General Duty Tow Car - Page 1 - Car Buying

Neptune188

Original Poster

347 posts

201 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

My trusty Vauxhall Insignia Estate is just going through 220,000 miles and is getting very leggy - it's had 2 accidents, one which wrote it off (Body Damage) but it's been unfailingly reliable. Very reluctantly, it seems like it's time to start thinking about a change.

Commute is17mi each way. Annual usage is 15-20k miles.

There's a trailer on it almost every other week - 40ft long and usually around 1T. Insignia is an estate and I would struggle with anything smaller (Summer weekends see it carting around 250L of water...). Occasional caravan hauling duties required - this is the only thing that the Insignia struggles with as it's 1.7T.

I tend to buy and keep cars - budget is around £6-8k. Girlfriend is about to hand back a Volvo C40 which I really like; so logically C60/XC60 would be sensible. But then again, so would an Outlander. I'd originally thought my usage case was good for a PHEV / Hybrid, but now i'm not so sure. Disco 4 (but i'm worried about reliability) and some Range Rovers are in this bracket (Not brave enough - I've got too used to jumping in the Insignia and it getting me there, regardless of a short commute or a drive to the other end of the country to fetch up a trailer of questionable mechanics).

Ideas? Not bothered about cool / looks; this car needs to do a job - not look good.

ADJimbo

857 posts

210 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

If you’re fancying a 4x4 with a large towing capacity and an impeccable reliability record, then my money would be in a SsangYong Rexton everyday of the week.

Nickp82

3,814 posts

117 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

I wanted a non-SUV that would tow over 2 ton and ended up with a 2015 A6 Allroad. Very happy with it so far.
Fuel economy decent on long journeys and RFL is very sensible - circa £200

Davie

5,950 posts

239 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

P3 Volvo XC70 (though slightly biased) but a 2.4 D5 with self levelling rear suspension is a fairly accomplished tool for doing big miles / towing stuff, I think some are rated to tow 2100kgs. Probably the wiser choice over the likes of a first Gen XC90 which can get a bit spendy if you don't get lucky and bag a good one. However, pretty broad brief so quite a few cars / SUV's / 4x4 would suit?

OverSteery

3,794 posts

255 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

40ft Trailer? That's massive - I didn't think it was legal to tow something that big.

A500leroy

7,766 posts

142 months

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[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

Don't laugh.

Freelander 2

Dan_The_Man

1,150 posts

263 months

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[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

Skoda Superb just over 2T capacity and loves to tow, returns 40mpg like this.

ZX10R NIN

30,059 posts

149 months

[report]

[news]

Monday 6th January 2025

Neptune188 said:

My trusty Vauxhall Insignia Estate is just going through 220,000 miles and is getting very leggy - it's had 2 accidents, one which wrote it off (Body Damage) but it's been unfailingly reliable. Very reluctantly, it seems like it's time to start thinking about a change.

Commute is17mi each way. Annual usage is 15-20k miles.

There's a trailer on it almost every other week - 40ft long and usually around 1T. Insignia is an estate and I would struggle with anything smaller (Summer weekends see it carting around 250L of water...). Occasional caravan hauling duties required - this is the only thing that the Insignia struggles with as it's 1.7T.

I tend to buy and keep cars - budget is around £6-8k. Girlfriend is about to hand back a Volvo C40 which I really like; so logically C60/XC60 would be sensible. But then again, so would an Outlander. I'd originally thought my usage case was good for a PHEV / Hybrid, but now i'm not so sure. Disco 4 (but i'm worried about reliability) and some Range Rovers are in this bracket (Not brave enough - I've got too used to jumping in the Insignia and it getting me there, regardless of a short commute or a drive to the other end of the country to fetch up a trailer of questionable mechanics).

Ideas? Not bothered about cool / looks; this car needs to do a job - not look good.