Why is buying a towcar so difficult?

HEDONIST
HEDONIST Forum Participant Posts: 42
edited June 2014 in Towcars & Towing #1

OK here is the story.  Currently tow with an Astra estate that has had the power boosted via a remap to give it more grunt for towing. Tows a bigger two berth with no real problems, but thought I'd like a vehicle with a few extra horsepower still.

First obstacle was finding that not only do lots of modern cars not only have no full sized spare wheel, but many don't even have a tyre well to even put one in.  Then many (not all) vehicles with the dreaded spacesaver wheel advise you NOT to tow with a
spacesaver fitted. By this stage, I had already decided there was no way I wanted a vehicle without a full sized spare, which pointed me in the direction of a mid sized 4x4.

This is where it gets good. I put my budget into Autotrader as well as other needs, five door, diesel, manual etc.  Lots of results, except that none of them are within 60 miles of where I live (central location, lots of big cities and towns within 20 miles).
At this point I should mention I was looking at models with less than 60k on the clock.  Lots of ones with 100k plus which is too many for me.

Obviously I don't want to be making 100 mile round trips to view cars that turn out to be total dogs when I arrive, so does anyone know any alternatives to Autotrader or Motors.co.uk sites.  Not into trawling around car sales ad hoc as hate getting pestered
by sales people, well actually I just hate sales people full stop. Innocent

All input welcome.... Happy