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Post Info TOPIC: Help Needed on tow vehicle


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Help Needed on tow vehicle


Just a question going to travel and wondering about my tow vehicle it is a 2003 Toyota Land-cruiser 4700 V8 it only has 172,000 K's, Do you think this tow would be to heavy on petrol or should I trade for a Diesel. I do own my tow and love it.



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Gday...

I assume from what you have said you own the Cruiser and love it. Therefore I further assume you have looked after it and it is mechanically sound and does not have any idiosyncrasies. At 172,000km it still has a good long life in front of it.

It depends on what you are towing which will have the major impact on the economy it achieves. Depending on the weight of the van, you could expect anywhere between 20ltr/100km to 26ltr/100km - depending on a range of indeterminable variables.

To sell yours and buy a diesel will cost quite a few $$$. Diesel Cruisers are not cheap to buy- even secondhand. What it would cost you to upgrade would buy many, many litres of petrol - plus any vehicle you trade up to (or across to) may not be as reliable, well treated etc as the one you have.

A diesel will always tow weight better, and use less fuel ..... BUT - I doubt the cost and possible risk would justify the change of vehicle.

Perhaps others may disagree with me (which is not unusual ) but if it were me, and the vehicle was a good one, I'd stick with it.

Cheers - John

 



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Hi legendgj

 

I agree with John because you already have it. If you keep the Land Cruiser perhaps a long range fuel tank

Snail



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legendgj wrote:

Just a question going to travel and wondering about my tow vehicle it is a 2003 Toyota Land-cruiser 4700 V8 it only has 172,000 K's, Do you think this tow would be to heavy on petrol or should I trade for a Diesel. I do own my tow and love it.


 Legendgj,

Mate I have a 2004 4.7 V8 Petrol and tow a 25ft Heritage and yes the fuel consumption is some what heavy especially in windy conditions but mate I would not trade up for anything short of a complete blow up. As you would know the Cruiser is just so comfortable and reliable with more grunt than I need. Oh by the way mine now has 229k and we have been travelling for 5 1/2years full time.

We average between 20 and 25 ltrs per 100 Km when we are travelling.

Craig



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Craig n Bev

Doing what we want not what the system wants 



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Thanks for that, You have helped me so much :)

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smile Mate of mine has a 2006 V8 Cruiser, Loves the car tows a 22 ft Van around 2800 kgs, was getting around the 24 - 26 Ltr/100 Had it converted to Duel/Fuel cost around 4.5 grand,  had it done about 100 thousand k ago, He is happy, still got the car he loves, and when towing on Lpg uses around 28 t0 35 ltrs/100

Going on Today's prices, !! 26 ltrs petrol @ $1.12 = $29.12  --   35 ltrs Lpg @ 0.59 = $20.65. you need to keep your vehicle for a while to get your money back, but as you say, the V8 petrol cruisers are a great vehicle and worth keeping 



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Darren I like your maths on the gas conversion I wonder what the trade difference would be to go to a diesel and how long for the payback anyone got a clue here

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Hi, yeah l agree with others , keep it if the running gear is in good nick , on my WH 5.7 Statesman l had liquid injected lpg fitted and had it dyna tuned for the gas and petrol , this was 140,000ks ago , and the engine still is going strong @ 270k , it uses about 10% more on lpg , and at the time of the tune produced another 40 kW at the rear wheels on both fuels
I get around 300ks to a 45ltrs fill for general town / driving to work
So I can only say I'm more than happy with lpg and so are a few others at my work with large vehicles , I reckon it'd be great on your cruiser with the right person installing it and with a tune would produce good torque to tow with :)

Cheers Ken

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Woody n sue wrote, ---   Darren I like your maths on the gas conversion I wonder what the trade difference would be to go to a diesel and how long for the payback anyone got a clue here 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gidday, it's Daryl by the way smile  I don't have the current costings, However I first got my Mazda Tribute converted to Duel/Fuel in 2002, It was direct injection and cost me $4600, But back then you got a Government rebate of $2600 so it really cost me only $2000, I did the maths way back then, and on memory I had to do around 36000 Klm to get my money back, I had it fitted with 42000 k on the clock, and changed vehicle when it had done 186000 k so i reckon i was way in front, smile! and the car was still running like a dream, , smile Back then i was only towing a 16'6'' Pop Top.

Today I drive a 2011 Holden Colorado, Bought new With Gas compatible Engine, and Factory fitted Impco direct Injection LPG which GMH insist is fitted by The special vehicles section, [ HSV Holden ] and such it does Not incur any Warranty Issues, and servicing of the LPG component is Next to nothing $$ wise ?smile and the vehicle performs better power wise on Lpg, ! This added $4500 to cost of my new vehicle, and the gov't rebate was now only $1200

For your information, I now Tow a 2010 Lotus 19'6'' full Ensuite Van, fully loaded around the 2460 Kg, The best lpg consumption I have got is 20 L/100 k and the worst was 24 L/100k against heavy crosswind, average is around the 22 L/100 Mark

When NOT towing, I get 13 - 14 L/100 on Lpg,      --and  12 - 13 L/100 on Petrol, and as stated earlier, it performs slightly better on Lpg, when Towing I do not have the low down pulling power of the Diesels, and i agree if towing diesel is better, However I have towed this combination now for around 40000 Klm, and I am happy with it,   Ok thats my life story, help it assists someone , somehow, Happy and Safe travels to you all, smile



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We have a 1999 petrol/gas hybrid, it had about 200,000km on the clock and we towed a fully laden 17foot van (plus fully laden car) around Australia for 2 years continuously between 2009 and 2011. We only used the gas when unhitched for touring the different places. The car, though dearer to run than diesel, performed amazingly. It pulled well over every hill and dale, up mountains and through driving head winds. It never broke down (though we had one bit of trouble with the gas side of things but that didn't effect the petrol part).

If it is well maintained a LandCruiser won't do you wrong no matter what form of propellent.

Cheers

Jon



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