Towing Capacity and single trailer

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Barcie

New Member
May 19, 2005
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I am considering getting a single Ifor williams trailer for my 16.1. The thing is I do not have a 4x4. I was wondering your opinions on towing with a normal car. I have a Subaru sports wagon impreza whose towing capacity is 1600 kg. Having looked at the ifor williams site the single trailers full capacity is 1600 kgs.

Does anyone here tow a single trailer using a car as opposed to a 4x4 and do they feel comfortable doing it. Also opinions on single trailers would be good.

Thanks
 
Very interested in the answer to your post, as I have just got back from holidays in Sweden where the norm for towing seems to be large engined estate cars rather than 4x4s. A lot of the Swedish trailers were singles, and I really don't want to buy a gas guzzler if I don't absolutely have to (I'd rather the environment benefitted from my horse ownership rather than the other way around).

p.s. A lot of the Swedish trailers were - predictably - towed by a Saab which, coincidentally, is what I have.... Maybe Ikea do trailers flatpack?)

So anyway hopefully this counts as ... bump ;)
 
take your average ifor single trailer as weighing about 770kg, horse, say 600kg so thats 1370 kg. your sports wagon can tow 1500-1600kg depending on model. so technically you are under weight. but it may reak havoc on your car engine. we used to tow with an audi quattro estate. ripped the guts out of the car even with a pony in it (and this was one hefty vehicle that could tow nigh on 3 tons).

i have seen a lady towing with a saab 9-5. not something i'd want to do! too darn expensive to fix if anything went wrong. my dad has a saab 9-3 sports thing and he almost died when i suggested we tow with it :rolleyes:

so, i suppose, feisibly you can, but it's wether you'd have the power to get up hills, get out of sticky situations etc.
 
Surely the entire horsey population of southern Sweden can't be risking their precious Saabs (and Volvos)? ;) Is is not just a cultural thing?

And ours is the sporty 9-3 - has a bigger engine than many 4x4s and is rated to tow 1600kg as well. I want to understand what the actual reason for not using these kinds of cars is.
 
it's the law!! the car must be heavier than the trailer by a certain percentage. cars simply are not heavy enough (with exception of the audi Q3 which costs a bomb and hasn't much greater fuel economey than a 4x4), particularly when looking at towing 2 horses.
 
the car must be heavier than the trailer by a certain percentage
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Ah! I knew there must be a reason. I'm only interested in the single trailer anyway (and this is what most of the Swedish cars were towing), but will check weights etc. and look up percentages. Is there an on-line place I can look up percentages?
Thanks :)
 
As eventerbabe pointed out, you are getting close to the tow capacity of your vehicle. Don't forget to factor in tack, hay, water, etc to the wieght. While you may be OK, there are other factors to consider.

Ideally, you should speak with a knowledgeable car or trailer dealer. Towing too much, or towing improperly can leave and your horse stranded on the roadside, or worse yet, get someone hurt.

Aside from tow capacity, you should also check you "maximum gross vehicle weight." This is the max weight of the car, trailer, passengers, luggage, etc. that the car can handle. It is possible to be within your "max tow capactity" but exceed the total weight the car was designed to handle.

Also check your transmission package. While your car may list a tow weight, that may be with an optional transmission, or other optional accessory. Most problems I have heard of involving towing have been failed transmissions - this can happen even keeping within the suggested weight limits.

How much and where you are towing is also a factor. Once a week to a local destination? You may be fine if you are near (not over) the weight limit. Up and down hills? Frequent towing to shows? Going long distances? Then you should really look into a truck designed to pull a horse trailer.

I recently went through this with the car I just bought. We didn't want a big truck or SUV, but still wanted to pull a two-horse bumper pull. Based on the points noted above, we decided to go a different route. We bought a car that we liked. For the infrequent trailering we plan to do (when we actually get a trailer) we will simply rent a truck to pull it for the day/weekend. There are also other people at my barn that often have extra trailer space that I can use. My new car is on a two-year lease. The trailer hitch would cost another $1,200 installed - it is also less expensive for me to rent for the few times I would need to tow over the next two years.

Hope this help or gives you some ideas.
 
capalldubh said:
Is there an on-line place I can look up percentages?
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i would have suggested the kerb weights site (simply type kerbweights into google and it's the first site to come up) but it doesn't have the tow weights for the 9-5 or 9-3. Dealer might be your best port of call, or check in your driver handbook. I'll see if i can get a nosey at my dad's aswell. gosh, would break his heart to tow with his precious saab :D
 
would break his heart to tow with his precious saab
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Was my OH who suggested it - otherwise I would never have presumed to use his precious toy... However same precious Saab is already totally wrecked inside due to having horse slobber on the leather seats and feed bag spillages plus icky grooming kit in the boot, so he's just resigned now I think :)

Sorry, Barcie, for hijacking your thread, but I am really interested in this.

