Best vehicle for long-distance, 2500kg towing capability & touring | Auto Expert John Cadogan

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[samlewis]

Just completed 21, 000 km towing a 3t caravan with a NW Pajero. Picked it up for $27K with 90, 000 km on it. Spent $4K on Lovells suspension upgrade in SA, which made it legal to tow 3t with 300 kg ball weight. Absolutely no issues whatsoever. Great fuel economy sitting in 4th and doing 95 km on the open roads.

[andyteitge]

In a previous life, I was an auto elec. One year, I worked for two customers who were preparing for long caravan trips of over 3 months. One couple had a lightweight European van, and the other bought a house on wheels, complete with washing machine. Some time later, they returned home and popped into the workshop for maintenance work. The couple with the lightweight van (towed with an ancient Mazda Ute) reported a brilliant holiday up the Eastern side of our wonderful country. The other couple restricted themselves to day trips out from caravan sites - because the caravan was simply too much of a pain in the arse to move about the place. Lesson learned! Keep the videos coming, John. Great work!

[AutoEngineerVideos]

@Auto Expert John Cadogan, while I understand why you said that the vehicle's payload is the most constrained aspect of the loading while towing, there's actually something that's often even more constrained: the rear axle load rating (affectionately known as rear GAWR - rear Gross Axle Weight Rating). It can be a bit difficult to find the front and rear GAWRs these days, but for those who can find them, it's a good idea to do some calculations to make the situation look even more dire. Find the towball weight, then multiply it to account for leverage that unloads the front axle and inconveniently adds it to the rear axle. For an average modern 4X4 wagon, a 3500kg trailer with 350kg ball weight will end up loading the rear axle between 500kg and 520kg. Even when towing with the vehicle otherwise unladen, the rear axle on many vehicles will be so close to its GAWR that it's a good idea for the driver to go on a diet for a few weeks before towing with the maximum permitted ball weight. After all, considering where the driver's torso is in the car, around half of the driver's mass will be taken by the rear axle (give or take a bit). Unless the trailer is balanced well enough to reduce the ball load to, say, 5% of the ATM, a weight distribution hitch is absolutely necessary for most 4X4s with such a heavy trailer. However, that comes with extra risk of cracking the vehicle's chassis and/or that of the trailer. If my calculations are correct, most vehicles will hit the rear GAWR before they reach the GVM or GCM, but this extremely important aspect of towing mass calculation is neglected by nearly all but professional truck drivers.

[gill]

John, I like the irony in the way you heap scorn on toilets in caravans as a distasteful way of carrying treated effluent but don’t mind sleeping within a few feet of a toilet as you do in nearly every hotel/motel I have ever stayed in and just like a caravan you can hear everything your partner or child is doing while using it. Granted the effluent isn’t carried in a sealed container with chemicals that render it almost inert as it is in a caravan.
If of course but you are on an upper storey of a motel it’s a lot less convenient than a caravan to just step outside and or air the van for a few minutes. Of course most caravans parks have a toilet block so you don’t even have to use the toilet in the van other than emergencies. I am even willing to bet if you have an ensuite in your bedroom at home it is within a couple of metres of where you sleep all night long with nothing but a 40mm wooden door between yourself and your also quite acoustic port of ablution.
I haven’t even mentioned what a cesspool of previous tenants pathogens are waiting for you in each motel room you stay in regardless of how well they are cleaned between occupants.
Then there is the lovely air you get to share with a possibly a few hundred other people as the air conditioning pumps more airborne viruses, bacteria, skin particles, hair etc around the hotel for you to breathe, bathe and bonk in. As for the mattresses, let’s just say one ultraviolet light and you have a Jackson Pollock painting, regardless of how much the room costs per night and you know what dust mites prefer to eat.
But.. there is room service.
Ps I don’t own a van but I have done a lot of camping and staying in both upmarket and cheap motels. Something to be said for isolation, good views and not having hundreds of people sleeping within a few feet of you.

[twodogs]

Bla Bla Bla, just answer the question.

[skillsrev]

I was test driving a Volvo FM yesterday. 500 horses + 90t payload, you could even tow two of those dreaded vans. Seriously though, not enough people understand vehicle weights, and your doing a great job promoting it. I would suggest just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should, try a smaller van or a vehicle that can.

[daviddaw]

John, I write as a British, former shed-dragger, or owner of an acoustically transparent shittoir as you so eloquently call them. Having seen the light and now no longer crapping in a small cupboard, may I say how bloody funny you are? Once again, you are firing on all eight cylinders when it comes to sarcasm (and motoring knowledge). Keep up the good work

[tedioustitus]

If you don't mind an older style vehicle try a Gen 4 Pajero. They shoulder the tow weight well (2500 kg with 250 kg ball load) or (3000 kg with 180 kg ball load).
In addition they have a high payload capacity of 775 kg.
We old boys love them.

[Jack-rcyl]

The LR4 is better at heavy towing than anything else Ive tried up to light trucks. Stability, wheelbase, weight, electronics, handling, 600nm torque, twin turbo. It did win tow car of the year for a decade. Reliability is not an issue in mine.

[fifis]

The main reason people keep asking this same question is because the pajero sport is the best value vehicle out there capable of doing this sort of towing and the 2500kg is really the lightest ATM caravan out there capable of comfortably housing a common family of 4.
The great australian dream isn't owning your own home anymore. It's being able to tow a caravan around the country at a reasonable price and still be legal!😉

Keep up the good fight John! You are sharing life saving knowledge.

[robfowler]

I hope Pete has a friggin awesome touring holiday

[davidlacey]

Nice Video John
I drive a 100 Series Landcruiser and a 2016 Hilux twincab, I also tow a 2.5T caravan.
Quite frankly, towing the caravan with the Hilux scares me.

[PaulyDownUnder]

Go the ford, cheap and easy to fix! I've owned a 2010 Falcon and surprising to me, has given me next to no problems at all. I'm no Ford lover, but my advice for ongevity is to be sure to service it regulary, maybe more often than required including replacing things more often than required like filters and oils and lubricants as well as replace parts as soon as they show singns of wear. Don't push it and think it will go another 5k km before changing a part as Fords a generally cheaper becuase they are made cheaper and thats where you'll get problems.

[Blanchy]

I think you'd have to admit you are fighting a losing battle in your opposition to Caravans. Maybe in terms of the dynamics, you should advocate "fifth wheels" as a solution?

[daintree]

I believe the best machine to tow a caravan is a Kubota tractor and it must be towed off road.

[peterrichardson]

For the sake of telling you something you already no doubt know, the mine field of weights goes so much further than discussed. A friend of mine has a 200 series land cruiser as a police vehicle (obviously regional) To get that vehicle across the compliance line, it can be fitted with a bull bar but no winch. Reason being, once fully loaded (i.e 5 occupants and gear) it would exceed the rated loading on the front axle.

[davidmccallum]

I have a ford f350 great for towing and surprisingly economical

[tighematthew]

My Isuzu NPR 45/155 4500kgs towing standard 👍

[glt]

Hello John just booked an I30 in for a couple of possible warrenty issues to our local dealership. Told by local dealership workshop that two issues would be two diagnostic fees at $160 each. The local service department is nothing more than an extorsion racket. And they are getting progressively worse.