Hi all,
Finally jumped in and bought a panda after borrowing and hiring for a few years. We've used our one and only car to-date for our trips but fed up with having to be the idiots who push the limits of an SUV on the beach etc. Luckily we always go with family with proper 4WD who don't mind pulling us out!
So looking for a 2nd car as a dedicated tug. There's 5 of us (2 adults, 3 kids under 7). We bought a 2015 20.64-1 OB so need to tow up to 3100kg. As we already have a full size SUV daily, I was thinking of going for a dual cab ute with removable fibreglass canopy. That way I have a DIY workhorse when not a tug. Plus it's nice and light for beach work. We won't be loading up the tray when towing, just a fridge and not much else.
Thinking of a second hand Isuzu D-Max with around 80k on the clock. They seem very common tugs and well made with a generally rock solid engine. I'll make sure it has suitable tires and suspension for bad roads and beach.
Thoughts on this logic?
Hi
@Fallen , I have a dual cab Colorado, 2011 model which has the Isuzu 3 litre motor (turbo charged). It also has a fibre glass canopy with lift up tail gate window and lift up windows at the sides. I am only towing a Penguin weighing approx 1300kg when loaded and there is only two of us. Bought it 5 years ago with 72K on the clock. Now has 146k after 5 years of general use and towing and have found it easily does the job and is reliable too. Yes, I can take off the Canopy, but find it very useful for carrying things around under cover and secure too, so not likely to take it off. Fits all my extra stuff when I go camping that I do not want in van - extra fridge, drinks, and firewood if necessary. Good as a regular vehicle as the dual cab allows me to carry my two grand-children when necessary. My vehicle is rated to tow 3.0 tonne and has reasonable limited capacity for a fair load in the back of tug because van weight is down. Just watch your GCM (total of tug weight, plus load in tug (including passengers) and van. It is easy to go over the limit when you add gas bottles, water, and extra articles in van. Below is a picture of my tug and van. A comparison of vehicles and their load carrying capacities according to ARB Queensland can be found on my post # 1 18th June, 2019 Tow Vehicle Comparisons according to ARB Queensland! Copy attached for your info.
#1
Recently I attended the monster Caravan/camping Show in Brisbane and just happened to enter into the ARB display where I found the attached table of current vehicles' load and towing capacities compared. I was rather shocked to read some of the stats and even called over the expert there to explain a few things to me.
The ranking for
Vehicle Only is pretty straight forward to follow - Gross combined mass (total of everything together) minus gross vehicle mass (weight of your tug loaded) minus the kerb weight of your tug (empty but with all
standard fittings included) leaves you with the payload that you can legally place in tug. The 79 Series wins this with an available payload of 1125 kgs just ahead of the BT-50 with 1096 kgs.
The ranking for vehicles
At Max Tow Capacity is also easy to follow : Gross combined mass as per top comparison minus Tow capacity if reached ( the max weight that your tug is rated to tow) minus Gross vehicle mass remaining (reduced from comparison in top column) , minus the Kerb Mass (the same as top column same figures) leaves you with the reduced payload you can place in your tug. Once again, the 79 Series comes out on top with 1125 kgs still available whilst the Defender is a close second with 1078 kgs avaliable. The BT-50 is way behind now at only 396 kgs and the Colorado a long way last with only 57 kgs available!
The last comparison had me beat for a while until I was advised that the weight of passenger/s is calculated at 47 kgs each , but each passenger has an luggage allowance of 15 kgs (total of 62 kgs per passenger!!). I guess this makes allowances for children (or small adults?) So, to NOT use up your payload, get rid of the kids and their luggage!
In reading the comparisons in the last columns, they work on the max passengers plus the STANDARD fuel tank capacity/weight plus average ball weight of your loaded van (300 kgs seems heavy, but they do say it does not alter the rankings). The Defender tops the class with 412 kgs still available and the 79 Series a close second with still room for 403 kgs. 13 out of the 17 would be OVERLOADED by anything from 11 kgs (200 GXL) to 602 kgs (Colorado) and that is with only 5 passengers included.
So every time you add that extra bit of weight - bull bar, long ran
ge fuel tank, roof racks, light bars and winches, it will affect something. If you have only two persons and are not carrying passengers, you gain 186 kgs of extra capacity to cover some of your extras fitted. But when you add your OWN weight plus that of an adult passenger, most of us are going to eat up more load capacity by being over the 62 kgs EACH allowed for in the calculations.
This should make interesting reading for a lot of forum members with heavily loaded vans and tugs. But as the comparison sheet states:
DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER!!!..........Please