Pro's & Con's

Firstly are you talking about on road or off.

Remember most of the maximum towing capacities are written bassed on, on road conditions and on many of the new light utes are in the opinion of many optomistic.

so ya Navara has a specified maximum towing capacity of 3 tonnes, and a curb weight of less than 2 tonnes..so unless you are stacking the narvara full of pretty heavy stuff the van is going to weigh more than the towing vehicle.
and ya gona be dragging arround about 5 tonnes minimum with a 2.5 liter 4 banger.......yeh it may do it legally, but far from comfortably.

Another thing abouts utes is that they have considerable overhang between the rear axle and the hitch point.
This presents a load leverage and ramp over and ditch drag issues off road.

there have also been rear chasis damage issues reported with many of the current crop of 4wd utes when towing off road and not necessarily near towing capacity....remember the previous generation of utes has twoing capacities of arround 1800Kg and curb wieights of arround 1800Kg, and the new utes are not twice as strong as the previous generation.

The comander is in a completly different catagory of vehicle, it is a similar vehicle to a patroll or landcruser.

There is a big difference between 3 tonnes and 3.5 tonnes towing capacity and that group of vehicles have towed arround that for quite some time

we have a 3.5 tonne towing capacity and arround a 2.4 tonne curb wieight.
once you fillt that with some fuel and a few bits of gear, ya looking at a tow vehicle weighing arround the same as the caravan......not so long ago that represented the maximum towing capacity of a vehicle.

AND you are talking about a a 6 liter V8 in the comander, and at least a 4 liter six or a V8 in all the competing vehicles.......except the 4 cylinder turbo diesel patroll ..which is known as the hand grenade for obvious reasons.

Towing a 3 tonne van with a 4 cylinder ute....sorry regardless of the spec's...dreaming.

cheers

What about the 4.8 petrol Patrol? Robin Miller thinks they are a good choice and it makes sense to me.

What about new pathfinder or pajero both T/D Not sure of the tow weight on them thou ? ...............

Ye ye yeh, there is this whole generation of new utes..and they are all pretty close in spec.

They all have rediculously high tow rating for their tare mass and for the engine size.

The only reason they are able to offer these tow ratings is that the design rules have changed..and I do not mean for the better.

These new "optomistic" tow ratings may be fine and beaut for a short trip to the tip, the job site or the local boat ramp, but the expect these light vehicles to work to capacity for extended periods and at highway speeds is plainly rediculous.

Towing a trailer that is heavier than the tow vehicle is simply not safe......simple physics of mass will tell you that.

Then its a matter of heat....... engines are all about heat and air flow.....one of the major causes of failure particularly in turbo diesels is combustion chamber temperature and indicated by exhaust gas temperature.

No matter what the horepower figures come out with, a 4 cylinder motor simply can not flow as much air and disipate as much heat as a 6 or a V8 of twice the capacity.

So on long, heavy hauling a 4 cylinder simply can not produce high power outputs for as long as a 6 or an 8, both in the short and long term.

Then ther are some traps for young players.

Like :) limited tow ball down force.
Because some of these rigs are fundamentally unstable, people tend to run quite high towball down force.....some of these newer vehicles have 10% of towing capacity and no more, some less.

Then there is the weakness the the rear section of chasis beyond the rear spring hangers......there has to be a crumple zone...mmm guess what

There have been some very interesting pictures of utes with damaged rear chasis on these new utes due to towing off road.

OH and if you think any vehicle can tow its maximum rated capacity comfortably off road you are dreaming and don't grasp basic physics.

We have a 4wd that drives by 4 wheels for a reason......then we hook up a trailer and go off road.....its like that vehicle is doing a permanent recovery.

So you have a vehicle with 4 tyres weighing 2.5 tonnes, that is towing a trailer weighing 3 tonnes and has 4 wheels......which has more traction and rolling resistance.........now put that in mud, sand or heavy terain.

I don't know about now, but when my brotherinlaw was in trasport in the army, all the vehicles had two load ratings, the more or less normal rating for on road and a considerably reduced "All Terain Capacity"

Far too commonly in both the 4wd and the aravan community, people push the boundries of GVM and towing capacity...not very clever.

Then you have people who do not have sufficient confidence in their vehicle to drive it at full highway speeds.....

to put it bluntly, if it is not safe at 100KPH on good open highway and capable of achieveing and maintaing at least 95KPH on most open highway......it should not be on the road.

cheers

Keep searching for that good 2nd hand Landcruiser or Nissan. 6 pots of diesel and heaps of torque. Last for ever and a day. I would not like to tow a big van with any 4 cyclinder tug - they work too hard and as a result use the same fuel as a bigger Nissan or Tojo.

John

Besides all the tech stuff it looks unsafe. We tow our galoppy with a 76 series. from the passengers perspective it was a relief when it was time to round up a huge van behind a dual cab. Back a gear and it took off like a rocket up hill too. When there is no traffic around 90km/hr is what we stick to. By the way our manouver was watched by truckies and was commented on the uhf comparing to the dual cab set up. Sure were poorer for it but long term use of our gear is more important.
Its great that you asked, way too many people out there not informed properly.
Cheers

Hi Guy's, thanks for your opinions, all taken note of, seems to have gone of the track a little with speed, oldies, safe / unsafe,Tassie, etc..,
My current Nissan Navara 2.5 tow's just great 100 -- 110 kph when needed not a problem, the problem is that on a very slight incline I have to ride the clutch for the first 100 meters or so, once I get going the turbo kicks in NO PROBLEM !!
BUT, even I know that the crappy clutch in that car, & the new Mazda BT50 & the Ranger, & many many more new 4X4's, the clutch are all the same Throw-a-way crap.
As far as the Jeep is concerned, Na giving that a miss, I have managed to find an Nissan Patrol 4.2 TD Manual, older than what i really wanted, BUT have you ever tried to find a GOOD Cruiser or patrol ??? Na I thought not !!
Anyway, its been an interesting read, & I do know what i should be buying, just really needed an opinion on Jeep !!
Many thanks for your time all

Redback