Towing with a Puma 90

[Leroy_Riding]

Hi all,

Its starting to get to the time that I purchased my 90 for. . some touring.
with all the threads and debates on 90 vs 110 for touring I took the side of the 90 as 80% of the time ill be solo with my dog, or with one other person.

my 90 is currently 100% stocko, ill be getting my towbar soon and was curious as to peoples experience towing with a 90.
both offroad and onroad. as i would like to build/purchase a small camper trailer something like a 6x4 with a roof top tent ontop (keep the weight of the roof of the allready top heavy 90)
I also tent to be towing a car trailer often up untill now ive used the old mans adventura which does it fine but id rather not have to borrow a car to tow a trailer if I have my own car capable of towing.

so theres a few questions I guess.

1- how do 90's tow offroad?
2- what size trailers do people to with there 90's (offroad and on)
3- how well do 90's tow onroad
4- what size offroad trailer would people recomend for a 90?

Leroy

[carlschmid2002]

I am currently looking at the Xtrail campers XMT. It looks like it was built for the 90. I have a 90 also. I haven't towed offroad yet, but I have towed some heavy items on road and my only advice is make sure it has brakes. Even trailers under 750kg you really feel it in the 90 when pulling up. I shudder to think what that would feel like offroad.

[weeds]

i spotted a puma 90 towing a very large boat the other week............seem to be doing it with ease

[MR LR]

I'd hate to get a fishtail up, would turn a 90 around pretty quick at 120k's!!!

[Trout]

I have done some moderatey heavy towing with my puma 90 and it's great. I also have a 110 that I have towed lots of heavy loads with and which it does brilliantly.

Based on the mostly on road towing I have done with the 90 I would not say there is any significant difference between the two.

I do have a track trailer for behind the 90 and I just can't believe how well it tows. It's a joy behind the 90 and in my view the 90 is a much better drive when towing as the ride is less choppy.

I do agree with the comment that very bad trailer sway would spin a 90 around in no time but there is no reason for this to happen if you load the trailer correctly. In any car it is bad news. If you dont know how to load correctly then you should not be towing anything until you learn. Off road I do think the 90 will get pushed around a bit more. But really the only difference is that in the 90 you are more likely to get pushed into oversteer but in the 110 you get pushed into understeer and just plough straight on. Either of these outcomes is bad and puts you in the scenery :( so just drive within the limits. A braked trailer makes any towing way safer and is a must off road.

[Sue]

I regularly tow with my 90.. I tow a camper trailer (weight erm is supposed to be 750 kgs - unbraked - but I suspect that it's over that weight.. I really should pop down to the weigh bridge with it one of these days), I also tow a Camper (weight 1600 empty - braked of course) and a 21' caravan (2.7t empty - braked etc).. I've towed all of them both on road and off road on numerous occasions and have never had a problem with the car pulling the weight at all..

However, I know that the car has a tow capacity of 3.5t but I would be hesitant to recommend it for towing a large heavy van for long periods of time (ie touring Aussie).. the car is just too small and light and if something went wrong and if the van got away from you there would be no chance of recovering control.. :)

[D9Oh..]

Hi Leroy,

I have a new D90 and have done about 3,000km this year in WA towing a camper, mix of on and off road. Definitely agree with comments that the trailer should have brakes, towed a hire trailer at 750kgs without brakes and it pushed the 90 about into tight corners, intersections, etc, just when you want to feel in control.
My new camper trailer is a big offroad unit, at least 850kgs, with long draw bar and redarc remote brakes, can control the braking strength from the cab and even activate full lock to bring the trailer in control down a gravel hill.
D90 does well, obviously you wont be travelling at more than 100kph towing a heavy load but with the brakes it handles well.
Cheers

[Def_9]

Hey Leroy,

Thought I'd add my plus one for the record. We have been towing our camper for three months now no problems. The trailer is around a ton, is braked and most of the time I forget it's there. We have been all around the coast from Perth to Darwin to Brisbane with plenty of off road ventures along the way. Just caught the barge back from Fraser Island this arvo, had a fantastic time with and without the trailer, we bogged twice in the real soft sand but nothing that a bit of shoveling and 10 psi didn't get us out of. Must say the more we do the more capable we find the car, it is quite amazing what these little trucks can do and ours is fairly standard with just a few add ons.
As for the shakes or swaying, I defiantly wouldn't want it to happen to me, we watched a navara towing a bushtracker trying to overtake another vehicle already doing 95 to 100, get what I think would have been the fright of his life when things started going pair shaped and how he got it back and stayed on his wheels I don't know. Anyway from what I've read on the subject and from my limited knowledge on towing large things, one thing that is for sure the hitch point is close to the rear axle and from what I understand this is a good thing if a trailer was trying to jackknife a car.
Added picture for inspiration, taken on the Creb track, North Queensland.

Cheers Lucas.

[Leroy_Riding]

Thanks for all the great Responses,

From what i'm Gathering the 90 seems to take towing offroad faily well. which is good news :).

also seems the idea is to keep weight to a minimum and have good brakes.
hopefully I can take all theese ideas and advise onboard and start building my camper soon. First step is to find a suitable trailer. Im thinking of a 6x4 that I can cut down to a 4ftx4ft with twin spares on the back and run a roof top tent ontop of the trailer.

any advice on what width I should go for, is 4ft too match the wheel track on a defender? It doesnt seem wide enough to have the track of a 5ft. .

thanks
Leroy