Hilux Petrol vs Towing

The 3.0L Diesel is an excellent motor, but if he's buying a non-turbo'd model he would have to accept that he's not going to do 100km/h over hills while towing. With a turbo, different sotrey all together, would have similar power to the petrol.

Hi Brew69,
From what I've read, I don't think the 3.0 litre diesel will offer much more power than the earlier 2.8 diesel hilux.
I have a '92 model 2.8 hilux and tow a 1.3 tonne CT (when loaded) and its very slow up any hill. I was going trade the 2.8 for a new 3.0 turbo diesel, but decided in the end to go the cheaper option and will fit a Denco turbo later this year.
Cheers Anthony

ive got a 2000 xcab 2.7petrol and i haven't had the mis-fortune to have to tow a trailer yet so i can't help with the trailer part....

but i can say that when i have some weight in the tray (~700 kilos) i notice that im changing down to fourth a LOT more... in fact you'd probably find fifth was next to useless if towing. admittedly it gets along fine in fourth and doesn't die too badly on hills.

milage doesnt seem to change much with the extra weight (avg around 13l/100km on the highway with ~700kilos, 12l/100km unladen @110-120km/hr)... altho the wind resistance from the trailer might hurt you more.

braking actually seems better with the extra weight (probably due to the extra weight over the back end) but 700kilo's over the rear axle is a lot different to 1700kilos pushing you from behind :)

ymmv...

cheers,

KG

If towing is going to be frequent, I would try to stretch the budget a bit further and look for a turbo. Bought a new one of these last year, and compared to the non turbo, of which I've driven plenty, there is a HUGE HUGE difference. The more you load it up, the bigger the difference becomes. Economy is better and the gearbox is stronger too. We were so happy with the engine, when it was time to upgrade we bought a Prado with the same engine. Drive them all, there's no comparison.

Steve.