Cost effective tower? (For car trailer)
Discussion
I'm pretty lost at the moment because I'm not exactly sure what my options are, outside of deisel SUVs (Or deisel in general) what exactly are my options for a car that is capable of towing another car on a trailer?
Our lease for the Corsa is almost up (thank f
k) and we want to replace it with something a bit bigger with more grunt. I'm not particularly fond of an SUV due to running costs (correct me here if I am wrong), and I haven't really seen a cross over that I looked at and thought "yeah, I would buy that over it's non lift equal.
I have pretty much 2 requirements, decent boot and can tow a car on a trailer. The wife has other criteria, such as comfort, looks nice and is easy to drive/place, android auto (can't seem to live without it). The other issue is, we rarely drive long distance.
We do maybe one 40 mile drive every 2-3 weeks, outside of that we use the car for shopping or appointments (everything within 5-10 minute drive), the odd office trip for me once or twice a year (100 mile round trip) or her office once a week (10 miles).
I feel like a deisel is the wrong choice for 85% of our usage, but the correct choice for towing.
Budget will fall somewhere in the region of 15-20k.
Can anyone help me here?
Worth noting, a dedicated towing car is not going to happen. The point in this is to take my track MX-5 off the road as it's costing me £500-600 per year in tax/insurance/mot that I could be spending on improving it, a dedicated towing car would erase this freed up budget.
Our lease for the Corsa is almost up (thank f
k) and we want to replace it with something a bit bigger with more grunt. I'm not particularly fond of an SUV due to running costs (correct me here if I am wrong), and I haven't really seen a cross over that I looked at and thought "yeah, I would buy that over it's non lift equal.I have pretty much 2 requirements, decent boot and can tow a car on a trailer. The wife has other criteria, such as comfort, looks nice and is easy to drive/place, android auto (can't seem to live without it). The other issue is, we rarely drive long distance.
We do maybe one 40 mile drive every 2-3 weeks, outside of that we use the car for shopping or appointments (everything within 5-10 minute drive), the odd office trip for me once or twice a year (100 mile round trip) or her office once a week (10 miles).
I feel like a deisel is the wrong choice for 85% of our usage, but the correct choice for towing.
Budget will fall somewhere in the region of 15-20k.
Can anyone help me here?
Worth noting, a dedicated towing car is not going to happen. The point in this is to take my track MX-5 off the road as it's costing me £500-600 per year in tax/insurance/mot that I could be spending on improving it, a dedicated towing car would erase this freed up budget.
Guessing your combined trailer weight must be around 1400 to 1500kg?
Worth looking at a Suzuki Across - in effect it's a Rav4 PHEV, quite rare but is significantly cheaper for a car of the same age and mileage.
Does ~50 miles as a 240bhp EV so can cut cut your daily running around costs dramatically. It then turns into a normal Toyota Hybrid that will do 50+ mpg with a 500+ mile range but has 306 bhp and will do 60 in 5.5s. No diesel reliability issues with short runs obviously either.
It is only rated to tow 1500kg but if that's enough, it'll absolutely breeze it. I've been running around this week with a big twin axle Ifor Williams that at times has been at that legal limit and it makes light work of it. I usually tow with a Land Cruiser or Hilux for context.
Great all round car, heaps of space inside, comfortable refined ride, build quality and interior feel rock solid, bulletproof Toyota reliability with long warranty, not too big and has proper robust physical controls for everything important.
Worth looking at a Suzuki Across - in effect it's a Rav4 PHEV, quite rare but is significantly cheaper for a car of the same age and mileage.
Does ~50 miles as a 240bhp EV so can cut cut your daily running around costs dramatically. It then turns into a normal Toyota Hybrid that will do 50+ mpg with a 500+ mile range but has 306 bhp and will do 60 in 5.5s. No diesel reliability issues with short runs obviously either.
It is only rated to tow 1500kg but if that's enough, it'll absolutely breeze it. I've been running around this week with a big twin axle Ifor Williams that at times has been at that legal limit and it makes light work of it. I usually tow with a Land Cruiser or Hilux for context.
Great all round car, heaps of space inside, comfortable refined ride, build quality and interior feel rock solid, bulletproof Toyota reliability with long warranty, not too big and has proper robust physical controls for everything important.
