:
-a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes or 3,500 kilograms (kg) Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM (with a combined weight of up to 4,250kg in total)
-a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or ‘kerb’ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)
^^^^ from dvla
Rochellc01 said:
Its un needed? I think
Licences held from 1 January 1997
If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can drive either:
-a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes or 3,500 kilograms (kg) Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM (with a combined weight of up to 4,250kg in total)
-a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or ‘kerb’ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)
^^^^ from dvla
So you'll need a trailer (400kg min I reckon to tow an E36) so the MAM of your trailer/E36 package will be 1700kg or thereabouts if you plate the trailer down. So your towcar will have to be over 1700kg unladen, and less than 1800kg laden (i.e. 3500kgs max minus the 1700kg of your trailer/E36). Can't see that working given that most normal sized blokes are around 80kg!Licences held from 1 January 1997
If you passed your driving test after 1 January 1997 and have an ordinary category B (car) licence, you can drive either:
-a vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes or 3,500 kilograms (kg) Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) towing a trailer of up to 750kg MAM (with a combined weight of up to 4,250kg in total)
-a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as it is no more than the unladen or ‘kerb’ weight of the towing vehicle (with a combined weight of up to 3,500kg in total)
^^^^ from dvla
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