Alister

Something like the Outback or Forrester GT slipped my mind but I agree with RedRover in that it should fit the bill pretty well in terms of daily driver and towing ability.

tafka TMB

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm guessing about the finished weight of the "race" car and a braked double-axle trailer being 1300ish kg. I envy the people with little 500kg clubmans and FF's. That would be so much easier to tow with a normal car.

I am not that opposed to a FWD tow car. A friend of mine used to tow his 900-something kg Honda CRX tow car on a hired double trailer behind his 1st generation 2.5 litre Honda Legend okay (Now he has upgraded to an ex-ambulance Ford F100 302 Cleveland on gas). Front wheel drive opens the way to 3.5 litre Magna (my sister has a 3.0 Litre top-of-the-line big-bumpered model and it seems a nice enough family sedan). I guess a V6 Camry fits in this mould as well.

CB - I hadn't thought about a SAAB 9000 estate as being in my price range. I love the idea of the tie-down hooks and the slide out shelf in the back (200kg capacity?) of the wagon. I know that they have good torque but I was unsure about how a 2.3 turbo would go as a tow car.

RR - The Liberty outback has merit in that it's a fraction smaller than a Falcodore, better quality and has a niceish 3.0 litre flat 6 with 4WD. It's a shame that it's only available in the higher Outback version. Hadn't thought about the Forester GT it sort of slipped off my radar as being jumbled in with all of the other soft-roaders.

Alister- I am generally opposed to "proper" 4WD's and most soft-roaders in principle (handle, brake, accelerate worse than a conventional car yet are priced cheaper than conventional cars). Some of this is influenced by having a drive of a friend's Land Rover Discovery Tdi. I know that it'll charge through the bush and do silly climbs and descents yet on the road it felt sluggish, bulky, slow and poorly made. It would really be a last choice scenario (even a Falcodore would be better). It is telling that the Disco Tdi driver felt compelled to buy a second-hand Porsche so that he could enjoy driving and keep the Disco for bush bashing.

I had also thought about a Toyota Cressida or a Volvo (Vulva?) 760. I had thought about a 350 Chev engined Jaguar XJ6 then thought about reliability and the irony of my "tow" car spending more time on a flat bed than my "race" car. I didn't even think about a Jag XJ40 (Q. Why do Jags have such nice interiors? A. It gives you somewhere comfortable to wait while the RACV repairman comes out). I have though about old Mercs and BMW's (a guy at work picked up a 92 BMW 540 for $25,000). Mercedes 560SEC? There was a 3.5 litre BMW M5 for $30,000 and a 70's DeTomaso Deuville for similar money. hmmm
Pro - lot of metal/prestige for the money, most of the depreciation is done, still nice cars.
Con - expensive to fix in parts and labour, no warranty, can they handle a lot of towing.

I was put of the Falcodores by a VT Commodore courtesy car that I drove earlier this year. I loved the initial acceleration but the engine proved gruff and thirsty when I revved it, the auto was clunky, the steering was numb and the road holding was spooky in the wet. I loved the ED Falcon XR6 that I took for a drive 10 years ago. I could maybe be tempted in to an absolutely perfect one if it was cheap.

Thanks for the replies guys. It's given me plenty to think about. I'll keep looking at tow ratings and my budget while keeping my options open. I could even be tempted by something old and characterful.