Towing car

[Sam Wilson]

Want to get a trailer and start towing my ph1 to track, what car do you guys use to tow? want to spend about £800 so nothing special just somthing good on fuel and tow easily

 

[alistairolsen]

I tow my 1000kg clio on a 1300kg single axle trailer behind my daily drive Vw bora tdi.
A LOT depends on your license and whether youre buying or hiring a trailer.

 

[Sam Wilson]

I'll be buying a trailer or a good dolly, my licence I can tow a combined weight of 3500kg so that's both cars and trailer

 

[General Dave]

BMW E39 530d seems to be pretty popular with my do a skid drifter mates.

 

[alistairolsen]

There are no good dollies, as they are illegal for anything other than recovery, so it's a trailer.

3500 restriction means post 97 like mine, or post 2013 where the rules are slightly different.

Be careful though, as its not simply a 3500kg restriction. For 1997-2013 you need the following:

• MAM (gross weight) of the trailer must be less than the unladen weight of a towing vehicle
• MAM of the towing vehicle and MAM of the trailer must be less than 3500kg

and then implied within this

• You must not exceed the MAM of the towing vehicle
• You must not exceed the manufacturers towing limit
• You must not exceed the net weight of the trailer.

Sadly this means I cant tow a hired trailer with the bora, because the trailer MAM will be 1800-2600kg depending for most twin axle trailers
I also cant tow my trailer behind an empty van, as the MAM of the van puts me over too.

EDIT: Interestingly the rules seem to have vanished from the gov.uk website, so perhaps it's been relaxed...
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447803/INF30_130715.pdf

 

[botfch]

Tbf you have to be pretty unlucky to have the weights checked nowadays.

 

[JB21]

I bought a Mondeo 2.2 ST TDCI hatch (kerb weight 1475kg) for work and trailering the Clio, its been very reliable and puts out a real world 45-50 mpg and is pretty nippy with 155hp/360nm so good for pulling. Pick them up for peanuts now and they have a 1800kg towing capacity, the transporter I use is a twin axel (14ft x 6ft/2700 GW) and weighs in around 600kg so the hire place state so towing the <1000kg Clio with a few spare parts like wheels and garage equipment is fine.

 

[McGherkin]

Volvos are tow cars of the gods.

 

[JB21]

Volvos are tow cars of the gods.

Yep the S60 & V70 D5 are epic tow vehicles, high tax, high insurance, rubbish mpg and are pretty unreliable though hence why I didn't go back to a D5 for towing.