Towing a van with the D-4D Altitude

[jinandrew Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jinandrew]

Hi All,

Firstly, great forum with lots of great examples of what can be done with these vehicles. I am about to purchase a Diesel Auto Altitude and after reading lots of different reviews most being positive, there seems to be a common theme that the 150 series may be a bit underpowered when under load. We will be towing a single axle 16ft Jayco Expanda and our previous vehicle has been a 2004 NP Pajero which predominantly we ran on LPG. The gas usage when towing along with the continued rising cost of LPG was one of the main reasons we are now making the move to diesel.

For those of you that tow, boats, trailers, caravans could you share your thoughts on your towing experience and thoughts when fully loaded on the Prado diesel engines power and ability to tow well.

Really appreciate any real world thoughts, and thanks to those who have helped me get this point in deciding on the Altitude.

Regards,
Andrew

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

I only tow about 20,000km a year, but when I do it's usually 'big' loads, 2-2.5t and it tows fine.

I've towed up and down some pretty steep gradients and it never seems to have any issues.

As with any vehicle, fitting a trans cooler if you're towing lots might be a good idea.

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

Get a transmission cooler and a decent exhaust. I tow an expanda and some times it does struggle with hills. A mate just got a custom 3" exhaust and said it really improved power on hills and fuel economy.

The exhaust will be my next mod.


Steve.

[jinandrew Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jinandrew]

Thanks Steve. Will do further research on this.

[alexr Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close alexr]

I have a 150 GXL and a ski boat and I have just returned from a trip to Mildura from Melbourne, I was surprised at the fuel economy of the prado averaging 13.5l/100 into a head wind and 12.8l/100 in no wind comming home. I sat on the speed limit the whole time pushing 110 where allowed, and got caught out passing a couple of times, and even managed two bdoubles and a lancer all at once together and pulled back in to the left at 145kph not bad considering we were loaded, 3 adults and a 2000kg ski boat on the back.

No issues with Trans out there and we had hot days of 32 deg. Towed mostly in drive on way home to get the 12.8, and S5 on way there pulling back to 4 to pass and break into town.

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

I think the difference with the ski boat will be the pointy front end. We jokingly call our van “The Parachute” for its ability to slow things down. When I first got the Prado I got 10 km/l, with the mods I now get 12 to 13 km/l (mind you I do have a lot of things that will cause issues with fuel consumption). Towing the van I get about 17 km/l, and that is with a 16” Expanda.

[barajak Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close barajak]

It gets better as you run it in. I tow a two tonne off road van and sit on 90kmh in S4. Last year we took the van to Alice Springs from Victoria, averaged 13.4LHK over 5,000km. Might do a little better if it was not on cruise control most of the time and we had some nasty headwinds as well. I kept half an eye on the scanguage when cruising up hill and when the turbo boost was aproaching max boost, I kicked the CC and held the boost steady and let the speed come off a bit. The biggest problem is traffic in front of you not going fast enough to stay out of the way. I don't go faster as I do not want to cruise with rpm over 2400 and after spending thousands on a gearbox rebuild on a 100 series, I'm not prepared to tow a 2 ton in 5th. Never had the cooling system over 90° when towing in fourth either. It sits at 85/86 on the flat and it will get up to 90° on a decent long hill.

[krypto Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close krypto]

Towing in S4 my car hardly ever changes gears and you can hear the gearbox constantly changing when using 5th gear, which is why the manual says to use S4.

What is "cc"?

[Guest Close Guest]

CC = Cruise Control

[sweetpea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sweetpea]

I think the difference with the ski boat will be the pointy front end. We jokingly call our van “The Parachute” for its ability to slow things down. When I first got the Prado I got 10 km/l, with the mods I now get 12 to 13 km/l (mind you I do have a lot of things that will cause issues with fuel consumption). Towing the van I get about 17 km/l, and that is with a 16” Expanda.

Your economy improves when you tow?

17 km/l is about 5.9 litres per 100 km

[smakb Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close smakb]

Your economy improves when you tow?

17 km/l is about 5.9 litres per 100 km

i wish.... 17 L/100km would be more accurate

[BruDi Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BruDi]

We tow a caravan of over 2 tonne off road and usually sit on about 90-95, loaded would be about 2.4 max. We get about 17L/!00 km. We are stunned with the Prado's performance; leaves our Troopy for dead. More pickup and go, but fuel consumption is not better than the Troopy. We also had until recently a kimberley kamper and the fuel consumption when towing that wasn't much better.

Di and Bruce

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

We tow a caravan of over 2 tonne off road and usually sit on about 90-95, loaded would be about 2.4 max. We get about 17L/!00 km. We are stunned with the Prado's performance; leaves our Troopy for dead. More pickup and go, but fuel consumption is not better than the Troopy. We also had until recently a kimberley kamper and the fuel consumption when towing that wasn't much better.

Di and Bruce

Is it D$D diesel or a V6 ?

[chester ver 2.0 Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester ver 2.0]

To the guys towing in S4 what are your revs sitting at when around the 95kph mark