Prado 150 3ltr diesel (best towing weight)

[Kel W Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Kel W]

Just bought my Prado and thinking of joining the grey nomads. So with all the experience out there with you guys towing caravans I would like some info on what you think is the best towing capacity for the 3ltre turbo automatics. I know the limit is 2.5 T

Cheers Kel W

[120D4D Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close 120D4D]

I only tow a medium weight with the Prado and rarely exceed 1500kgs. That said those that say they tow their 2.5T van at 100km/h and 'don't even know it's there' are either ignorant or idiots!

I'd suggest 2T - 2.25T is probably fine, over that you need to keep a good eye on your weights, especially tow ball load, and remember to deduct that weight from your Prado's payload...

Know anyone with a 'van of around (under) 2.5T? Take one for a drive and see how it feels!

[davo94 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close davo94]

2t Van would be at the upper end. My inlaw's had a hilux and he wanted a prado so we hooked up his 2.3t Van and after a short trip went and purchased a 200 series.

[150gxl Member Find all posts View Profile Close 150gxl]

Hi Kel,

This is a personal preference issue you've raised and I agree with Davo at 2.0 tonne.
Yes, there are plenty examples of Prados on the road towing near, on or over the 2.5 max but I personally would not go there.

Our van is 1590 Tare pop-top, 400kg payload and we tow with the Prado having 500 kg of its payload taken up, including the extras on the vehicle as per the signature below.
We specifically chose our van to fit our self-imposed 2t limit, so that the tug weighed more than the van.
I've had the exciting experience where an 1860 kg trailer tried to escape on a 100kph stretch of road, caused by a "sinkhole" in the left half of the lane,
around a bend, downhill. The tow vehicle at the time was an 80 series diesel, non turbo, and it took quite a lot to stop the tail wagging the dog.
Fortunately, that trailer was tandem axle so things happened a lot more slowly than with a single axle.
Unfortunately, it had override brakes - had it had electric brakes, it would have been easier to control the sway.
Had the trailer been the same weight as, or heavier than the tow vehicle, I'd be relating this story to St. Peter!

The practical side of towing this size van is of course in the driving experience. Lack of power is counterbalanced by good economy.
The Prado definitely knows the van is on back when you travel on undulating roads and especially, for we East Coast people, when we climb the Great Divide.
Cunningham's Gap can be ascended at the speed limits of 90 and 70 KPHs but you have to work at it.
We've done that trip and Toowoomba Range at least seven times towing the van, then three times from Sydney up to Katoomba and Lithgow, including Bells Line of Road; also at least half a dozen very steep climbs out of places like Kangaroo Valley, Ilford-Sofala-Bathurst, Talbingo near Snowies, Moonbi Range.
These all tested the Prado and I had to work the box judiciously to maintain a moderate speed. The handbook - accurately - describes the vehicle as semi-automatic and I've found it does work best with manual gear changing - at least there's no clutch to burn out. A 200 Series would have been nice for those places!

However, the plus side is that with all the towing we've done in the last couple of years, according to our Wikicamps "Fuel Map", we've averaged 12.2 L/100, including all those climbs mentioned above. Distance covered was 27,877k with 56% of that distance towing. The other 44%, a mixture of cross-city (Brisbane) trips or trips up to the Sunny Coast and hinterlands. We've done no long trips, say in excess of 300 k, without the van.

The heaviest consumption with the van was naturally where those steep climbs were involved, returning 17.5 L/100 for a quarter of a tank in the Snowies.
On the Newell, with the van, we return 13.5 (no wind) to 15.5 L/100 (noticeable head winds). New England has more undulations and small towns and the consumption is 14.5 to 15.5 L/100 there. On the highways we keep to the open speed limits so as not to inconvenience the truckies doing their jobs. We do seek out the minor roads as a rule, and will often cruise along at 70~80 kph when no one's about.

The weight of your van naturally depends on your requirements for a caravan - full ensuite will dictate around an 18ft and choices, at 2t, will be limited to the European types such as Baileys and Swift. I believe most the Aussie produced 18ft vans will be well over 2t. Watch out for some models that have 300 or less payload - this load will disappear very quickly if you throw 180 liters of water, annex, camp chairs, food and clothing.

We use our van like a tent. We seek out free camps mainly and use our outside kitchen and fridge much more than the inside ones - we generally get the weather to enable this. So a 16ft pop top does it for us at this particular time, and allows us into some tighter bush tracks and onto some nice river banks, where longer, lower vans cannot access.

In summary, plenty are happy to tow the higher weights, as is their legal right.
We however, are comfortable with the tow ability and safety of our set up.

HTHs

Kel E (for East?)

[Turbo Piston Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Turbo Piston]

I personally wouldn't tow more than 2.2T with the prado for longs distances. 2T would be better I think.

[newbenomad Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close newbenomad]

We have a three year old 150 diesel Prado and tow a dual axle, full height van of 2.5 ton all up. I was a little concerned initially but the Prado handles it quite well at a (gps) touring speed of around 90 klm per hour. Just finishing our third big trip and have clocked up over 30,000 klm towing so far without incident and at an average fuel use of just under 16 litres /100 klm.

If you wish to tow at 100, limiting the van weight to two ton would probably be kinder to the car. Hope this helps.

[gspy4u Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gspy4u]

Agree with what has been said. We have a tandem that is just on the 2t and it tows well at the speed limit and for overtaking but i feel if you went any higher you are asking for trouble. Yes the thing is rated to tow the 2.5t but i wouldn't be. I hate seeing all these dual cabs towing massive vans at there limit. Hate having something heavier than what i"m driving.

[Joe Lighty Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lighty]

My personal preference would be not to tow anything over 2T - it's working really hard pulling 2.5T, in my opinion.

[Bluedog16 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bluedog16]

I would agree that towing up to 2T is treating the car well and has the addded safety advantage of the car being heavier than the van which I believe is most wise.
Food for thought is the fact that in England and New Zealand the Prado 150 is rated to tow 3T by Toyota and you can get a engineering upgrade in Australia to tow 3T for GX and GXL models. I personally would still not be tempted for the reasons mentioned.