Best car to tow a horse box

flyingchange

I'm lookin for opinions on towing a horse box. The box has been reconditioned and is quite light. I plan to pull a 16.2 horse and depending on weight mayeb a second horse but as yet lets say one. I was looking at either a 2.0 diesel passat or same mondeo. The towing maybe once a week or once every two weeks but thats all. I understand the jeep is the best option but I can't look at jeeps as I use the car for work and it would be too pricey to run.
I'm interested to hear opinions on best cars for towing.

LCruiser Kid

Neighbour here uses a new shape mondeo tdci to tow his horse box. No problems so far and he does a nice bit of towing too. Seems to pull it away just fine. Some punishment on the car I'd say. Jeeps are away better for towing but they are not for you as you don't need one. Ford mondeo is a good choice

colm_mcm

Maybe something rwd? BMW, omega?

What's the budget?

flyingchange

Ideally 12k! but being realistic I think about 18k. I am concerned about going down the years on a car to pull a box. I saw a 09 passat for about that price. I want something economical. I have a 1.8 s40 petrol and find it heavy I think moving to a jeep would be similar consumption. Its difficult as its got to cover two jobs pulling a box and being used as a company car although I wouldn't put up a whole lot of milage for work.

colm_mcm

You'd get an 08 legacy 2.0 TD R estate (AWD) from the uk for under 16k

There's a nice black one on autotrader

bijapos

You need to work out what the total max weight is you will be towing. two horses and a trailer should easily go over 1500kg. Your car may not be rated to tow this and it may not be safe to do this either.

At those weights you need a car that can not only pull the trailer but can also brake the trailer. A proper 4x4 with a ladder chassis will flex a lot less than a car and is easier to control in a critical situation such as if the trailer ever starts to sway or swerve behind you.

Personally I would not go for a car but a 4x4 such as a Landcruiser or a RWD van. If you have 18k as a budget I would consider getting a 4x4 for the trailer and a car for daily use. It would be a lot safer for you in the long run.

Make sure your trailer is up to the job, that the brakes on the trailer are working well and that it has an anti sway mechanism on it.

pburns

colm_mcm wrote: »

You'd get an 08 legacy 2.0 TD R estate (AWD) from the uk for under 16k

There's a nice black one on autotrader

Yep, will cover the company car and towing tasks with ease, You can get them as saloon if you have objection to estates.

Lower centre of gravity of a car is more stable too. AWD stability without the disadvantages of an off-roader.

coolbeans

bijapos wrote: »

You need to work out what the total max weight is you will be towing. two horses and a trailer should easily go over 1500kg. Your car may not be rated to tow this and it may not be safe to do this either.

At those weights you need a car that can not only pull the trailer but can also brake the trailer. A proper 4x4 with a ladder chassis will flex a lot less than a car and is easier to control in a critical situation such as if the trailer ever starts to sway or swerve behind you.

Personally I would not go for a car but a 4x4 such as a Landcruiser or a RWD van. If you have 18k as a budget I would consider getting a 4x4 for the trailer and a car for daily use. It would be a lot safer for you in the long run.

Make sure your trailer is up to the job, that the brakes on the trailer are working well and that it has an anti sway mechanism on it.

I really do think you're overstating the case for a 4x4. The OP said that it'll be used relatively rarely which means they'd have to put up with the 4x4 tradeoffs i.e. inferior handling, fuel consumption, costs generally etc, for maybe 10% of their driving. A Legacy as previously mentioned would be perfect for the job especially since the box will surely have it's own braking system. I know lots of people who go off buying Landies cos they do a bit of towing when a car would've been a better choice.

snowman707

citroen C5 are one of the best towing cars

coolbeans

coolbeans wrote: »

I really do think you're overstating the case for a 4x4. .........

In fairness if the horse and box weigh over 1500kg he's making an excellent point, if you are towing a load once a year that does require a 4x4 then you need a 4x4.

BrianD3

Unless you have an EB licence you won't be able to legally tow most horseboxes with any car or 4wd.

