I HAVE a friend who uses a Hyundai Terracan to tow a heavyweight car trailer, transporting cars all over the country.

He has had very little problem with it over three years, despite a lot of very hard work, and it has now done starship mileage. He'd be happy to buy another, but they don't make them anymore.

The Terracan is an old school 4x4, very capable in the rough and it performs reasonably well on the road. It has proper low-ratio, off-road gears and could easily pull out small trees.

However, refinement on the road is not the best and it's not particularly good to drive, or very comfortable, because of old-fashioned suspension.

That said, caravanners love them and I recently read about one chap who said it was the best tow car he had ever had.

Cornering is best done carefully - as with most big four wheel drives - because there's plenty of roll.

But reliability, as my trailer-towing friend has found, is very good.

The main reason for buying one of these is low prices, making them ideal for towing a horsebox or caravan.