Best/most economical engine for towing

Bimbambo

Bea - My Boy Freddy's Mum
May 16, 2006
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Essex
Just put my lorry up for sale as I can no longer warrant the expense when I regularly only travel one horse these days.

It's a lovely luxury but one that I am prepared to give up!! :eek::D Daughter not best please though ;)

Therefore once it's sold I will be moving back into the trailer world and getting something like a small equitrek or an Ifor/Wessex/Cheval liberte model and travelling our 16h ISH in it. Occassionally one other which is a pony.

At the moment we have a Range Rover 4.6 that I used to tow our Ifor 505 with before we got the lorry. Long term though I need to rethink this as it is SO EXPENISVE to tow with (probably less than 10mpg!:eek:)

Am thinking about maybe looking at a Discovery 2.5TD or a Jeep and wondered how well these cars pull the weight that I am looking at.

I appreciate that no 4x4 can be deemed economical but there must be lots of options out there that are cheaper than the Range Rover that I already have!! :D
 
some jeeps and the discoverys are both capable tow vehicles,but jeeps are expensive to run and discoverys often go wrong,especially the older ones. I also know of several people who have newer landrovers and wish they had never brought them. Personally I have a Ford Maverick which is 2.7 litre and is capable of towing 2.8t and when towing still does 28mpg. In fact I find it cheper to run than my Mazda 6 2ltre car on a day to day basis.
 
Thanks for that.

Don't know anything about the Maverick so will go off and investigate!!

Would like a car that is good around and about as well as I am considering selling the Range Rover and our everyday car (VW Touran) and getting a 4x4 and a small run around car instead.

The 4x4 would then be used for towing, taking OH to train station everyday but would also need to be used for when family all go out together.
 
I have a Disco for towing and a small car for everything else. I found that I paid for the entire runnng of the small car, including petrol, out of what I saved in not running the Disco for work etc.
 
I have a Disco for towing and a small car for everything else. I found that I paid for the entire runnng of the small car, including petrol, out of what I saved in not running the Disco for work etc.

What size engine does your disco have? do you tow with it?
 
Its a 2.5 litre diesel. I tow a 510 with two big horses in it regularly. Its great, doesn't even bother about our 1 in 3 hills.

By the way its also an automatic which I kind of bought by mistake because it was cheap :eek: but I have found it brilliant. I would actually choose slightly higher fuel use (not sure it does though) for the wonderful smooth ride it gives the horses.
 
If you're looking to buy new, Ford no longer produce the Maverick; choice is now either a Kuga or Ranger. The ranger is excellent but in essence is a US style pick-up truck. Kuga is lovely (I have one), but you'd obv need to check the tow weight for trailing; it may be too light-weight, given that the Kuga is built on a Focus chassis.

OH works for Ford's, so I've been lucky to have driven several 4wd over the years; Disco was good to tow with but expensive to run, Kuga cheap to run and stable with a 14.2 but I wouldn't go any heavier...the best all-rounder imo was the Maverick.
 
We have a Hyundai Terracan, 2.5 Diesel auto, it can pull 2800kgs braked and it doesnt mind doing it and we average approx 28mpg, I use it for driving to and from work every day 40mile round trip and its great. We brought it beacuse of the towing weight and the rear space, we have 2 ridgebacks (and a third if i get my way) and its the only one with enough headroom for them to stand at the same time, it will take no end of horsey stuff too. and sits 5 comfortably. I know they no longer make them new but we had one of the last made 2007 and cannot recomment it highly enough, and a 5 year waranty too..

Caz
 
A TD5 Disco II will pull that with ease and are relatively cheap, fix and insure.

Of course you could always get your RR converted to run on gas.
 
feel your pain we have a 4.6 range rover. We are looking for either a nissan navara or maybe a isuzu rodeo. They both pull 505's okay and we know the navara is fairly economical plus no horsey/doggie stuff in the main cab area if you get a canopy for it.

:)
 
A TD5 Disco II will pull that with ease and are relatively cheap, fix and insure.

Of course you could always get your RR converted to run on gas.

Think if our model was a bit newer it would be worth thinking about. Trouble is though that friends of ours converted their RR and it went badly wrong and ended up killing the car :eek: My OH might not want to go down the same route!! ;)
 
Think if our model was a bit newer it would be worth thinking about. Trouble is though that friends of ours converted their RR and it went badly wrong and ended up killing the car :eek: My OH might not want to go down the same route!! ;)

They obviously had it done at the wrong place!;)
 
As you know i have a Disco 2.5 and its fantastic always reliable and we have ended up getting rid of the pug 206 as its cheeper to run all the time once you have added insurance etc we have save over £100 a month. I used to work for Ford and would not recomend them personally. Autos (we have) are better for towing and give the horse a beeter ride and tbh cost is very little difference.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Think I will most likely got for the Disco 2.5 and would prefer an automatic as our Range Rover is and I find it gives me one less thing to think about.

Now got to persuade OH to give his beloved RR up!!! :eek:
 
We have a 2.8crd Jeep, I don't think it is expensive to run. Does around 34mpg without the trailer and drops to around 26 with. Never had a problem towing an Ifor 505 with it.

Be careful if you buy an equitrek, there has been a lot of bad things said recently about the axles breaking and poor build and really bad customer service!!
 
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