3.0 ltr Patrol Auto Towing Capability

It will eat it!!!

Stevo,

I tow a campervan (see below) that probably gets to about 1500kg loaded (empty1200kg) with no problem at all behind my 3.0 auto.
You will need trailer brakes of course and I believe over ride hydraulics are preferred for camper trailers. I have electric brakes on the van.

Going up hill you do slow down but never to the detriment of most traffic. I use the PWR setting next to the selector when driving through traffic to give a quicker acceleration. I also lock it out of OD when the terrain is hilly to avoid unnecessary up and down shifts.

We can easily sit on 110+ on flat terrain, overtaking road trains etc with no problem.

Diesel consumption increases with speed and load of course. Expect about 15L per 100KM at around 95-100 with a full load. The highest consumption I recorded when towing at high speed on a windy day was around 17L.

The cruise control works OK when towing on the flat, but it drops out when you come to a hill, so I have learned to anticipate this and I press down on the accelerator to clear the hill, then ease off to the cruise setting at the top.

You will see 3.0 L nissans towing quite large vans and I am sure someone on the forum will fill you in on the heavy weights too.

Kingo

After experiences with 3.0auto and 4.2man, the 3.0 auto is ideal for your purpose. Both ok for moderate towing, with the 3.0 better of the 2, just avoid O/D at all times. Niether great for really big loads in my opinion. Great 4wd's though.

Stevo, For that weight camper you'll hardly know it's there. Just remember on the rough roads while you drive in comfort, that the camper will be rattling along behind you - slow down a little. We were given these words of wisdom from a seasoned caravaner when we stopped and the door hinge had broken on the windup camper - the gentleman had the right sized bolts ready to fix it before my husband could reach for his toolbox. We slowed down a bit after that and not so much fell off its hinges in the camper.

The auto has the same motor as the manual - just apparently rated lower due to breaking capacity of auto.

We towed a much heavier rig with a 3 litre auto.

Motherhen

Stevo,

We have an 07 3L auto Patrol, and it tows our camper (weighs 1100 empty, 1600kg fully loaded) really well. It really surprised us how it went on Fraser Island in the really soft sand. Never got bogged, even with the camper on.
It will tow that camper easily.

Cheers Greg

Stevo,

A mate of mine that I go on occasional camping trips with tows a much heavier trailer than what you are talking about behind his 3.0l Patrol without any troubles. His is a large tandem trailer with steel cabinets on the sides, 2 x quad bikes on the floor, and a standard camper trailer canvas set-up on a roof rack above it all.

I pull my own camper trailer which weighs about a tonne loaded behind a 2.5 litre Landrover diesel. The size of the diesel engine has very little impact on the towing ability of 4wd's these days (despite what some will tell you). My Landrover actually pulls the camper better than the 4.0 litre petrol Prado that I used to have.

Cheers ............... BM

Thanks for all your responses, folks. I obviously won't have any problems.

Yes they fit on most tow trucks