Choosing the right vehicle for heavy towing

So many Australians find their next new heaving towing vehicle entirely the wrong way. Here's how to start out on the right track...

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This question from Marion and Ian Cash, highlights how easy it is for ordinary Australians to start the towing adventure on the wrong foot.

They are trying to decide between a LandCruiser 300 Series, a LandCruiser 200 Series, an Isuzu MU-X and D-Max, and a Ford Ranger.

Their potential tow vehicle shortlist is so long because:

“We have a 2009 Prado which we use to tow our on-road caravan, 1800 kilos fully loaded. This works fine, but we want to get off-road to Dingo Piss Creek. So we have ordered an off-road van, 2.7 tonnes fully loaded.”

“We realise that we will need a bigger tow vehicle. We've test driven the LandCruiser 300 Series which feels like a beefy Prado. We are really conscious of GVM limits, as well as the tow hitch download limit, and the towing limit of the tow vehicle.”

These are all good points to hear, Marion. You have to be across all of the numbers - it's not optional towing something heavy.

“I've prepared a spreadsheet for a selection of cars.”

I think that's in breach of the Australian car buyer’s code of ethics, using logic and data to determine which car to buy.

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Buying the wrong tool for the job

“I've never been focusing specifically on load constraints and for our situation, GVM seems to be quite tight, particularly for the 200 or 300 Series LandCruisers.”

Yeah, GVM is very tight - in fact they say 3.5 tonnes, but if you're towing 2.7, you really are living life on the edge.

When you look at a GXL 300 S LandCruiser, you realise just how tight the load constraints are, even at what you might presume is a reasonably conservative towing assignment of 2.7 tonnes. You might assume that's conservative, given the vehicle's notional 3.5t tow limit, but I’ve run the numbers on the GXL.

The answer is not great if you’ve already paid a deposit without doing your homework. So here goes:

The LandCruiser 300 GXL is $118,000, driveaway, in Australia. It’s about that price in every state, which is such a massive chunk of cash. It’s more than the average Australian male’s salary. Let’s look at what happens if you put a trailer on the back.

Assume it's 2.7 tonnes of total weight to be towed, with a towball download limit of 270kg, this is a vehicle with a kerb weight of 2.58 tonnes. It weighs more than 2.5 tonnes. It's got a GVM of 3280kg. So the available payload in total, is 700kgs. Towball download is included in the payload because the vehicle is carrying it.

When you take the 270kg from the 700kgs of payload, you might think 430kgs of remaining payload is good. 

However, the towbar is not standard, so let's assume it weighs 30kgs (pretty light for a towbar), that comes down to 400kgs. You haven't put any people in it yet.

The kerb weight of the vehicle includes a full tank of fuel, no problem, but you've got to put yourselves in it. Two people with basic equipment, drinking water, food, luggage bags, let’s assume 100 kilos per person and their stuff. You wouldn't have the vehicle completely bare.

Let's include some outback logistics support and equipment before you drive off into the outback. You've got to take communications and a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit, maybe a second spare tyre, a compressor and a tyre repair kit, your basic recovery gear, a shovel up on a roof rack which also adds mass.

If you just put two people and a little bit of equipment, not including all of that stuff we've just discussed, you've only got 200 kilos remaining. That's without a bullbar yet, and most of you 4WD touring adventurers want to fit a bullbar so you fit in. That's really hard to manage even at 2.7 tonnes. 

What if you've got kids? That’s going to add 50kgs per kid with all of their extra stuff.

That 200kgs is looking real tight. You could get stopped at any time to be weighed.

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As for off-roading, are you really taking that deadweight? If so, the actual limits have to be contracted somewhat because you're operating the combination in a much harsher environment. A lot of people who go heavy towing never really factor in these limits like GCM and GVM, or they only do so based on reasonably ideal situations.

I'm not trying to be an unmitigated bastard about what you want to do; I'm actually all for people going out and adventuring in the country and having a good time. But there is this arms race with things like caravans and campervans. The notion of a heavy off-road camper is flat-out ridiculous.

Buying and committing to the caravan before you've done the integrated solution, which is the other half of the equation, is nuts.

You and many other might presume that a suitable vehicle is out there to happily tow your enormous caravan and sundry stuff.

The LC300 is not substantially different than an MU-X/D-Max and Ford Ranger; they're all worse and a LandCruiser is probably the best of the conventional four-wheel drive off-road capable passenger vehicles.

I guess you could add the Nissan Patrol, which is substantially cheaper, and offers similar performance from its petrol engine versus the Toyota’s diesel. You would have to factor in things like refuelling and range, and that all depends on where you want to go.

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I would also start this topic by asking what can be done to your existing on-road caravan that could maybe toughen it up. Improving its durability to cope with slightly rougher roads would be the first thing I'd look at doing.

