Thread: defender 2.2 towing

There is a whole lot more than engine power that goes into towing. Glad it went well for you, I wish my Tdi had the gearing of the Tdci

You must have been going slowly!!! Mine tows a similar weight but on a 300km run with max speed of 100km/h and some hills it uses 14.5l/100 average. Mine is a 2.4 2009

Cheers

I'm going to tow a car trailer roughly 700kms all at 100km/hr so I'll let you know how I go fuel wise. I've towed a car before (was a series 3 Land rover) with my 2013 D90 it went pretty good; only went about 60kms with it + the D90 was only about 2000kms old and not worn in so the fuel consumption and performance wasn't accurate. Biggest thing was I don't think I had the wieght distribution right, too much weight on the back of the shorty.

Has anyone had this trouble? Going to tow a series 3 swb, would it be a good idea to load it backwards to get the wieght of the engine over the trailer axles? or just put it on forwards, just far enough to get the wieght looking about right?

there is no correct answer as there is no one standard car trailer. I will say I have seen photos of a bad accident when a car was loaded backwards on a car trailer. It sent the tow vehicle into the **** due to poor weight distribution.

Draw length, and how the S3 will actually sit weight wise on the trailer will determine what you can do. There may be another reason you had some issues and id say it could be wheelbase and weight of the 90. Im sure plenty will chime in with 90s and say they have no problems what so ever towing 3t, but again it depends on the individual trailer and weight distribution.

Before I got my Puma 110 I had a TD5 90.

The 90 towed fine for me as long as I set it up right. I often towed 3t and up to 3.5t if needed. I always try to have minimal ball weight and often that needs a dropped tow hitch on the back of a defender. I have found that if it is a well set up trailer then I position the load to sit neutral on the trailer. Not all trailers are good however and I have towed with some that just were not able to be set up well with regards to axle position relative to draw bar and overall deck.

The 90 will be a bit pitchy with a car trailer due to its short length but a bit of time spent loading the trailer well and the right height hitch make all the difference.

Originally Posted by quaddrive

You must have been going slowly!!! Mine tows a similar weight but on a 300km run with max speed of 100km/h and some hills it uses 14.5l/100 average. Mine is a 2.4 2009

Cheers

I sat at 100 or the speed limit. I drive road trains so towing at speed is not a problem.

All I was getting at is that fact that most Pumas are lucky to get 11.5 unloaded and not towing so I was sceptical of getting that towing 2.3t is all.


Thanks

My 2.4 Puma 90 tows the boat unbelievably better than what my 2007 Hilux SR5 double-cab 3.0TD chipped did. On the Hilux the single axle trailer would become scary at anything over 90 km/h. The Puma can go over 100km/h. The 6th gear really makes a difference too and fuel wise a lot better than the 'lux which was always hunting for top gear as an auto.