Purchase of Towing Vehicle

Rather than power you should be looking at the amount of torque produced at your intended towing speed in the appropriate gear for your tug. With 4WDs this will be in the 2-2,500 rpm range. That is why diesels are better tow vehicles than the petrol models, their maximum torque is produced in that range. Torque is pulling power and is what counts, sure you can achieve more torque at the tail shaft with a petrol engine but this entails shifting down a gear or two (ie. using your manual torque converter.)

The other thing to look for is the low gearing in high range.This affects how easily you can get your rig moving, this is important when getting you van on site and negotiating towns with traffic lights. That is why I prefer automatics, the torque converter adds an extra 2:1 ratio to the low gear. The manual Navara has a first gear ratio of 4.368:1 and an axle ratio of 3.692:1 giving an overall ratio of 16.126. The ratios in the auto are 3.842:1 and 3.357:1 than when you add the 2:1 for the torque converter you get an overall ratio of 25.795:1. This will apply to most vehicles, that is why the auto transmission vehicles will jump away from the lights where the manuals are limping away with their drivers still slipping the clutch.

PeterD

I take it you are talking about 4x4's.

Anything will tow a trailer...just depends how fast you want to go, how much fuel you want to use, how comfortable you want to be, where you want to go and how big is you wallet

If you choose a Nissan Patrol, Nissan Navara, Nissan pathfinder, Toyota Hilux, Toyota Prado, Toyota Landcruiser, Mitsubishi Pajero, Mitsubishi Triton, Ford BT50 or the Mazda version and many more vehicles you will not have a problem.

Don't over look the Korean made vehicles as well or the Ford Territory.

Obviously the bigger the better will win.

With the type of question you asked there could be thousands of different answers and they would all be correct.



Regards Richard

Purchase of Towing vehicle?

Mate....Toyota ...obviously!
You dont want to broken down heaps do you?


Sorry couldnt help myself......................

LOL

Hairy

The safest way to tow is have a car that weighs more than the load it is towing IMHO.

As for power to GVM, well, the more power the better.

I've heard of people towing 22 foot vans with a 3 L Diesel Patrol, well that wouldn't suit me.

For sheer tugging power and economy, the 4.8 Petrol Patrol fitted with LPG is very hard to beat as a tow tug.

Jim.