More durable tyres would be an excellent start, see how that goes. I’d suggest you adventure in increments with the equipment you've already got, because then you can say ‘Well, this is about as rough as we want to go.’ If that solution doesn't demand a further upgrade of your whole caravan, then you're welcome - you just saved tens of thousands. They do charge through the neck for those bloody things I'd have to say.

So you could also upgrade the axles like you could put superior hubs and bearings on the axles and just different wheels, maybe a little bit of additional rolling diameter if there's physical space, things of that nature. That might really make a big difference to dirt road durability and it really doesn't make sense to go off-roading in the proper sense - low range, dealing with difficult terrain - off-roading when you're towing 2.7 tonnes. That's crazy.

You could drive down a dirt road and that's really what we're talking about for the vast majority of outback touring.

In the 90s, Mazda did this PR stunt where they conscripted me to take part in driving two Mazda 929s to the tip of Cape York. That is doable in a car like a 929 and no special tweaks were required. 

We had a BT-50 for support and a technician, because that's the way these things usually roll. The two 929s which were, back then, somewhat large luxury saloons which got all the way to the tip of Cape York in the 90s, which is a long time ago now so, there's that to consider.

I'd further suggest that if you want to tow anything heavier than two and a half tonnes, maybe you need a truck - not a LandCruiser, not a Patrol, certainly not a ute and not a wagon that's derived from a ute (like the Isuzu MU-X which is a D-Max).

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If you want a truck that does four wheel driving and heavy towing, here's one. Something like a Mitsubishi Fuso Canter dual-cab seven-seater has the low range transmission reduction which basically cuts the gearing in half. You could do some pretty serious all-terrain driving in a vehicle such as that.

The salient point here is that the gross vehicle mass (GVM) of this thing is 6.5 tonnes, and the gross combination mass (GCM) is 10 tonnes.

When you look at the position of the rear axle, relative to the end of the chassis and therefore the orientation of the towball relative to the rear axle line, that short distance is going to be a huge plus for towing stability. Stability is a major factor when you're towing something that weighs north of 2.5 tonnes.

You can tow anything you want, and take everything else, basically, with a vehicle such as this. And it’s safe to do so.

You can even get this particular truck optioned-down off the showroom floor; they can remove features you don’t need so you can drive it with a car licence. If you don't want to do that, you’re only required to get a light-rigid licence, which is not that hard to get, frankly. That way you can just upgrade your driver's licence and drive it with all the features left on it in order to tow the bigger caravan your heart desires.

I'd further suggest that there's a big difference between $80K for a truck and $120K for a LandCruiser; a truck is going to be objectively superior and then you've got 40K remaining to spend on the truck’s tray, some good lockable boxes and you could carry some serious cargo in the back. 

Trucks are designed to be operated endlessly, while heavily loaded, every single day. Passenger vehicles are not, including Toyota LandCruisers and Nissan Patrols, Isuzu MU-Xs etc. They're just not designed to be thrashed at their GVM and GCM limits in the way that trucks are. The R&D for durability is just done differently.

I’m all for outback adventuring to Dingo Piss Creek, but you've got to be rational about it.

A LandCruiser is a compromised vehicle for anything heavier than 2.5 tonnes; it's really compromised in the way that a truck is not. A truck would just do the job better and be more durable and more suitable. Think of the money you save over a LandCruiser.

You could even buy something cheap like a Kia Cerato or a Hyundai i30, Toyota Corolla etc. You could just use that as your daily driver and when you're heading out to Dingo Piss Ck, you can load up the truck without ever worrying about being overloaded.

It’s the best of both worlds, for a similar cost. I do not understand why more adventurers do not at least canvas the truck option if they really are committed to towing something so stupidly heavy. 

Also, you don't really need a 2.7 tonne Super Caravan to visit cool places in Australia - you just don't. There's this incredible upselling being forced upon consumers like you by the marketing departments of caravan manufacturer brands and peer group pressure is a thing. Making you self-conscious and provoking anxiety about turning up in a tiny campervan when everyone else is rolling into camp in some shiny chrome-grilled land barge with a LandCruiser towing it up front. It’s got to stop.

Are you going to cave into peer group pressure or are you going to live within your means by getting something modestly suited to what you really need while keeping tens of thousands of dollars in your bank account?

When you do rock up to a campsite, properly equipped with a 4X4 truck you’ll be turning heads and a certain amount of truck envy will ensue. You’ll probably be the wealthiest person around the campfire that night.

Furthermore, I'd suggest that instead of treating the purchase of a caravan like it's a separate thing to the vehicle, you've got to do it together. Don’t commit to the caravan or camper until you've got the vehicle solution in place first, otherwise you're going to end up with just a dirty big caravan stuck in the front yard or out on the street, waiting for something to tow it with.

Buy them together so they’re integrated; the caravan matches the vehicle and the vehicle can pull the caravan.

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