The best luxury SUV cars provide a high-end towing experience, with comfort, practicality and delightful driving all guaranteed.
Just like the best SUV tow cars, these luxury options will make towing a pleasure. However, they don’t just provide elegance – they will also be ideal for owners of large twin-axle caravans, pulling such tourers with ease.
Luxury doesn’t come cheap, but while the original buyer must have a bulging bank account, the second and third owners don’t need to be quite so affluent. Wait a few years and these upmarket cars become a lot more affordable if you’re shopping around for a used car for towing a caravan instead. Granted, most won’t be cheap to run. But so long as you budget and have a fighting fund to fix any faults, a pre-owned 4×4 can be a smart buy. Find out how the other half lives, for half the cash…
Please note: vehicles pictured may not be the exact model or year.
The best luxury SUV tow cars:
Range Rover Sport D350 Autobiography
- Price: £102,625
- Kerbweight: 2435kg
- 85% match: 2070kg
- Towing limit: 3500kg
Think luxury 4×4 tow car, and you probably think Range Rover. But which one to choose?
For our money, the Sport is a finer car than the flagship Range Rover, with a better ride and handling balance. And while sporty, it doesn’t compromise comfort like a Porsche Cayenne. This is a long-distance express, not an SUV trying to be a sports car.
It tows brilliantly. The diesel engine has 350hp and a huge 516lb ft of torque, making easy work of hill starts, however big and heavy the tourer.
The Sport tows up to 60mph with ease and always seems to have something held in reserve. It’s extremely stable, too. This is one of those cars that makes the 60mph speed limit when towing a caravan feel more like 40. Winds need to be almost gale force before they start to push the Range Rover Sport off course.
Although less expensive than the regular Range Rover, this is still a wallet-wilting car. If you want similar luxury for a whole lot less, you might consider the previous-generation Range Rover Sport instead.
We’ve seen a 2020 model with 91,000 miles on the clock advertised for £38,995.
Cars with 50,000-60,000 miles start from around the £42,000 mark. That’s a huge saving over buying new.
Kia EV9 GT-Line AWD
- Price: £72,495
- Kerbweight: 2648kg
- 85% match: 2251kg
- Max towing weight: 2500kg
I’ve been over the pros and cons of towing with an electric car before.
Suffice to say, the biggest barrier now is the practical difficulty of recharging while towing, rather than the abilities of the cars themselves.
Our favourite electric car also deserves a spot on our list of favourite luxury SUVs – the Kia EV9. It tows brilliantly, helped by its colossal kerbweight.
This car is so big and heavy, it will bully even the largest of caravans into submission, giving you plenty of flexibility when doing the car/caravan match. It’s also very quick, with strong electric motors powering the front and rear wheels.
Inside, there’s space for seven as standard – and even the third row of seats is roomy enough for adults. Go for the top-spec model and you can opt for six seats, which gives passengers even more space.
The cabin is full of practical touches, with air vents, USB chargers and cupholders everywhere you look. With the third row folded away, luggage room is generous.
The EV9 is too new to be on the used market in large numbers, and it has no direct predecessor to tempt used car buyers. But bide your time for a year or two and secondhand examples will almost certainly be more readily available.
See what I made of the Kia EV9 GT-Line 378bhp AWD when I reviewed it recently.
VW Touareg 3.0 TDI 286PS Black Edition
- Price: £70,745
- Kerbweight: 2118kg
- 85% match: 1800kg
- Towing limit: 3500kg
Can there be a more underrated luxury SUV than VW’s Touareg? It’s often overlooked in favour of the similar Audi Q7, but it offers many of the same great qualities for less money.
In fact, compared with most of the vehicles on this list, it’s almost a bargain.
The 3.0-litre diesel is one of the car’s biggest strengths. When the time comes and we can no longer buy new diesel cars, this is the kind of engine caravanners will really miss. Its barrel-chested brawn makes towing seem easy.
The Touareg is stable as well as powerful, something we always look for in the best tow car. Perhaps it’s not quite as unshakeable as the BMW X5 or Range Rover Sport, but the Volkswagen is not far off. Long journeys towing a caravan will pass by without nervous moments.
Inside, some of the materials aren’t as upmarket as you’d find in a BMW or a Mercedes, but it’s hardly rough and ready.
There’s lots of space inside for five, although the Touareg lacks the option of having a third row of seats.
One of the major plus points of having just five seats is that the boot is absolutely huge, so there’s no need to travel light.
We’ve seen 100,000-mile Touareg Black Editions for under £30,000. Cars with close to 50,000 miles on the clock are priced at around £42,000.
See what I made of the Volkswagen Touareg 13.0 V6 TDI 286PS 4Motion Black Edition when I put it to the test.
BMW X5 xDrive50e M Sport
- Price: £82,055
- Kerbweight: 2495kg
- 85% match: 2121kg
- Towing limit: 2700kg
The latest BMW X5 is our favourite large luxury SUV, offering the perfect combination of pace, sophistication and practicality.
Provided you can recharge it at home, the plug-in hybrid is the model to go for. It’s capable of up to 60 miles of electric running per charge, and even if that’s optimistic, many daily journeys can be completed without fossil fuel.
The xDrive50e can tow on electricity alone, but it will soon need to call on the petrol engine as well. With both working away, acceleration is punchy, even towing a large caravan. More importantly, the X5 is supremely stable.
Without a tourer, the big X5 is quicker than many sports cars and handles better than a car of this weight has any right to.
Adaptive suspension means the driver can choose between sporty responses and a more comfortable ride.
There’s space for five in the well-made cabin. The twin-screen dashboard looks spectacular, although earlier iterations of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system were easier to use.
Boot space is down a little on non-hybrid X5s, but there’s a healthy 500 litres with the back seats upright.
While the 50e is still quite new, the previous 45e plug-in hybrid costs from just over £30,000 on the used market.
Mercedes G 450 d AMG Line Premium Plus
- Price: £136,690
- Kerbweight: 2555kg
- 85% match: 2172kg
- Towing limit: 3500kg
Believe it or not, £136,690 is the entry-level price in the new G-Class range. This is one of the most expensive SUVs on sale.
Can any car be worth this kind of money? Well, if you want a luxury car that can clamber up the side of a mountain, the G-Class is going to be hard to beat.
But you do really need to want one to justify spending that sort of cash.
The entry-level model is a mild-hybrid diesel with 387hp. That’s enough power for easy towing. Despite the electrical assistance, the official combined figure is 31.4mpg, so it’s thirsty as well as powerful.
When we last towed with a G-Class, we found it a very stable tow car, and capable in all weathers. We were bowled over by the quality of the cabin, with a rugged luxury that few rivals come close to.
Objectively, the GLE or the seven-seat GLS are easier to recommend. But there’s something about the heritage of the G-Class that marks it out as really special.
The G-Class holds its value very well. Even cars made as long ago as 2011 are priced at £36,000-£38,000. Four-year-old examples are on the market for close to £100,000.
After spending out on a towing car, it’s understandable you’re going to want to do everything you can to keep your vehicle safe – that’s where our guide to car security comes in.
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