My First Tow Car

[Osmoliver]

After doing track days and motorsport for the best part of a decade, I think I'm going to finally admit that a tow car and trailer might make life a bit easier. A car transporter might work too?

I'm a tight Yorkshireman, so like to keep a very firm grip on my pennies. The more inexpensive the better, with a maximum budget of £10k.

Primarily expect to be towing my Caterham 7 and mk1 Mazda MX-5.

My aim is to find the tow car equivalent of my daily. It's a Toyota Aygo, which is light, £20 to tax for the year and does 50+mpg.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

[kiethton]

BMW 530d

Plenty of waft/capacity to tow what you're after and a decent daily

[Osmoliver]

kiethton said:

BMW 530d

Plenty of waft/capacity to tow what you're after and a decent daily

Good shout. Is there a specific generation you would recommend?

[kiethton]

F11 should be in budget, generally robust

Something like this (ideally lower mileage, they do wear it well)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025061033...

[Easternlight]

You're not going to be towing much with the equivalent of a Aygo!

You need to know the weight that you want to tow and work from there.

I use a Yeti. Small ish and the 2.0 diesel will tow 2000kgs.
Does 50+ mpg on a run (not towing)

[Chedders]

Jaguar XFS 3.0, tows my track car like it’s not even there and does 50mpg on a run (without trailer).

[Billy_Whizzzz]

F11 530d. No contest.

[dhutch]

kiethton said:

BMW 530d

Plenty of waft/capacity to tow what you're after and a decent daily

See also basically any 3er or 5er including the petrols.

1600-1800kg is going to be enough for the cars mentioned.

The Skoda Koroq has an unusually high towing weight of 2100kg.
Lot of Mondeos are 2000kg or E-Class mercs the 20.TDI Superb.


This is list of estates I made 18months ago, including the towing capacity.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XIAa0ahoG3...

[SAS Tom]

My 2.0 TDI Superb is 2200kg as it’s the 4x4 version. I guess it gives a bit of head room having that extra 200kg.

[kiethton]

F11 should be in budget, generally robust

Something like this (ideally lower mileage, they do wear it well)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025061033...

[dhutch]

kiethton said:

F11 should be in budget, generally robust

Something like this (ideally lower mileage, they do wear it well)

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2025061033...

So good he said it twice!
- its lower miles better, or do they wear their miles well?

[kiethton]

dhutch said:

So good he said it twice!
- its lower miles better, or do they wear their miles well?

Sorry PH/safari issue there!

Wear miles well but lower is generally better (depending on where the specific car is in the consumables cycle)

[DorsetSparky]

Volvo V70.

[Evil.soup]

I was going to wade in with the F31 320D, or something larger capacity again if you want real go. The 320D goes well though, 180hp, easy 60mpg on a run, even with mixed driving I get over 50mpg without effort. Top end you are looking at the 335D X-Drive, great car but it pushes the budget.

The 3 series seems to be a little cheaper than the 5 too, plus, it is smaller and closer to the Aygo, I guess, handles like a smaller car. I recently paid £5,500 for a 2014 320D SE Sport Touring with 88k on it and a pretty comprehensive service history. I have covered 6k in it so far and it has been flawless.

Finding a good one at the price I paid, took me about 12 months, but they are out there at near half your budget if you have the time to wait and search.

This is pretty much what I bought, but in a different colour. Great car and still within your budget, only issue is £160 tax I guess, given your original needs.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202506133...

[dhutch]

DorsetSparky said:

Volvo V70.

Not driven a V70, but that look amazing and at the end of the spreadsheet and test drives we ended up with a V60 II and love it.

When I looked the V70 was 'only' 1600kg towing capacity where the V60 is 1800, 2000kg for the D4 but depends on the OPs need.

I towed my Westfield round in a lightweight covered trailer with a 1.8 petrol Pug 306 with a 1200kg towing limit for many years.

[Spare tyre]

Re the trailer, rig up led lights and make them easy to maintain. Incandescent lights are typically a pain

[Billy_Whizzzz]

You can tow with anything but generally it’s pretty miserable u less it is a diesel. And with a diesel, a 2.0tdi will do it fine but a 3.0tdi will make it a pleasure.

[Wagonwheel555]

Few options but I would stick with a 2.0/3.0 diesel personally

We towed a 1000kg caravan with a BMW F30 330D and pulled like a train, never once had an issue.

[Sigmamark7]

I towed my Caterham behind my 320D Touring with no issues at all. I changed to a 530D Touring which was a perfect towcar for both my Radical SR3RS and Clio and (obviously on private roads) was comfortable towing at 100mph with the Radical behind, providing you had reduced the amount of rear wing on the Radical.
Whatever you choose, I would seriously consider making it an Estate car, because it just makes life easier.

[dhutch]

Billy_Whizzzz said:

You can tow with anything but generally it s pretty miserable u less it is a diesel.

Its an oft stated 'fact' presumably stemming from the days of cars having 90hp and a nat asp diesal coping better than the petrol.

However if you have a reasonable power petrol there is no reason it wont pull well, and infact a nat asp petrol probably is anything has a flatter torque than a turbo diesel.