L-R Discovery 3 + AlKo hitch: clearance?

We had a Discovery 3 with a Winterhoff stabiliser hitch never had a problem with opening the tail gate - take a look on Google images and you'll see that the bumper acts as a step so tailgate is a long way from the tow ball. Hope this is of help to you 

Pictures found.

I suppose the subconscious alarm bells started ringing in my head in memory of earlier Discovery models that had the hinged door rather than the excellent looking split tailgate arrangement of the Series 3.

Thank you Sianelen, all doubts are dispelled.

Jeremy.

yes I think your nuts. haha, but why would you change from a jeep that clearly you love and never let you down. just update to a newer jeepy knowing how well they tow. there's probably more LHD jeeps about than LR's.

Probably because of the Jeeps ugly front.

That's not an issue Metheven, I can keep my present pile of stainless steel scaffolding from the front of the present Jeep to make the 'new' one singularly even more ugly. I call it the analogue parking sensor.

lornalou1 we have a couple of months (at least) to continue the search but to date the availability of French-registered Jeeps isn't encouraging.

I would jump at another Grand Cherokee with the Mercedes running gear, this one has been marvelous and performs crucial functions just that little bit better than the equivalent Land Rover or Mercedes ML - although a Mercedes GL might be a worthy alternative.

The Jeep's value is going to drop quicker than a Landy or Mercedes that's true, but I'm not planning to change cars again for some years.

I suppose that in the end it will all come down to the colour, won't it Dear...?

would it be worth waiting till you are there and buying then??might be a better deal.

Indeed that was the original plan.

We left the caravan in France on the previous trip, returning to GB solo. We still have a fairly large trailer to take so didn't want two more towing trips to perform if that would still leave us with the RHD car in France needing to come back to GB to be sold.

So we've reduced the flipflopping by one round trip but we still have to take the trailer, secure a new car in France, drive the RHD Jeep back to England to sell it, then fly or foot-ferry out to France to collect the LHD car.

If I can source a French registered LHD car in England (there's a few specialist dealers/brokers) I need only to sell the GB car here, then use the French one to pull the trailer to the new house.

And relax.

With big trailer in tow our new home is about 7 hours continuous pedaling from Calais, I'm trying to avoid doing it too often.

Hi Pings, another idea maybe is to sell the Jeep privately and then take the new owner across with you to drive it home. They may like a few days in France or a beer run. 

I presume you know that you cannot tow an English registered caravan with a French registered car?  In France caravans have to have their own Carte Gris with a number plate in their own right.  This has all sorts of other implications for insurance etc.

If your caravan is British then you will need to get it 'registered' and it's quite a complicated process.  More information here

Interesting thought PrestonDave. Trouble is there would be something like a 13 hour round trip in France, I doubt many would be keen. It would also destroy my ability to fully load the Jeep for the journey South, I'll need to drop the rear seat to accommodate all those things that "mustn't go in the lorry".

J