Edited by Snow and Rocks on Wednesday 6th November 09:12
Mammasaid said:
Looking at the spec sheet it says it can tow 750kg unbraked, 1800-2000kg braked. MX-5 NB comes in at around 1050kg~.Just had a look at Brian James trailers to try and get a weight but it looks like something like the 125-2002 ( spec sheets). That puts the trailer + car at round 1600KG. Add in tools + wheels it might end up pretty damn close to that 1800KG figure.
Am I wrong here? Am I looking at overly heavy trailers? I just plucked these guys from first google result.
A V60 is something we have looked at a lot, so if something like this is suitable it's a win win as I don't have to convince my wife.
The only issue with this I guess is, zero room for car growth. If in 2-3 years time I decide to move onto a heavier car I can't but I suppose that's not something I can reasonably plan for.
Edited by TheLoraxxZeus on Wednesday 6th November 09:49
MDMA . said:
That trailer only has a bed size of 3.3m. An MX5 must be nearly 4m long. You’re going to have a bit of overhang on that one. Trailer comes in at 555kg, so can take the weight ok, just not sure I’d want that overhang. A 4m bed might be better.
Yeah I picked that as an example really, to try and get an idea of weight numbers. An MX-5 is indeed nearly 4m long, just shy of it actually. Ideally I would be looking at a used trailer, which may or may not limit my options.TheLoraxxZeus said:
I'm pretty lost at the moment because I'm not exactly sure what my options are, outside of deisel SUVs (Or deisel in general) what exactly are my options for a car that is capable of towing another car on a trailer?
Our lease for the Corsa is almost up (thank fk) and we want to replace it with something a bit bigger with more grunt. I'm not particularly fond of an SUV due to running costs (correct me here if I am wrong), and I haven't really seen a cross over that I looked at and thought "yeah, I would buy that over it's non lift equal.
I have pretty much 2 requirements, decent boot and can tow a car on a trailer. The wife has other criteria, such as comfort, looks nice and is easy to drive/place, android auto (can't seem to live without it). The other issue is, we rarely drive long distance.
We do maybe one 40 mile drive every 2-3 weeks, outside of that we use the car for shopping or appointments (everything within 5-10 minute drive), the odd office trip for me once or twice a year (100 mile round trip) or her office once a week (10 miles).
I feel like a deisel is the wrong choice for 85% of our usage, but the correct choice for towing.
Budget will fall somewhere in the region of 15-20k.
Can anyone help me here?
Worth noting, a dedicated towing car is not going to happen. The point in this is to take my track MX-5 off the road as it's costing me £500-600 per year in tax/insurance/mot that I could be spending on improving it, a dedicated towing car would erase this freed up budget.
The £600 a year is buttons in the scheme of things, it doesn't go far against the costs of tooling around in a serious tow car all year.Our lease for the Corsa is almost up (thank f
k) and we want to replace it with something a bit bigger with more grunt. I'm not particularly fond of an SUV due to running costs (correct me here if I am wrong), and I haven't really seen a cross over that I looked at and thought "yeah, I would buy that over it's non lift equal.I have pretty much 2 requirements, decent boot and can tow a car on a trailer. The wife has other criteria, such as comfort, looks nice and is easy to drive/place, android auto (can't seem to live without it). The other issue is, we rarely drive long distance.
We do maybe one 40 mile drive every 2-3 weeks, outside of that we use the car for shopping or appointments (everything within 5-10 minute drive), the odd office trip for me once or twice a year (100 mile round trip) or her office once a week (10 miles).
I feel like a deisel is the wrong choice for 85% of our usage, but the correct choice for towing.
Budget will fall somewhere in the region of 15-20k.
Can anyone help me here?
Worth noting, a dedicated towing car is not going to happen. The point in this is to take my track MX-5 off the road as it's costing me £500-600 per year in tax/insurance/mot that I could be spending on improving it, a dedicated towing car would erase this freed up budget.
However you slice it, £50 a month doesn't go far.
You could probably save that by having a smaller everyday car, if that's what you wanted.
My choices of car are heavily influenced by towing, although I only usually tow light trailers like small racing boats.