In the event that your horsebox is exceptionally light with a max laden weight of 1500 kg or less then you could tow it with a B licence but would have to choose your towcar carefully. A large 4wd might be superior for towing but would be unsuitable from a licence POV. A Mondeo diesel or similar would be closer to what you'd need.

flyingchange

I think it will only be one horse. It will be well under 1500kgs. I won't be risking anything and it will go on a tow bridge first. I think it will be a passat or a mondeo. I'm not keen on the subaru and I imagine awd will also mean higher fuel consumption. I'm wondering if I could stretch it to a 1.9 diesel passat?

Blazer

saw some farmer yesterday towing a horsebox with a BMW 520D...might as well do it in style

TestTransmission

Sc@recrow wrote: »

saw some farmer yesterday towing a horsebox with a BMW 520D...might as well do it in style

How do you know he was a farmer?

agsmith

toyota land cruiser


nuff said

Eric Cartman

flyingchange wrote: »

I think it will only be one horse. It will be well under 1500kgs. I won't be risking anything and it will go on a tow bridge first. I think it will be a passat or a mondeo. I'm not keen on the subaru and I imagine awd will also mean higher fuel consumption. I'm wondering if I could stretch it to a 1.9 diesel passat?

its the gvw of the trailer, not the weight of the horse thats the concern , the smallest ifor williams horsebox has a 1600kg gvw so youd need a car with a gvw 1900kg or under to tow even a small horsebox.

a subaru legacy has a gvw of 2010kg and can only tow 1800kg so even that wont do without an EB licence or towing a trailor potentially that heavy.

a volvo s60 doesnt comply either (2030kg gvw) and a 1300kg max towing weight)

passat wont do it either (1500kg towing)


realistically your going to need an EB licence and a mid size 4x4

jumbone

Depending on when the OP got his licence he may have a grandfathered EB category on it.

If he has the licence going back years, he may even be entitled to get it put on without a test. You'd need to check with the tax office though or maybe somebody on the learning to drive forum could help.

BrianD3

Eric Cartman wrote: »

its the gvw of the trailer, not the weight of the horse thats the concern , the smallest ifor williams horsebox has a 1600kg gvw so youd need a car with a gvw 1900kg or under to tow even a small horsebox.

a subaru legacy has a gvw of 2010kg and can only tow 1800kg so even that wont do without an EB licence or towing a trailor potentially that heavy.

a volvo s60 doesnt comply either (2030kg gvw) and a 1300kg max towing weight)

passat wont do it either (1500kg towing)

True. Also for a B licence, the unladen weight of the car must be equal to or greater than the max gross weight of the trailer. So in the case of a 1600 kg g.v.w trailer the car's kerb weight must be at least 1600 kg.

If the car's kerb weight is 1400 kg and the manufacturer says it can tow 1600 kg, no good.

At the same time, as you say, the g.w.v of the car must be 1900 kg or less. IMO there is no car out there that has a 1600 kg kerb weight, a 1600 kg towing capacity and a 1900 kg g.v.w. Something like a 3 series convertible might be closest.

Del2005

Sc@recrow wrote: »

saw some farmer yesterday towing a horsebox with a BMW 520D...might as well do it in style

A 520D stylish:eek::eek:

ianobrien

BrianD3 wrote: »

True. Also for a B licence, the unladen weight of the car must be equal to or greater than the max gross weight of the trailer. So in the case of a 1600 kg g.v.w trailer the car's kerb weight must be at least 1600 kg.

If the car's kerb weight is 1400 kg and the manufacturer says it can tow 1600 kg, no good.

At the same time, as you say, the g.w.v of the car must be 1900 kg or less. IMO there is no car out there that has a 1600 kg kerb weight, a 1600 kg towing capacity and a 1900 kg g.v.w. Something like a 3 series convertible might be closest.

But I thought that the tow capacity of a vehicle was governed by the train weight, not the g.v.w. of a car.

My car has a train weight of 2.7 tonnes (according to the plate inside the door), meaning that the car, contents and load on a trailer can not exceed 2.7 tonnes. The vehicle itself weighs 1.2 tonnes (ish) and the gross vehicle weight is 1.7tonnes. All this means that, all-in, my car is designed to haul 2.7tonnes, including itself. It's up to me how I distribute the load (between car or trailer), either 1 tonne on the trailer & 500kg in the car, or 1.4tonnes on the trailer and an empty car (except for driver).

Some Nissan Patrols had train weights of 5.5 tonnes, meaning that a E + C1 licence was needed to tow some trailers!

