Thread: Which is best tow vehicle

The isuzu county would be the pick but a tdi fender will be fine if its a small van, anything would be better than a 3.5 on gas.

Better yes, but cheaper, maybe not. A Defender would probably be better because of the longer wheelbase and bigger brakes but Tdis still use a bit of fuel when towing a large trailer or caravan. I get 750-800 km from a 80 l tank normally, when towing my big trailer it drops to about 5-600 km. But when I towed my trailer with my dad's Commodore it dropped from 1000 km per tank to about 350, so I suppose the Tdi isn't so bad. We travelled at similar speeds (100-110), and if we went slower we would have got much better economy, but we had limited time.

Jeff

i have towed our 12 foot van with our disco didn't make much difference!

Originally Posted by greenrangie

Have a 3.5 rangie on gas and am horrified how much gas it uses towing our small van. Would a diesel county 3.9 or a defender 2.5 tdi be a cheaper and better tow vehicle? appreciate any help guys.

Well, our Disco V8 loves fuel

I ran into a guy at the Esk Caravan Park in QLD who had the ideal vehicle.
It was originally F250 4 WD on a F Truck chassis with a Canadian 4 door body.
Under the bonnet was a Hummer 6.5 litre Diesel V8

This vehicle did 17 mpg, van or not, at 100kph.

This guy tours AU, working in garages, fitting BIG diesel V8's.

I now and again tow a bloody enormous boat with the 300Tdi Defender. It isn't that economical but it works as well as anything that I have ever used as a tow vehicle. We use a late model thirsty turbo Land Cruiser at work (Marine Research) for towing boats and I hate it. I cannot think of a positive thing to say about it.

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but I would like to know if there are any 300Tdi's D1's or 3.5EFI RR out there that can tow a caravan at 110km? (yes - I know it's not legal in most states). If so, what size/weight are the caravans?
I'm looking at buying a van, looking around 17-18ft & 1600kg and I have a choice of 300Tdi Disco or 3.5EFI rangie to tow it. Only I really want to be able to tow at 110km/hr. Am I dreamin?

Thanks in adv.

The drag of the van is where it will get you - I recently towed a trailer with over two tonnes of scrap on it in the County, easily able to maintain 100, as long as it was not uphill, but that does not mean I would be able to tow a van that fast, even if it weighed less - the load plus trailer had little more cross section area than the County.

John

Originally Posted by Taz

Not wanting to hijack this thread, but I would like to know if there are any 300Tdi's D1's or 3.5EFI RR out there that can tow a caravan at 110km? (yes - I know it's not legal in most states). If so, what size/weight are the caravans?
I'm looking at buying a van, looking around 17-18ft & 1600kg and I have a choice of 300Tdi Disco or 3.5EFI rangie to tow it. Only I really want to be able to tow at 110km/hr. Am I dreamin?Thanks in adv.

Taz

You can tow that sort of weight at that sort of speed, although things can get out of control very quickly. You need to make sure your van/trailer are properly balanced and the tow vehicle set up for towing, particularly engine oil and auto transmission coolers. If not air bag suspension Poly-Airs are a good idea.

I would go for the the 300TDi or for a 3.9 EFi with Unichip or similar RR (the 3.5 EFi are too underpowered).

Diana