hi, im buying an ifor williams trailor for my horse which weighs 1000kg without the horse in it. it doesnt have brakes. I have a Seat at the moment which cant pull it and im looking to buy a VW that could. Im positive i want a german car and thought a synchro would pull it but it wont. Would a country? I will only have 2000 to spend though.
talked about this with gf as she is into horses. requirements were able to tow a horse and fun. came up with 2 options, one vw and other suburau. vw wold be to import a g60 passat synchro estate from germany, the scooby would be a legacy gt twin turbo. looking on www.mobile.de you should be able to get the passat for 2 grand.
thanks but really dont want a lardy passat. or a subaru for that matter. why didnt VW make a nice golf which can pull it? god dammit. im so into my golfs and really want something i can drive about town and then attatch the trailor to go to a show. i dont want a Jap car. there must be something else?? Oh and also im only 19 and really couldnt afford a turbo!! Edited by: vw_golf_nutter
mk3 vr6 golf estate? i think u'll find the passat is the only vw other than a toureg or phaeton with a high enough axle weight to tow anything like a horse trailor. look at it this way the trailor weighs a 1000kg without the horse, mk2 golf is around 980kg. i think mk 4 is around 1400kg? at the end of the day you might have to look elsewhere
noooooo.... ok then if VW arnt gonna help me. do you know any credible 4x4's which can pull it? ps. i dont want a range rover!!!
Youll never pull that in a Golf! Itll pull you! Id get the Legacy estate for that, they last forever...
well if u want something cheap and just for this, what about a toyota hilux or a mistibish L200. infact if you look around toyota let vw sell the hilux badged as a VW Taro, mate used to have one on his farm.
I've towed really heavy stuff (overloaded trailers with about 1.5 tonnes of mud and bricks) with a 16v and it was tricky but do-able (albeit illegal!) I doubt the Ifor Willams horsebox is 1000kg empty. I've towed (old and heavy) Rice 4 wheelers loaded with a 15hh hunter and a small pony with a 2.0 maestro and it was fine, bad traction on mud but it did it! For two grand get a volvo brick estate and abuse it as a mobile tack room, it'll do the job well and you can keep the golf for best! Edited by: jake
I quite like the old bricks, lower it to the floor and paint it matt black. You could get an old Landrover and escape the road tax and get a useable classic vehicle at the same time. plus it'll tow your house if you want!
Series 2 or 3 land rover for 500 tax emempt and peanuts to insure 140 f/comp H reg Range rover 3.9 manual - thirsty as hell but for 1100 and 329 f/comp it towed my golf to donington and curborough over one weekend. damn thing was so steady om the m/way and sooo comfy, everyone else was pooped when they arrived at the hotel but i felt i could have gone to a rave - it was brill !!
You're buying a 1000kg trailer without brakes? You must be mad. As far as pulling power why don't you go deisel. Oil burners are far better..torque etc. I pulled a double horse box full of wood with a subaru legacy estate (2.2 petrol non turbo) across a wet field. no problem
Hi Nutter, Any particluar reason why you are ignoring what I wrote on the other thread? RAC and AA recommend that the trailer exceeds no more than 85% of the weight of the car. Since horse trailers are double axled you can get away with a bit higher than that, but don't go much past 110% or the thing will snake above 40mph. If the trailer weighs more than 500kg and doesn't have brakes then it musy have been built before 1974, otherwise it is illegal. You would be mad to try and tow one anyway - the car brakes will never stop it. As I wrote in the other post, older wooden double horse trailers weigh 900ish kg, and more modern aluminium sided ones are more like 700ish kg. You really need a big heavy car. Passat estates or Audi 100 estates are fine for occasionaly towing, and both handle like normal cars. Trust me, it's great fun drag racing boy racers from the lights in a 1991 Passat, and beating them every time. Subaru's are used by every farmer I know for the very reason that they never die. Same is true for Land Rovers. Simon.
good point made by Simon. You will have a hard time trying to stop that trailer without brakes (try a downhill slope in the wet) then try loading a horse in the back aswell. With that kind of weight I'd only look at a diesel 4x4. Toyota Hilux or Landcruiser or Nissan Patrol. Legacy is good too, But the trailer should still have brakes.
most do have brakes these days, though I did tow one without a few years back and it was very dodgy. not recomended!
Forgot to add: Towing a 1970s wooden trailer with two horses, with four recently serviced working brakes. I suppose the total weight was around 1600kg. You could quite easily lock the front brakes on a Passat or Subaru (having tried both) on a dry, level road. You could feel the trailer brakes kick in to help you, but braking from above 40mph it was really easy to lock the car brakes. ABS would have stopped the wheels locking, but you wouldn't stop any faster. It meant that your braking distance was easily doubled, possibly trebled - and that means you have to drive very differently. And get used to being overtaken by everything By a 4x4. Simon.
right are u really sure you want to tow something that heavy unbraked. it's not big and it's not cleaver. i towed a Mk1 golf cab (A frame) on the back of my 740 turbo (200hp. 287x22MM front, 281x10mmrear brakes EBC pads allround) and stopping the thing was not funny. and i mean that really really not funny. pulled great but wouldn't stop, only went 20 miles and didn't enjoy it at all. but i towed a 760 Turbo (about 1.4Ton+ trailer) on a braked car trailer benhine a 2.0 legacy (120hp) and it stopped fine, you could really feel the trailers brakes kick and slow the whole lot down. just didn't go very well up the hills on the way back from sheffield where i got the car from. so to renforce my above comment, do not use a unbraked trailer unless your towing behind a truck, as thats what an unbraked trailer of that size whoud be made to be towed behind. it will just push the car around to much and car brakes won't stop it. with horse your talking the same wieght as a normal car (volvo). so you've got twice the potential energy then the brakes were deisgned to stop.
