In reply to post 24
What weight was your friend attempting to tow of the hill?
What was the gradient, did it exceed the manufactures limit for that gradient?
As your friend then stepped up to a X5, it suggests that the car maybe was underpowered for the weight of the car.
I know the T30 xtrail has a weak handbrake, but that doesn't make the xtrail a poor tow car.
Remember the advise of old for hill starts, the use of wheel chocks, reversing the caravan back to an angle, all to aid setting of on the steep hills?