Towing Vehicle - Camper Trailer

I would suggest you look closely at the Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia Sorento (Clones) offerings. They aren't dual range 4WD but are very capable. The other way to go is a ISUZU MUX/Holden Colorado 7 Nissan Pathfinder type of vehicle if you want dual range.

My only concern with those 2 vehicles are their rather low tow ball weight capacities.

Ford Territory?

Pales
Toyota Hilux or similar would be fine if you are only towing a camper trailer . If were towing a full size van and you are worried about towing weight you would be better off with a Landcruiser or Patrol. If you are not doing any off road work any of the Japanese soft roaders would be fine.

I used an 08 manual Forester to tow a camper trailer on 3 outback trips with no drama. Faultless vehicle over 87k km during ownership from new. But pay close attention to gross trailer weight; no more than about 800 kg or towing will be a pain.

You probably should decide on the camper first. There is a huge weight difference between models.
Be careful of softroaders and sedans/wagons, while their tow weights may seem respectable, some have towball weights of around only 5% of the maximum towing weight.
Towing a 1500kg camper with a car rated to 1500kgs but with a ball weight of only 80kgs could prove problematic.

The Diesel NP Pajero I have tows my Jayco Camper like it is not even there. When I got it a few years back, I overtook a truck on the Stuart. Put the foot down like I was still driving my previous car out of habit (2.8 Patrol) and all of a sudden I was speeding, even for the Stuart.

Don't know what the newer Pajeros are like.

I agree with Manfred completely - you need to decide on the camper first, as it WILL dictate what you need as a towing vehicle.

If I read your requirement correctly, it sounds like your commuting use will be most of the tow vehicle's life. I would certainly agree that if you want a "daily commuting vehicle" then you will need to be selective in what CT's you consider. Heavy CT's and "daily commuting vehicle" don't really belong in the same sentence, just as LandCruisers don't suit most people as suburban commuters.

If you can find a suitable CT then I'd personally consider the "Japanese soft-roader" class, as they drive like a car. Just to put softroaders into perspective, I checked the Hayman-Reese listings for the Forester. Their HD bar is rated 1800/180kg for all 1997-on models. For our MY07 (which has a registered tare weight of 1355kg) the plated figures are GVM of 1950, GALR:Front 1010 and GALR:Rear 1035kg.

I have towed with this, and it tows nicely, but I wouldn't want to pull a 1500kg trailer around Australia - you would certainly know it was there.

Foresters also come in a diesel these days. I've only been a passenger in one but it felt quite powerful.

Agree with you, Hilux, Cruiser, BT50 or similar are all too big for a wife to take shopping or dropping off the kids at school.

A Prado would be a good compromise in terms of size. They can be 8 seaters too which is handy. Used diesel Prados range from 30-40k or thereabouts.

A Hilux and a BT 50 are much the same ,But you cant compare a Cruiser to Either.
One is heavy duty and Two are not .

Hi Nathan

Having towed a small 750kg camper with a manual Forester to Darwin and back from Nthn NSW I would not recommend towing anything heavier and in fact would say avoid these smaller SUV's altogether.

As mentioned tow ball weight is a major problem with a fully loaded camper plus all the extra stuff in the back of the car. Fuel usage is also terrible when towing and you can expect about 15-16 litres/100km. Combine that with a 60 litre tank and you need to stop at just about every servo.


Agree also on problems with manual Forester. It is nearly impossible to reverse uphill or over a gutter without burning the clutch. We eventually had to replace our clutch at about 190,000km which wasn't too bad all considering.

We still own our Forester and can honestly say it is a good vehicle however not for what you want to do with it. Because we want to do more trips we have actually purchased an older Landcruiser and have found it to be ideal for long journeys and far less stressful towing a trailer

Do yourself a favour and get a decent sized tow vehicle. It will be a lot safer to tow with and give you more room for your stuff.

Peter

The new Foresters are quite a large vehicle these days.

Perhaps an XTrail might be ok for your needs. The 2.5 petrol or the Diesel model although I'm not certain the Diesel model is out in the new one yet.

I tow an Aliner camper (1200kgs) with an ASX diesel. On a 4000k recently we averaged 8.6LP100 (previous trips we averaged between 8.5 and 11) , around town I get between 5.7 and 6.2. It tows the Aliner with ease and is great around town. Not saying it's the car for you; but, small SUVs are great for campers like Jaycos, Aliners, etc, made for it you might say. Anyone of them will do the job, effortlessly if a diesel. Why buy a tank if you're not going to war.

We tow a Jayco Flamingo (the largest Jayco camper) with my wifes Ford Territory AWD Petrol. Tow's very very with the weight distribution hitches. When the camper is loaded I think it hits the scales at around 1600kg, which is well within the Territory's 2300kg towing capacity.
Only negative is the fuel consumption of the petrol version, so I would recommend looking at the diesel version instead.