LCruiser Kid

agsmith wrote: »

toyota land cruiser


nuff said

+ 1 :cool: Landcruiser the right wagon for the job.

joolsveer

flyingchange wrote: »

I think it will only be one horse. It will be well under 1500kgs. I won't be risking anything and it will go on a tow bridge first. I think it will be a passat or a mondeo. I'm not keen on the subaru and I imagine awd will also mean higher fuel consumption. I'm wondering if I could stretch it to a 1.9 diesel passat?

I have a Subaru Impreza awd diesel for the last six months or so. I don't tow anything with it. I hired a Seat Leon petrol in Spain recently. The fuel consumption in the Seat was much higher (about 20 to 30%) although it did not have the same zip. The Seat was 1.4 and the Subaru is 2.0.

colm_mcm

Hardly surprising given that the Leon weighs almost the same, is petrol and has a tiny engine which is under stress.

BrianD3

ianobrien wrote: »

My car has a train weight of 2.7 tonnes (according to the plate inside the door), meaning that the car, contents and load on a trailer can not exceed 2.7 tonnes. The vehicle itself weighs 1.2 tonnes (ish) and the gross vehicle weight is 1.7tonnes. All this means that, all-in, my car is designed to haul 2.7tonnes, including itself. It's up to me how I distribute the load (between car or trailer), either 1 tonne on the trailer & 500kg in the car, or 1.4tonnes on the trailer and an empty car (except for driver).

Your car does have a max train weight but it's not only up to you how you distribute that weight as the car will also have a max braked trailer weight which can't be exceeded no matter how lightly laden the car is. The max braked trailer weight and the g.v.w of the car may add up to more than the max train weight in which case you can max out the car or trailer but not both.

Also these are manufacturer specifications. From a licence point of view, with a B licence, the g.v.w of the trailer can't exceed the unladen weight of the car. For example I have a Nissan Xtrail with ~2200 kg towing capacity but the car itself ~1650 kg with a g.v.w of ~2150

With an EB licence I can tow 2200 kg

With a B licence I can't exceed 1650 kg.
And In fact i can't even reach that because 1650 + 2150 > 3500. The max I can tow is therefore 1450 kg.

AFAIK, with an EB licence the rules are
1) the towcar must be in category B
2) the weights must not exceed those specified by the manufacturer

Therefore a Nissan patrol + trailer with total train weight of 5.5 tonnes, if that is what is allowed by the manufacturer, is drivable on an EB licence and doesn't need an EC1.

But if the weight goes above 7.5 tonnes (not sure if this would be g.v.w or actual) then you might need a tachograph

Blazer

Del2005 wrote: »

A 520D stylish:eek::eek:

just checking to see if you were alert

darragh o meara

An Audi A6 allroad seems to be the weapon of choice among the horsey people down my direction. They come as standard with Audis Quattro system (4wd) and the 2.5 diesel isn't too bad on the juice either. I used o e not so long ago to tow a mini digger on a 3 axle Ivor Williams trailer from Dublin to Tipperary and had not one ounce of trouble or an inkling that there was a load of that size in tow. Plus you can raise the suspension up and drive across fields with ease.

As a car they are mostly high end inside, leather, heated seats, aircon and sat nav etc. I had the pleasure of having one on loan for a month and I'm currently on the lookout for one for myself.

pburns

I was shopping for Legacy diesels with a friend a few months back (hen's teeth) and they nearly all had tow-bars. I assume they're bought by the horsey set to some degree (I dunno - I don't roll with that crowd).

David09

Ford Kuga???

I've towed a laden car transporter with one and it's certainly up to the job.
In a case like yours I'd find them the perfect balance between a "proper" jeep and a car.

Like this:

TigerTim

I tow my 6 berth caravan witn a 2005 Citroen C5. Great towcar but french electrics !!!
T

Cookie_Monster

will you not need some form of off road ability, higher ground clearance if pulling a horse box? usually involves some element of driving in fields etc which many cars may struggle with, especially FWD with all that weight at the back.

flyingchange

Think I am going to look seriously at the opel antara, roughly same mpg I get in the current car, 2.0 4 wheel drive, max towing capacity of 2000kg's so 1700kgs is 85% of that. Any knowledge of these jeeps let me know. All the reviews are good, the frontera that came before this opel seems to be bad but they learned from their mistakes. Thanks