Towing a Tvan with a toyota prado

If you are buying new the Prado T/d will certainly handle the towing of such a van with ease and comfort although I do agree that they lack the overtaking power of the Nissan motor at speed but this is only negligible.

If I was you I would wait as the all new Hilux to be release shortly is coming out with a Common Rail 3.0 tD D4 motor with up to 40% more torque than the old hilux t/d. The new Hilux share the Prado chassis and drive train and motors so it is a matter of time before the Prado also has this common rail motor under the bonnet.

Much of the excuse of not making these common rails available has been due to the relative poor diesel quality in Australia in comparison to Europe however new regulations to be introduced nationally on May 1st will put and end to this hopefully.

Hi timbermatt

I've towed an Ultimate off-road camper around Oz (including Coburg Pen., Gibb River Rd, Dampier Pen., etc) with my 90 series petrol Prado with no problems & very little difficulty. Diesels have more torque so you should find the tripping even easier.

2006 in fact although some refineries have started producing the lower sulfur diesel already. By 2009 Europe will have 10ppm sulfur diesel. Haven't heard what is going to happen here but no doubt Aus. will have to follow the Euro and US lead.

Question is how the diesel changes will affect engines and components that were not designed to run on the lower diesel??

"BP has moved ahead of other Australian refineries to produce 50 ppm sulphur diesel, which the Federal government has mandated to be introduced from January 2006.

BP refinery business unit manager Kevin James said the Bulwer Island low sulphur diesel would be a ten-fold decrease on current Australian standards and at a level not required in most European countries until 2005."
source: http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7790

zac_sprint

I used to tow my T-Van with a very tired 60 series lancruser and could barley notice the difference with the T-Van in tow (OK the acceleration was terrrible with or without the T-Van). You wont have a problem with a turbo diesel Prado.
The T-Van is generally regarded to have the best suspension in the buisness but I take mine fly fishing so dont have any experience of the Gibb River Road.
Cheers John

Car and camper will handle Gibb River Rd etc; easy. Watch your tyre pressures, specially if you run the standard tyres Toyota put on 'em. (they're rubbish IMHO). Shock absorbers get a bit of a workout too.

People driving old diesels will not like what the new low sulpher fuel does to their motors. Have heard from several people in the trade (diesel mechanics) that upper cylinder and fuel pump wear is increased.

Cheers,

Muzz