Hi Jackie
I am someone who would prefer the taut handling and economy of your BMW to that of an offroader, in reality your BMW is probably just as stable as a lot of much heavier offroaders, do not judge a towcar by weight alone as there are some heavy cars out there with soft offroad suspension that have truly rotten stability when towing. I have towed a 1600kg boat with many vehicles, a BMW530 and a Discovery included, the BMW was easily the most stable and being rear wheel drive had better traction than the front wheel drive vehicles that I have used. Whenever you read threads on this forum about poor stability it always seems to be French saloon cars or 4x4s.
We tow a Lunar Lexon which is the same size as the Wyoming and has a similar mtplm of 1600kg but it's unladen weight is lighter at just 1266kg which is why we prefer Lunars as we are towing with a front wheel drive Ford s-max and it's only a matter of time before traction becomes a problem on a steep junction or muddy field, stability however, is almost too good. The Lunar is a bit nose heavy and we have to put the awning and other heavy items in the rear washroom to get the noseweight down to 75kg and my wife will tend to pack the heavy tinned food and drink in the top lockers, almost everything you're told not to do but even when passing or overtaking high sided trucks and occasionally hitting 70mph, there is never a weave or wiggle. When I bought the Lexon I towed it home with a Transit van and when overtaking trucks I could feel the outfit get pushed out as I drew alongside then "sucked" back in as I got in front but with the s-max there was none of this feeling.
And just to make a few of you jealous regarding the question of how to take a motorbike with you, I rode the bike behind my wife towing the outfit to Harrogate and observing from the rear the outfit was smooth and stable.
Fuel economy for the s-max is 45mpg daily use, 52mpg touring Norfolk and an awful 27mpg towing the Lexon.
I don't mean this post to be a sales pitch for the s-max but as an example of how a lighter car with the right tyres and suspension is every bit, if not more stable than much heavier offroaders.
The other posts are quite right in saying that many 4x4s are no longer or wider than large saloon cars but if you really want to avoid a 4x4, look at a sports orinted saloon such as the 5 series BMW or the Audi A6 Quattro. if you do look at 4x4s, go for models that have big wheel rims and wide, low profile tyres and models that are more SUV rather than dedicated offroader, whilst some 4x4s have poor stability, four wheel drive and low range gearboxes can be very advantageous.
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