Tow car's

[Neal]

We are looking to change our company car next month and despite the tax on even on the “soft” 4X4’s I was going to get another Honda CRV, as the last one has been so good. The concern we have is the war on 4X4s in London looks to be growing . Again yesterday they were getting bashed in the local press and the long term is going to mean they are sure to be hammered in additional tax one way or another. We have only ever used the CRV to tow the RIB and it works very well on the slipways and on road. However we think it may be time to at least look at an alternative car. Has any experience they could pass on as don’t want to be stuck with a poor decision for 3-4 years. I have been over the previous threads abut most relate to big 4x4’s. We have the RIB on an un-braked trailer.

[ollyit]

4x4 impreza (turbo version naturally) + towbar if I could afford the insurance i would

[ADS]

The company car tax is based on C02 emissions so anything petrol, automatic and 4wd will have high emissions. That includes the Audi quattros etc. Depending on your slip way Front Wheel Drive is not ideal, and on loose surfaces the wheels will just spin and the boat will stay put.
RWD cars are better on slip ways, but still can't match 4WD. But for a rwd car it would have to be a BMW or a Mercedes, are there any other manufacturers in this segment with RWD? We had a 330d touring which was excellent but expenisve to buy, and then theres the image.... It towed a 1500kg trailer sailer no problem.

Small 4x4s consider
CRV with new diesel engine
Kia
Subaru Forester (they don't do a diesel but the Turbo is nuts!)
Wait for new freelander
X-trail, diesel

regards

Alex

[Hugh Jardon]

went out in a friends subaru outback, estate thing with 4 wheel drive, is a 3 litre non turbo but towed a 7.5m rib no probs, is only auto apparently but was nice inside.


we tow with a landy td5 normally but i will be putting a towbar on teh beemer as that will be fine with a caravan on the back and a tad more refined than the landy for longer journeys, will also tow the rib with it as not a lot of weight there for when we use hard slipways

[Mark Halliday]

You might find "sports" saloons with 4x4 a bit cammy. A friend of mine really struggled to tow my rib up a slip with his manual 2.8 A4 Quattro. It has so little bottom end torque that it needed loads of clutch slipping to make it. Mind you the diesel auto would be fine.

[Nasher]

Neal

Hi, sorry olly can't recomend the Impretza, too light.
I had an imported twin turbo legacy estate for a while and although a great car and bigger than the Impretza was a bit light to tow anything weighty.
Also a bit fragile.

If you can stretch to it, I'd recomend the Volvo Estate 4x4, cross country I think they call it. Not the new proper 4x4 XC thing as your back to the same problems.

As you Know, me and my fantastic 3.2TD Shogun go everywhere, 30K a year and I say huge big hairy ones to those who don't like it.

Nasher.

[osprey__viper]

Iv got a Vectra 2.2dti/sri 130. We tow our rib with it and it even managed to drag it up Haslar slip early in the year. Low emmision diesel, which means a lower tax bracket, and im getting about 29mpg on the motorway when towing. You just have to be carefull where you launch or have a very long rope to hand.

Martin

[thorper]

An Audi quattro will do it nicely, if you can afford it. Andys A4 TDI pulls our 6.8 Tornado around easily, and recovers on the slipway with no problem at all.

Ricky

[stan_deezy]

Dare one mention the Skoda Octavia 4x4 estate with the VAG TDi engine?

Nope, thought not

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by ollyit

4x4 impreza (turbo version naturally) + towbar if I could afford the insurance i would

The clutch would last about 5 mins!!! Have you seen how you get a turbo 4x4 like this get fast 0-60 times??? Revs to 5000 - then slip clutch like hell as too much traction for wheel spin - otherwise engine bogs down off torque peak.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by ADS

But for a rwd car it would have to be a BMW or a Mercedes, are there any other manufacturers in this segment with RWD? We had a 330d touring which was excellent but expenisve to buy, and then theres the image.... It towed a 1500kg trailer sailer no problem.

Small 4x4s consider
CRV with new diesel engine
Kia
Subaru Forester (they don't do a diesel but the Turbo is nuts!)
Wait for new freelander
X-trail, diesel

regards

Alex

Try Jaguar - 4.2 V8 supercharged will do very nicely. And lately they have been scoring more on quality and reliability than Merc or BMW!!!

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Try Jaguar - 4.2 V8 supercharged will do very nicely. And lately they have been scoring more on quality and reliability than Merc or BMW!!!

Codders I think you’ve missed the point towing is all about torque that is why my 70hp dumper pulls the P22 up the slip better than my 130 Passat
Equally that is why (with the help of gears) under powered Land Rovers can pull so much

So my advice is get a dumper cheaper and more reliable than a Jaguar Des

[Nick Hearne]

Well I love my D3, tows no problem, gets up any slip, wafts along the motorway, very quiet & smooth
& it has not gone wrong yet!

[ADS]

Originally Posted by Nick Hearne

Well I love my D3, tows no problem, gets up any slip, wafts along the motorway, very quiet & smooth
& it has not gone wrong yet!

One of the best LR's to date I think.
How do you find the electronic handbrake on the slip way? A friend of mine has one and finds it very difficult to control.

regards

Alex

[Nick Hearne]

Originally Posted by ADS

One of the best LR's to date I think.
How do you find the electronic handbrake on the slip way? A friend of mine has one and finds it very difficult to control.

regards

Alex

I have the auto which is soooo easy, just put it in to drive & put you foot down on the accelerator & away she goes! The hand brake is released automatically, the same with the manual!
Or if you want you can release it by putting your foot on the brake & pushing down the hand brake lever!

[Kernow Buoy]

Nick
Mine's a manual and the handbrake only engages automatically not releases, it just needs a bit of balancing as you pull away but once you've got it, you've got it!

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

Codders I think you’ve missed the point towing is all about torque that is why my 70hp dumper pulls the P22 up the slip better than my 130 Passat
Equally that is why (with the help of gears) under powered Land Rovers can pull so much

So my advice is get a dumper cheaper and more reliable than a Jaguar Des

I think not - 4,2 V8 supercharged engines are not exacty lacking in the torque dept - not as low down as your dumper though I grant you!!!

And it's NOT just diesels - look at something like a Scamell Explorer with it's straight 8 petrol engine - outpulls all the modern stuff at low speeds.

Awesome offroad as well......

[LURCHER]

This is the only thing

[Jizm]

I use a volvo T5, FWD yes but no prblems so far due to the weight of the car. Plus you can still out accelerate most other traffic even with the rib on the back!

[Neal]

Thanks all.
Going to have a go in the derv CRV the weekend, it's more like a tall estate car than a 4x4 , will do some more digging around this week and look at some of the cars that some of you have. Could ask for a demo at the slip