I’m now a proper Range Rover owner!!! Never towed anything in my life and I now have a horse box as we’ve recently bought a horse for out little one to start competing with him,
Installed the witter tow bar myself in a couple hours or so taking it slow and not rushing- the electrics we’re pretty straightforward the worst bit was the sheer amount of the boot I had to strip to get to what I needed, although at the same time managed to get rid of some weird aftermarket navman thing that a previous owner had in- along with the birds nest of wiring that went with it, nothing like a bit of tidying up!!

Went and picked up the trailer this morning and the car just felt normal, not like it was towing any weight behind- I had to keep looking at the trailer to remind myself it was attached so I didn’t drive like I normally would.

Incredible cars these!!

I bought this a while ago mate. Picked the trailer up and while I was going round the m25 I didn't even realise it was still attached until you feel a bump in the road. Couldn't ask for a better machine to tow with. Even driving back with this bus on whilst you knew it was there, still picks up power with no trouble and your still cruising along with no trouble

And that’s a decent load too!!
Quite looking forward to getting the horse in and using it now! 2009 (2010 MY) 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography
2007 TDV8 Vogue SE
2005 BMW E63 645ci
2024 Porsche Macan

Just a polite word of warning when towing horse boxes, even my Td6 tows so well, it is easy to forget what is on the back, obviously with horses one has to brake gently and be careful when cornering. On the odd occasion when I temporarily 'forget' my daughter is very quick to remind me.
Then she reveals her extensive vocabulary of swear words and phrases and claims she learnt them from me

Couple of other things to reember5 when towing horse/boxes ;

You need to drive smoothly &

Horses are heavy brutes & they can move a little bit.

Also, it's worth checking your licence - quite a number of drivers do not have a suitable licence if they passed their car test after a certain date. You also need to know that when calculating weights of the combination it is the maximum gross plated weight that matters, not the actual weight.

As above that combination would need category BE on licence which you probaby already have.

https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
2005 TD6 Java Black Vogue - Written off!!
GAP iiD BT
2003 Discovery TD5 Auto, Nanocom Evolution - gone to a new home!
MasseyFerguson 152 - No electronics!! - Sold

Not forgetting that if you only have one horse onboard, it should be on the right due to the road camber (especially if you have a chunky Clydesdale cross cob like we have!). 2017 Jaguar F Pace 25t Portfolio - still part of the JLR family 😀
2009 3.6 V8 (MY2010) - my first ever diesel! - now also gone
2004 4.4 V8 Petrol Vogue - now gone

Interesting point chris_read, we have Ifor Williams and side loading Equitreks, on the side loaders a single horse should be on the passengers side to counteract the weight of the door,

SamThomas wrote:

Also, it's worth checking your licence - quite a number of drivers do not have a suitable licence if they passed their car test after a certain date. You also need to know that when calculating weights of the combination it is the maximum gross plated weight that matters, not the actual weight.

Weegie wrote:

As above that combination would need category BE on licence which you probaby already have.

https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories

I thought the Gov scrapped all that during COVID to free up more lorry tests

Pretty sure you don’t need to take a test to tow up to 3.5t MAM anymore, just hook up and go!

I loved our old L322 + HB511 combo, even though we seemed to use the Defender to tow more often than not it was much much better.

 Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

Putting aside the short lived trailer test requirements what you can tow, weight wise depends on when you passed your basic car test.

Full details here ;
https://www.gov.uk/towing-with-car

Remember it's the plated weights that count, not the actual weighs.

& of course if you do not have the correct licence your insurance will be void.

Ahh yeah I miss read your post. Isn’t that still irrelevant though? Anyone can tow a trailer that weighs up to 3,500kg MAM as a minimum which is the maximum towing capacity of our cars regardless and way beyond the 85% - 100% (Actual) Trailer vs Car recommendation.

Pre 97 gets you 8,250kg MAM combined but that’s ~3,200 (guess) for a L322 leaving you ~5,000 towing capacity but the cars limited to 3,500 so you would not gain anything over a post 97 license?

It would also need to be a pretty hefty trailer, I’m sure our old HB511 which was a reasonable size was only plated at 2.7t MAM.

Not arguing, just feels kinda irrelevant these days even for most big 4x4s as I’m sure you're insurance would probably be void towing beyond the vehicle manufacturers maximums. Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

Rosco wrote:

Interesting point chris_read, we have Ifor Williams and side loading Equitreks, on the side loaders a single horse should be on the passengers side to counteract the weight of the door,

Hi Rosco
I agree that you should counterbalance the weight of the side door with the Equitrek DayTreka but ours is an Ifor 510 (the one pictured above looks like a 505) and the common practice is to load a single horse on the drivers side, that way it doesn’t matter which country you are in / which side of the road you drive on. We have to reverse Rupert out of the trailer as he’s a chunky lad  2017 Jaguar F Pace 25t Portfolio - still part of the JLR family 😀
2009 3.6 V8 (MY2010) - my first ever diesel! - now also gone
2004 4.4 V8 Petrol Vogue - now gone

I went from a new Vauxhall Antara 4x4 to the Rangie, It made a joke out of the Antara when towing.

Best tow car I’ve ever driven the 322.

I regularly tow 3500kg digger and trailer combo with my D4, and while stable and easy it’s not as good as the 322 was, neither for that matter is the 405. I put that down to the weight of the 322 compared to the 405 and the power and auto box of the 322 compared to the manual D4 I have.

Not sure id like to tow a minibus on a trailer with one though……🤣 There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

chris_read wrote:

Not forgetting that if you only have one horse onboard, it should be on the right due to the road camber (especially if you have a chunky Clydesdale cross cob like we have!).