Suggestions for a tow car please?
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agree with the Sorento, had ours one year and tows great and has plenty of power solo too. Also it is very spacious inside (we use ours as a 5 seater) and versatile
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I do have to defend ET here. Though not quite as old, I towed with my 99 3.0 Omega for a number of years, (I sold it at about 15 yrs old with 180k on the clock) with no problems. It only had normal servicing costs & never had to recovered anywhere.
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About 4 years ago a stone struck the power steering coolant pipe and that had to be replaced.
2 years ago a front coil spring snapped and wrote off a tyre. I had both front springs and shocks replaced as a matter of course. I blame Scottish roads
I am in no haste to replace.
The 19 year old Yaris has only had one replacement exhaust and second replacement battery (2years ago).
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MM, you so need to move out the 70/80’s, modern engines are not like they were in ‘your day’ they're put in a number of differently badged motor manufacturers cars👍🏻😊
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Hi Pippah
lots of the advice given relates to age of car . Don’t buy new , why new .i’ve had Mine for 1m years etc.
peeps I think the question is can people give advice on good towcars .when clearly Pippah would like a newer one than she has .and importantly money is not the driving factor ( excuse my pun)
so Pippah my advice is as before . Try some luxury cars you won’t believe the difference.
My top 3 for you would be
1. BMW - X4 or x5 .3ltr diesel. Think they only come in 8sp auto and fab drive in every way..
2. Volvo xc 60 or maybe xc 90 - faboulous in every way . Get the auto diesel. I’d go D5 R design with xenium pack (pre registered0
3, Mercedes ML Lovely cars . Some people swear by merc . Not sure of engine or spec etc.
Now this bit is not meant to gain response . I had a Range Rover 4.4 vogue for nearly 7 years did 170k miles . Drove towed anywhere and anything . In snow rain and sun . But broke every 5 minutes . 2 gearboxes and almost everything else too . So i’d Be careful with anything Landrover or Range Rover . Lush cars but trouble. With a capital T.
good luck and post a pic of your new ride when you buy 👍
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Thanks Robidoo - that is very helpful - I think I will pass on the Merc - family prejudices at work there! I am off to the Mitsubishi dealer this afternoon to get the spare part fitted (tyre pressure sensor). And enquire what mine is worth and how much warranty if any is left. I do like the car and the space in it - enough but not too much etc etc. I used to be a Landy fan - but quite long ago and the reliability seems to have slipped in recent years!
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Pippah - I am surprised that no one has mentioned the VW Touareg as a possible option. I used to be a Disco fan and have had 4 in the past, but reliability problems made me look elsewhere. I am now on my second Treg and as both an off-road vehicle and a tow truck, I can't fault it. I've owned my current one for three and a half years, from new, and the only time it's been into a garage for other then servicing, was a couple of months ago with a fault on the air mass sensor which cost me £180 and took the garage 10 minutes to fix!
It's supremely comfortable, very quiet and with 262 bhp, tows our twin axle Barcelona as if it isn't there! I get up to 40 mpg at motorway speeds solo and around 24 towing which isn't bad for something weighing in at over 2 tons.
I have the Escape model (sadly now discontinued) which has a low ratio box, diff locks, raised and stiffened suspension and under-body protection, making it as capable off-road as the Disco and a couple of years ago it even pulled a 26' MoHo off a very muddy CL field!
Only downside is that the 2019 models have gone up considerably in price to over £50k - so getting on a par with Discos - but I bought mine through Carwow and got £9500 off the list price (including a VW promotion at the time). Worth a look?
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I think CT is weird - I just posted something earlier that seems to have vanished as has the post I was answering about someone waiting for delivery of an Outlander PHEV with the new big petrol engine.
Another question I have - is something the caravan salesman said to me when I was a bit worried about the weight of the Swift - he said that the figures were based on an empty car not one carrying any weight. I carry quite a lot of weight in the car and wonder if it makes a difference or not?
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It’s the kerb weight of the car that matters, Pippah.
The only difference putting stuff in the car will make is that you could overload the car and/or be in danger of exceeding its stipulated Gross Train Weight.
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Like richardandros we also have a Touareg. We haven’t had it long but so far we have been very impressed. It is an Escape model, these were discontinued in 2016. Certainly powerful haven’t had time to test it towing off muddy fields, but I am sure that it will hold its own. I would guess that it is a size bigger than your outlander as it will tow 3.5t.
Having said all that if I was happy with the outlander I would be inclined to keep up. It will be barely run in and the depreciation curve will be shallowing off.
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Thanks Boff - I have looked up the Touareg and think it might be a touch extravagant and maybe too large - I wish they wouldn't slope the back of these so many of these cars which restricts the head room for large sitting dogs!
It's the peace of mind having the warranty that is attracting me to swap at this moment in time - mine runs out at the end of the month. Annoyingly I hadn't noticed when it was taxed exactly because I bought it in January 2016 but they taxed it in October 15 - why did they do away with the tax disc??
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Thank you TW - I thought that was a bit more BS from the caravan dealer! I am sure I don't overload the car though as it is a 7 seater and I don't put 6 humans worth of weight in it!
I didn't want to go back to being too close to the weight as the Octavia was - as the Outlander outperforms the Octavia - but the new caravan has that extra whatever it has to assist the stability - electronic gizmo as well as a good alco hitch. So all in all - I think I am sticking to Outlanders for now - test driving the demo in the morning.
Again thanks to all contributors helping the decision process!
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Pippah - if I look back to the number of times I have changed my car for the same reason - i.e. peace of mind at having a warranty - and ended up spending something approaching £20k for the privilege. In the cold light of day, it just doesn't stack up - you would have to be very unlucky to get repair bills which would exceed that.
That said, I was considering swapping mine this year - but since the Escape is no longer available, it's made me see sense and I shall be sticking with the present car which has only done 30k, for some time, I think.
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Well folks I have finally taken the plunge and taken up an offer that felt too good to be passed. IF it arrives in time for me to get away next week - it's a this year's plate with 10k on the clock replacement for mine and I am paying £11,000 with PX and towbar. Considering the bodywork of mine is very far from perfect I am happy. 4.5 years left on the warranty and so on. I will try not to make the same mistakes parking/reversing etc as I did before! Not to mention tripping up near the car with the keys in my hand! It's white too and I wonder if it is anything like the shade of white on the van but that doesn't concern me at all!
I went as far as booking my old one in for it's MOT but if there was any glitch on that my break would have been messed up. All in all I expect a few envious glances on my travels!
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