I’m sure there will be many different opinions on this one and it’ll be fun to spark a debate! So, I wanted to get feedback on any ‘real-world’ experience on any of these vehicles for day-to-day ownership and towing – BMW 5 Series Touring (530/535d) – Range Rover (4.4TDV8, 2012 run out year and full fat version, not Evoque, etc.) – BMW X5 (3.0d 2014+) – Discovery 4 (3.0TD)…
I’ve got itchy feet on our current BMW 520d SE which both the missus and I love but want to ‘upgrade’ ready for towing (budget roughly £15-18k). We’ve spent most of our life owning Vauxhalls but have really enjoyed the better build quality and experience from the 5 series, hence the list above being ‘premium’ brands as I just can’t see us being happy dropping our standards! We have towed with a Vauxhall Antara and I think it’s an underrated car for the money – however, progressively worse mechanical issues on what was a 5 year old car and the subsequent apathy from our dealer has put us off Vauxhalls for life!
Overall, our usage would roughly be – short daily commute/school run on local roads, regular weekend drives (50-70 miles largely motorway), occasional 150+ mile motorway trips and our annual summer hols to France (up to 2k on mainly motorway). Overall annual mileage is below/around 10k but longer trips would increase once we’ve also got our overall outfit sorted.
So, let me know your thoughts/experiences on the above vehicles or any blindingly obvious options I’ve not considered (I did look at XC90s but our budget won’t stretch to a new version and the better half doesn’t like the older version!)…
Or is the advice to fit a towbar to the 520d and stick to what we know!!
Cheers,
Barry
I’ve got itchy feet on our current BMW 520d SE which both the missus and I love but want to ‘upgrade’ ready for towing (budget roughly £15-18k). We’ve spent most of our life owning Vauxhalls but have really enjoyed the better build quality and experience from the 5 series, hence the list above being ‘premium’ brands as I just can’t see us being happy dropping our standards! We have towed with a Vauxhall Antara and I think it’s an underrated car for the money – however, progressively worse mechanical issues on what was a 5 year old car and the subsequent apathy from our dealer has put us off Vauxhalls for life!
Overall, our usage would roughly be – short daily commute/school run on local roads, regular weekend drives (50-70 miles largely motorway), occasional 150+ mile motorway trips and our annual summer hols to France (up to 2k on mainly motorway). Overall annual mileage is below/around 10k but longer trips would increase once we’ve also got our overall outfit sorted.
So, let me know your thoughts/experiences on the above vehicles or any blindingly obvious options I’ve not considered (I did look at XC90s but our budget won’t stretch to a new version and the better half doesn’t like the older version!)…
Or is the advice to fit a towbar to the 520d and stick to what we know!!
Cheers,
Barry