Has anybody got one of the Ifor Williams 410s then? What are people using to tow?
 
what! you are actually allowed horsey things inside the car?? dad picked us up a bag of feed once, and it was wrapped in an old sheet and then sat on a plastic tarp thing in the boot incase it spilled or smelt :rolleyes:

best of luck. transport has been a bugbear of mine for ages, can't find a lorry or part with my clio :rolleyes: oh decisions, decisions......

just to add, mate had a 410, towed fine but that was with a disco :)
 
OH has just sold our merc 4 x 4 as Mr Blair has frightened him by saying they are going to put the London conjestion charge up to £25 per day, this means that just going to work is going to cost him £125 per week or £6500 per year, scandalous (sp) so I've now got to sell my beautiful Bateson Ascot, they are £4400 new and the place I bought it from have just offered my £2800 even though it is immaculate and only a year old. Do you know anybody that might like it?(sorry to hijack the thread)
buzzjumpingandspain092005008.jpg
 
Saabs might be cheaper over there so used for rough stuff ;)

I remember someone towing a single trailer with one of these toyota CRV things, the bigger ones.. Might have been a pony though, not sure.

The only thing you have to rember bar actual pulling power is stability if something goes wrong. (sure it was someone on here mentioned they got a flat and the trailer went a bit wobbly, possibley nookster)

Even if your car outweighs your trailer fully laden, and meets the correct criteria, it has to have the road holding to control the trailer in the event of an incident. I woudlnt feel safe driving it if i was just covered and no more. I want a whole lot of power and guts in my driving vehicle.
 
Thanks for your posts. My OH was also interested in this as it is his precious car!!

He has just told me that the subaru is four wheel drive which may cut out the problems with the transmission. Also I don't need a double trailer and only want to use it for occasional use.

I have heard that even some 4x4's arn't up to the job of towing a double trailer.

Any one use a single trailer? Are they any good?
 
Barcie said:
I have heard that even some 4x4's arn't up to the job of towing a double trailer.
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'soft roaders' such as the CRV, rav4, freelander, vitaras cannot really tow due to their light weights and insufficient towing capacity. which is why you are always better going with the bigger ones such as discos, defenders, shoguns etc.

Angel2, could you deliver it to scotland??! ;)
 
oh a thread I can help with :)

i have a single ifor williams trailer and a peugeot 2l diesel estate. I did have a 4x4 but it was way too expensive to run as I was commuting 100 miles to work every day. I then had a honda accord which wasn't so good at the job being an automatic and petrol, but it got written off by an ancient landrover anyway.

i actually looked at the subarus before buying the peugeot as they were up to the job but too expensive for parts and servicing for me!

the single ifor is great. i use it to tow either my pony or my 16.2hh and have also towed a mare and foal a 100 mile round trip. I have to say if I was doing serious distances frequently then the car would suffer and i would be inclined to buy a lorry, but i don't tend to travel more than 40 miles to a show and its not every weekend so thats fine. I would imagine towing frequently with any car or 4x4 would have an impact on the engine. The trailer tows well and I have been very happy with it. The only disadvantage with a car over a 4x4 is if you get to a showground that is grass and a bit wet/muddy you tend to get stuck, but even then, most muddy showgrounds have a tractor on hand to assist.

there are some 4x4 which are even worse to tow with than cars. Notably the type I categorise as "hairdryers" as they are too lightweight for their shape and quite unstable.

My recommendation would be if you are doing local shows infrequently then it is fine to tow with a single and your car. Also, a diesel will cope better as it has more torque. You can get them chipped which increases BHP and Torque, but i'm not an expert on that.

With regards to the law. My understanding is that the total weight should not exceed the vehicles Max Tow Weight and be within 85% of the Max Gross /Kerb Weight is only law here if you had to sit the trailer test which was introduced recently. Although you should not exceed max tow weight and it is a good guidline not to exceed 85% of the Max gross/kerb weight, legal or not. All the specifications for your particular car will be in the handbook.
 
Far more important than the law, IMO, is the safety of your beloved horse! I don't think the 85% thing is actually law anyway - but it's a safety factor to try and give you the leeway to pull yourself out of trouble.

I towed a lightweight (750kg) double trailer with one horse in, with a series of 2l saloon cars (within their towing limits) for years, and had no problems with any of them. So I'd have thought you'd be alright towing the single, as long as you check the weights.

My only reservations with them are that they don't look very stable, and I did know someone who had one who had trouble loading her horse (t othe point where she had to aprt with it) as the horse wouldn't go into the narrow space.

Ross
 
i have seen single trailers where that is the case, but the ifor trailer is actually a pretty big single and mine is front unload (not sure if they all are?) which certainly helps. they are also heavier than a lot of the lightweight trailers making them more stable than some of the 650kg ones available.
 
LucyJ - that was everything I wanted to know! I like the look of the single Ifor and we have considered a 2nd hand 2l diesel estate to cut down on day-to-day fuel consumption and allow OH to get his Saab clean again ;-)

Also, towing would be very infrequent for us and not long distances. As Ross said, I wondered about stability (but the Swedish singles all looked very stable and I saw several parked and examined them closely).

The front and rear unload will reduce most loading problems too, as long as there is daylight at each end, horse will walk in quietly.

Thanks, that was food for thought for me. Hopefully will help Barcie too?
 
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