Best car for towing a horse trailer
Towing a horse isn't always easy – especially when you don't have the car for the job. Here are the best cars for towing a horse trailer.
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By Ben Welham
Last updated: 24 July 2025
You’ve got the horse, you’ve got the trailer – now you need the right car to tow it.
You'll need something strong and sturdy that will get you up that steep hill, potentially across muddy ground, and that will not let you down.
Here are our tips for some of the best cars for the job, plus some towing tips to help you on your way.
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Best car for towing a horse trailer:
Kia Sorento
Land Rover Discovery
Toyota Hilux
Audi Q7
Mercedes GLS
Volkswagen Touareg
Škoda Kodiaq
Volvo V60 Cross Country
Kia Sorento
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The Kia Sorento is a relatively inexpensive large SUV, but it’s also a lot of car for not a lot of money, relatively speaking.
It has a proper all-wheel drive system that will help when hauling a horse trailer to off-road locations, while there’s also a hill-start function and a trailer stability function to help with safety when towing.
As with the whole Kia range, it comes with a good level of equipment, whichever trim level you choose.
As for power, we'd recommend the 2.2-litre CRDi diesel, which is powerful enough to tow a trailer without struggling.
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Land Rover Discovery
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Seeing a Land Rover Discovery towing a horse trailer is like seeing a farmer with a Border Collie – it's a pretty common sight if you spend any time in the countryside.
The Discovery is the workhorse for many farmers, and for good reason. In common with everything built by Land Rover, it's as much at home on a muddy track as it is on a piece of tarmac.
Its four-wheel drive system can take the Discovery to some inhospitable places. Sure, your local point-to-point race may not be up Mount Kilimanjaro, but it's nice to know you could go there should you need to.
The Discovery has a very comfortable interior with lots of practical features, including lots of storage options. The fold-down bench in the boot is a handy feature, which allows you to sit and watch the equestrian events when you arrive at your destination.
Craig Hale, our motoring writer, said: "The Discovery is Land Rover at its best. Virtually unbeatable off-road, able to tow most trailers, and plenty of space for seven."
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Toyota Hilux
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If you want something more rugged, with an open bed to carry extras such as hay bales and general horse gear, then a used Toyota Hilux will do the job.
Powered by a 2.4-litre diesel engine and coming with all-wheel drive, all versions of the Hilux are also available with features such as trailer sway control and hill-start assist.
Some better-equipped trim levels also have a downhill assist feature to help when going down slippery slopes.
You can also choose between single or double cab options, which means you can have one or two rows of seats depending on your preference.
There are plenty of variants to suit a wide range of horse-towing needs, and you can be assured that it'll never go wrong.
Audi Q7
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The Audi Q7 is another large SUV that can fulfil several tasks with ease, and do so while offering a comfortable, premium driving experience to anyone inside the car.
All versions can tow trailers up to 2800kg, but used Audi Q7s fitted with the air suspension system (making the car even more comfortable over uneven surfaces) can pull up to 3,500kg.
All Q7 engine options offer really impressive torque, which leads to superb pulling performance.
There’s also an e-tron variant, a plug-in hybrid that adds an electric motor to the engine and has an electric-only range of 52 miles.
It also comes with plenty of other technology and safety features, such as the obligatory trailer-assist system.
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Mercedes-Benz GLS
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The Mercedes-Benz GLS is massive, luxurious, and more than capable of towing a horse trailer to a three-day event.
This is a seriously large SUV. It has seven proper seats – each of which is suitable for a six-foot-tall adult – and all the occupants will be riding in luxurious levels of comfort.
Buyers can choose between two strong diesel engines or a turbocharged V8 petrol mild hybrid, all of which will produce plenty of power to not only shift a used Mercedes GLS’s mass but also have enough left over to pull a horse trailer.
Honourable mentions:
Volkswagen Touareg – a rugged German SUV
Škoda Kodiaq – a budget option with plenty of towing power
Volvo V60 Cross Country – an estate car that's not afraid of a trailer/caravan/horse box
Towing tips
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Firstly, if you’re regularly towing horses, you’ll need to make sure that you’re doing so legally.
Your licence must allow you to tow a horse trailer. If you passed your driving test before 1 January 1997, you’re automatically qualified to drive a vehicle and trailer that together weigh up to 8250kg.
For those drivers who passed their test in 1997 or later, you can only tow a car and trailer up to 3,500kg, provided you’ve also passed a special car and trailer test.
You’ll also need to fit towing mirrors to your car to help you see beyond the trailer, which is a legal requirement.
The speed you can travel at is also different: no more than 60mph on a motorway or 50mph on A-roads.
Secondly, the key consideration, as with towing anything, is weight – the weight of your trailer and the weight of your car. You should ensure you know the total weight of your set-up to ensure you can legally drive it and make sure you can cross all bridges, etc.
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Discover used SUVs for sale
If you're ready to tackle a towing adventure, a used SUV is a great place to start. They can usually tow much more than smaller cars, and they look the part too.
With added comfort, great interior space and off-road capabilities, they're just as good towing as they are out on the open road alone.