Best bomb proof tow vehicle.

[sparkzer]

Daihatsu fourtrak - all those farmers can’t be wrong!

Toyota Hilux - all of the Taliban cant be wrong!

Whilst I jest, I've owned in excess of 10 of them over the years (admittedly, older late 80's, early 90's trucks) and done some silly stuff to them and they just seem to lap it up. A mate retired his Mk7 but kept it as a extra run around as it just kept plodding over 200k miles without issue. He had to get something newer a couple of years ago an opted for a Navara, but still compares the 2 in the Toyotas favour.

 

[BognorMotors]

Get a 4motion transporter. Will tick all your boxes. It’s an excellent tow vehicle. Use to tow my 2 ton boat all over the Uk and Europe with a 4 motion never got stuck even on the slippiest of clay ramps.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Get a 4motion transporter. Will tick all your boxes. It’s an excellent tow vehicle. Use to tow my 2 ton boat all over the Uk and Europe with a 4 motion never got stuck even on the slippiest of clay ramps.

Yup. We swapped our D4 for a 4mot 204 DSG. It copes fine with towing our 1900kg boat/trailer combo. But it ain’t the D4 when it comes to ease & comfort. Admittedly the D4 had another litre & 2 more cylinders, but I couldn’t sleep in it or make a brew either.

 

[BognorMotors]

Yup. We swapped our D4 for a 4mot 204 DSG. It copes fine with towing our 1900kg boat/trailer combo. But it ain’t the D4 when it comes to ease & comfort. Admittedly the D4 had another litre & 2 more cylinders, but I couldn’t sleep in it or make a brew either.

Ours was mapped at the time

 

[The Bear78]

Get a 4motion transporter. Will tick all your boxes. It’s an excellent tow vehicle. Use to tow my 2 ton boat all over the Uk and Europe with a 4 motion never got stuck even on the slippiest of clay ramps.

I have certainly considered it but we'd have to sell both van and car just to get an equivalent 4 motion by the looks of the current market. Also, if buying mainly to tow then the transporter's towing limits aren't particularly good. Our current trailer with two horses is within those but I'd rather have more headroom.

 

[TJH1985]

The best tow car I’ve owned was a 2007 L322 Range Rover towed 2.5t like it wasn’t there, also used it to tow a HB511 Horse Trailer and fully loaded you couldn’t feel it.

Changed that to a L405 4.4 SDV8 and it was good, but not as good as the L322.. although the extra power was nice. I have tried the 204 T6.1 and it’s no where near as good, it tows but it’s just not the same levels of stability, power and confidence as a big Range Rover.

Had the RR’s just over 9 years, they were really reliable but you always lived in fear of what could happen!

 

[The Bear78]

Well, after months of considering a few options we settled on either a Mitsubishi L200 or Isuzu D-Max. We also decided that replacing the car would leave us with the same issue of having to constantly clean what would be my wife's daily drive.
To that end, we decided that a third car would be best but with that, the finances would mean slightly older vehicle. Without having to worry about additional duties, a pick up would satisfy the towing aspect without the need to be too precious about the constant mess!!
The budget kept going up but every L200 that I looked at seemed to have underlying issues while all the D-Max's (my second choice) were fine.
In the end we found an early D-Max, not too far away with impeccable history. It ticked all the boxes in terms of spec and feels surprisingly solid in terms of ride.
There are potential EGR/DPF related issues (it's a diesel after all) but luckily I know a man who can sort that...
I was adamant that an automatic would be the best for our towing needs and so far it seems to be the best choice. However, I am yet to work out the MPG!