I think the caravan mags publish lists of tow cars with weight limits and all that.
The starting point has to be an accurate all-up trailer weight.
Als odon't for get the cost of the trailer, or the amount of your garden it takes up when not in use.
Also, not having the toy car road legal means it's no longer spare transport, and you can't take it for a spin to check it's running nicely, bed parts in and so on.
An old 5 series is the best thing I've ever towed with.
Second Best was an X5.
OutInTheShed said:
The £600 a year is buttons in the scheme of things, it doesn't go far against the costs of tooling around in a serious tow car all year.
However you slice it, £50 a month doesn't go far.
You could probably save that by having a smaller everyday car, if that's what you wanted.
My choices of car are heavily influenced by towing, although I only usually tow light trailers like small racing boats.
I think the caravan mags publish lists of tow cars with weight limits and all that.
The starting point has to be an accurate all-up trailer weight.
Als odon't for get the cost of the trailer, or the amount of your garden it takes up when not in use.
Also, not having the toy car road legal means it's no longer spare transport, and you can't take it for a spin to check it's running nicely, bed parts in and so on.
An old 5 series is the best thing I've ever towed with.
Second Best was an X5.
All good input. However you slice it, £50 a month doesn't go far.
You could probably save that by having a smaller everyday car, if that's what you wanted.
My choices of car are heavily influenced by towing, although I only usually tow light trailers like small racing boats.
I think the caravan mags publish lists of tow cars with weight limits and all that.
The starting point has to be an accurate all-up trailer weight.
Als odon't for get the cost of the trailer, or the amount of your garden it takes up when not in use.
Also, not having the toy car road legal means it's no longer spare transport, and you can't take it for a spin to check it's running nicely, bed parts in and so on.
An old 5 series is the best thing I've ever towed with.
Second Best was an X5.
Yeah £600 per year is peanuts, but I would rather just put it elsewhere, even if it's not a lot.
A smaller everyday car is something we considered, we have a pretty big dog and have the nephews over often so having the back seats disgusting with hair sucks. Also we can't all go places together due to space.
Lucky enough we already 3 cars, the Corsa, a nice MX-5 and the track Mx-5 haha. Plus I wouldn't wish the interior of the track MX-5 on anyone, no AC, no radio, no carpet, no 3 point seatbelts, tight buckets...it's horrible to drive the 10 minutes to the track, nevermind anywhere else.
The price of the trailer I'm not overly fussed about, that costs what it costs.
Another reason behind this is the MOT itself, this year coming up will be the first year it will go into an MOT with heavy modifications. I've already had a chat with my local garage and they said exemptions only apply to rally cars used in competition...
I think the title of the thread might be misleading, the issue here isn't actually money. It's finding something that is within our budget, ticks both boxes and isn't a shed. The savings from having the car on the trailer may very well just be thrown away on trailer ownership costs but to me, that's fine, I just don't want to drive my track car to the track anymore. I also want to visit some tracks further away, and I can't at the moment.
I find it's much easier to justify a nice big car, if you make airy plans to do trips to Scotland and the like.
Seriously, I'd say be aware of the Corsa being an easier thing for everyday short trips than most great tow cars.
If you want a car with more interior volume, then maybe a taller car rather than a longer car is worth considering?
Where I live, a big car is sometimes a chore around small lanes and small towns, compared to my partner's shopping cart.
Most of my towing has been done with sheds, but I've done enough to feel I don't want to be pushing the max trailer weight limit.
I've had a few 'moments' over the years.
If you did more miles then towcar plus EV for local would be my choice.
Unless you use the 'posh' MX5 for a fair bit of the local driving?
Trailers seem to get very heavy as you go up in size!
Seriously, I'd say be aware of the Corsa being an easier thing for everyday short trips than most great tow cars.
If you want a car with more interior volume, then maybe a taller car rather than a longer car is worth considering?
Where I live, a big car is sometimes a chore around small lanes and small towns, compared to my partner's shopping cart.
Most of my towing has been done with sheds, but I've done enough to feel I don't want to be pushing the max trailer weight limit.
I've had a few 'moments' over the years.
If you did more miles then towcar plus EV for local would be my choice.
Unless you use the 'posh' MX5 for a fair bit of the local driving?
