Whenever I hear something about a D3 or a D4, It astounds me what a feat of engineering they are.
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Funny thing is I read caravan world at the doctors and they had a head to head between the 200 and D4 and gave the nod to the D4.Maybe they should do a 20K trip and try again,the suspension on all the Asian built vehicles would have given up by then and totally changed the outcome.I've towed around 2T with the 200 and not pushing it got 21ltres/100,what fuel use does the RR and D4 get at that wieght?,my TDCi used 14ltres/100 at 90km/hr towing 2.5T,a mates 100 4.7 petrol gets 25ltre/100 towing 1.8T. Pat
Best non-commercial vehicle tug I ever had to do with was a Chev. Suburban with the optional 500 c.i. engine and Allison auto. Seats eight in armchairs, individual HVAC controls, and pulls an enclosed trailer containing an Indy roadster or Scarab sports-racer with tools, fuel drums, spare wheels, starter and battery cart, etc. up the interstates at a comfortable 80 mph.
Did a 260k round trip, Benalla to Mirtleford, Mirtleford to Sheperton and back to Benalla, towing car trailer and VW Amarok from Mirtleford to Sheperton, car trailer was 930kg and with the Amarok on 3400kg, cruise control at 100kph, averged 15.3l/100.
Interesting that the Amarok made the list, we had our Amarok tow our camper(1400kg) home last weekend, Newnes Plateau to Helensburgh, via Therlmere 250ks approx, averaged 10.4l/100ks:clap2:
Baz.
Good thing you're not in charge of heavy trucks then.
Brian, do you know how many gallons per mile that thing was drinking? The torque on those big old V8's is surpassed by a lot of turbo diesels these days. Even the 600Nm of the SDV6 compares well to the almost 700Nm from a modern big block replacement: http://www.summitracing.com/int/part...make/chevrolet
It is part of a multi-millionaires stable of toys. He has a serious case of historic racing disease. He wouldn't care about fuel usage. More concerned with comfort and performance. He has a Kurtis Kraft KK500H Indy roadster, a Reventlow Scarab sports racer, a 1952 M-Benz 300SL gull wing ex- works team Mexico Road Race, a 1955 300SL gull wing set up for the Bonneville salt flats, a 1959 300SL roadster low mileage original used for Sunday drives in summer.
If you need a bit more torque go see Stewart Van Dyne and get one of his 540 c.i. aluminium twin ignition big blocks with engine driven centrifugal supercharger. I saw the prototype on his dyno. 1640 ft. lbs @ 4000 rpm, 20 psi boost. Might have trouble finding a transmission other than one from a heavy truck to hold up behind.
Must admit that the ranking of the Amarok has surprised me too. Have always liked them, but didn't think that a little 2 litre would rate so well in a towing comparison.
Given the numbers of Playdo's and Pajero's you see towing vans out there, I'm a little surprised that either / both of them didn't rate in the top 10. I'd certainly expect to see either of them ahead of the Isuzu MUX or the Dunnydoor wagon.
As far as yank tow trucks go - before I got into Disco's, I had a Ford F100 Ranger (imported) that had been converted to diesel (6.5 litre Chev V8). Plenty of torque and would pull a house without problem - but as for stability, sure footedness and comfort - forget it. The yank tanks aren't even in the race in my opinion - and don't even mention fuel consumption. ;)