Sunday, Mar 10, 2013 at 12:50
Yes, nissans crack, and yes the hilux/prado front axle ratings were such that if you put a bullbar and winch on them the vehicle was beyond manufacturer's specs prior to adding a passenger in the front
seat. Toyota revised this with a new axle rating and no physical change. That was a big headache for fleets once it was found out.
With regards your max towing in utes, that is a big can of worms, especially when touring and you'd like to carry gear in and on the car, in the fuel tank and carry the odd passenger.
Tow ratings on their own are not comparable across the board. You need to do some maths with GVM, GCM, Payloads and rear axle ratings. Then you will start to get a meaningful picture.
Vehicles like the ranger/colorado/triton etc arrive at their 'massive' tow ratings with zero payload at max towball rating. That means a driver and 10 litres of fuel in the tank - NOTHING ELSE. Only then can you hit max tow.
Hilux maintains a usable 600 odd K.G. of payload at max tow, which in effect makes them a much more viable towing proposition in the real world than the higher rated headline grabbers. Wagons are abysmal for carrying load and towing it at the same time.
Land rovers were mentioned - they are rated for towing at max payload, and derated offroad. I'm not a fan of LR reliability, but I think the whole world should move to the LR payload/tow rating system. Put it all in a spreadsheet, and the LR's come out on top by a long shot. The one's with the amazing towing advertisements (BT50/Colorado come to mind) have, in the real world, only modest towing ability once payload and ball weight are taken into consideration.
All vehicles are stamped, and all manuals must carry this
information, so buyer/user beware - if you don't know this stuff (which apparently most don't??) then it would be in your best interests to find out how your tare weights are arrived at, and what your current weight is. There are going to be a lot of extremely embarrassed van draggers out there - I see them every day. Ubiquitous Cruiser wagon, tinny on roof, loaded to gunwales, towing big van = goooorne.
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Follow Up By: olcoolone - Sunday, Mar 10, 2013 at 13:09
Sunday, Mar 10, 2013 at 13:09
Toyota have always be criticised for the Hilux have the lowest towing capacity in the upper end 4x4 ute market..... maybe there is sense to their madness.
For years you could only tow 2250Kg and only in the last few years they have increased this to 2750Kg when most others were around the 3000Kg-3500Kg.
We have a new
Ranger that can tow 3500Kg and our 200 series Landcruiser can do the same..... the chassis's are like chalk and cheese in the Landcruisers favor.
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