Advice needed on a tow vehicle
Hi I need some advice please. I currently own an Elldis Affinity 540 and I'm looking for a decent tow vehicle. I'm looking to spend around £13,000. Looking forward to all your advice
Sue
Comments
-
The 2013 model I checked online had a MTPLM of 1450kg. So the XTrail should be an excellent match. We have towed with one for the last 9 years, both with a lighter and slightly heavier caravan and found it a very capable tow vehicle. £13K should get you a 5 to 6 year old one with reasonable mileage. Go for the manual 2.0 L Diesel as the automatic has a lower specified towing limit and tow hook load. The manual has 100Kg. We get about 47 mpg solo and anywhere between 24 and 30 towing depending on conditions and towing speed.
1 -
that's a very open question. Steve above suggests the manual Xtrail, that it has 3 pedals would alone make me look for something else. Car buying in general is a very personal choice, even more so if it needs to be able to tow. Do you want high mpg solo &/or towing? My towcar is a fantastic towcar, but not if you look at mpg
1 -
Some cracking tow cars about for 13k, like Molly's mummy said its your own personal choice, l for instance towed with 2 Shoguns cracking tow car but wouldn't go past garages best l ever got was 21.9 on motorways and anything from 17 to 19 on a roads but it did what it said on the tin. l have now swapped to a new Hyundai Santa Fe after reading all the reports on different tugs, l always make sure l am in the weight ratio of 85% but that doesn't mean you have to as long its within the cars legal towing parameters. My advice take good look around read all the car reports, cc has cracking reports on towing along with others and buy the one that suits you regardless of mph, road tax, etc.
Heethers
1 -
My advice is always the same on this question.Buy something that is heavy enough and poweful enough to do the job easily.The make and model are personnal choice.This has stood me in good stead for many years of towing.Power and stability are what i look for in a towcar first and foremost.
v9
3 -
Hi Sue
I think that everything that Volvoman has said is smack on and the same thinking as myself. We tow with a heavy mitsubishi shogun, but our's is a heavy twin axle, so you don't need such a big tow vehicle, but as others have said don't buy something to small and regret it later. Buy a turbo diesel with average mileage and let us know how you get on.
1 -
HI Sue
I tow my Bailey GT65 Verona which has a Max Load Upgrade of 1500 MTPLM with a Toyota Rav4 2.2 Lt Infinity Automatic. 38-42 mpg Solo 24-26 Towing.
My last 3 tow cars have been Rav4's.
As Volvoman said there are lots of good cars on the market so in the end its down to personnel choice.
1 -
It is a rather vague enquiry, a bit like 'I want to buy a television', please recommend one..... Could do with knowing some more preferences such as saloon, estate, SUV, full fat 4x4, MPV, deisel, petrol, do you need to carry dogs, children, grannies, etc etc.............
1 -
Sorry for being so vague. I'm looking for a decent mpg and don't want to pay Hugh insurance and tax. I'd prefer deisel. I also have 2 dogs so they have to be accommodated too. I have looked at the ssangyong korando as you seem to get plenty for the price
0 -
Ford Kuga is another one to consider although the boot isn't massive and may be an issue depending on the size of your dogs.
1 -
Hi Sue, we are also looking at a change of towcar for our 2016 Affinity 550. Our current car is a 12 year old BMW 320D estate, weighing 1580Kg, but the outfit is not exactly stable. A shame, since the car (owned for 10 years) has been brilliant in all other aspects.
We're currently looking at 4 year old BMW X3 SUVs and 520D estates. Also there's the Jaguar XF Sportbrake which seems a fine car. All diesels and all heavy enough for the job. At 4 years old you can get good value at less than half the original price of the car.
We also have our 2 dogs to consider.
Decisions decisions......
1