Trailers seem to get very heavy as you go up in size!
66HFM said:
Don't forget to add the cost of the towbar into the equation as well, unless already fitted to the car.
Have a look around the pits as to what tow cars others are bringing their cars on, as will give you an idea of what's around / capable of towing
Oh yeah actually have to buy the towbar lol. That escaped me.Have a look around the pits as to what tow cars others are bringing their cars on, as will give you an idea of what's around / capable of towing
I'll have a look next time I'm out!
OutInTheShed said:
I find it's much easier to justify a nice big car, if you make airy plans to do trips to Scotland and the like.
Seriously, I'd say be aware of the Corsa being an easier thing for everyday short trips than most great tow cars.
If you want a car with more interior volume, then maybe a taller car rather than a longer car is worth considering?
Where I live, a big car is sometimes a chore around small lanes and small towns, compared to my partner's shopping cart.
We are in Scotland, Fife. It's fairly tight around here but any major trips are motorway, I suspect it will be the same with a bigger car. My wife is open to a taller car over a long car, I'm not particulary fussed as long as it's not a great big stonking SUV.Seriously, I'd say be aware of the Corsa being an easier thing for everyday short trips than most great tow cars.
If you want a car with more interior volume, then maybe a taller car rather than a longer car is worth considering?
Where I live, a big car is sometimes a chore around small lanes and small towns, compared to my partner's shopping cart.
OutInTheShed said:
Unless you use the 'posh' MX5 for a fair bit of the local driving?
Trailers seem to get very heavy as you go up in size!
Local driving nope. All local driving is done in the Corsa. Any distance driving is done in the MX-5 because anything that involves distance is because we are going for a drive, the destination is second. The only distance the Corsa does is if we have to visit family, which is 30-100 miles round trip depending who we are going to see.Trailers seem to get very heavy as you go up in size!
To give you an idea, the Corsa is coming up to year 4 in March and it's got 16k miles on it. The first 8k of that was in the first year because we had just both learned to drive so we were driving everywhere just for the hell of it. So in reality, our car usage is settling down to be between 3000-4000 miles per year. There is no signs of this changing as we work 95% of the time from home.
I use a BMW 530e for my occasional towing.
Most of my motoring is local stuff, so the limited range is fine.
It won’t go far on electric wth a trailer for sure, but I recently had a Plymouth to Glasgow run with a loaded trailer behind me, and I was getting high 40s in mpg. It’s rated at 1800kg
Most of my motoring is local stuff, so the limited range is fine.
It won’t go far on electric wth a trailer for sure, but I recently had a Plymouth to Glasgow run with a loaded trailer behind me, and I was getting high 40s in mpg. It’s rated at 1800kg
For your usage you can get a decent petrol SUV:
F Pace:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202408122...
3.0i X5:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410054...
GLC43:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409194...
RX450h:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410315...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411015...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410165...
F Pace:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202408122...
3.0i X5:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410054...
GLC43:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202409194...
RX450h:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410315...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202411015...
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202410165...
alfa-alex said:
How many times are you looking to use a trailer per year?
If it’s not too often could you just rent a tow car and trailer when you need it rather than compromise what you drive for the other 95 percent of the time?
Cheers
Alex
I go to the track once a month (unless car is shagged), twice if I have the time. Usage will increase as she wants to learn to drift, so add those days in as well.If it’s not too often could you just rent a tow car and trailer when you need it rather than compromise what you drive for the other 95 percent of the time?
Cheers
Alex
I would suggest going for bigger and comfier if it's going to be used a lot.
After a long day at the track I want the comfiest and least stressed car for the journey home, just my 2p of course!
I went for an L322, but something like a V90, or similar big estate would be good. Something with lovely seats and a good stereo, plenty of torque, minimal NVH
V90 T5, T6 or T8, A6 Avant, 540i, Mercedes E53 will be in budget soon
After a long day at the track I want the comfiest and least stressed car for the journey home, just my 2p of course!
I went for an L322, but something like a V90, or similar big estate would be good. Something with lovely seats and a good stereo, plenty of torque, minimal NVH
V90 T5, T6 or T8, A6 Avant, 540i, Mercedes E53 will be in budget soon
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 6th November 22:31
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