This article would be food for thought to many beginning to decide on a tow vehicle and the van they are considering towing.
There is quite probably not much that many of the experienced caravanners on this forum are not aware of but, even so, it is well worthwhile reading it all again to either refresh the knowledge or expand it.
Yep what Holden dont tell you in there adds or on there sales paper work .
If you tow 3500 kgs your vehicle can only be 2500 kgs . And Id say thats including towballl weight . To me thats false advertising .
I have a drawbar scale and in 10 mths of touring Australia I have asked a couple of guys if they wanted to test even got into a heavy debate with one and only 1 guy did . .
I went to the trouble on leaving for our trip and got weighed at the first weigh bridge I came across 10ks from home and came up 350 kgs under and also did gcm gvm on van and ball weight . But how many people are not sure what they have .
G`day,
What Holden do have is a capacity calculator in their brochure so that you can work out if their vehicle will be suitable for your needs. I don`t know if other manufacturers dom the same.
Merry Christmas all.
Jontee.
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Remember, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
G`day again ,
As an addendum to the above post , in the capacity calculator in the Colorado brochure there is an example given and it happens to be based on a 3500 Kg caravan.
Cheers,
Jontee .
__________________
Remember, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
I don't believe that the car manufacturers are misleading people. Rather the people who wish to tow are not researching sufficiently. IMO the best people to speak to regarding a tow vehicles towing ability are experienced Caravan Sales people as they will have come across your model with previous customers. Then you can cross check their advice here and with the car sales people.
My advice to all intending to buy a tow vehicle is to research its towing capacity and any caveats, I'ts tow ball mass capacity (remembering that approx. 10% of your caravans loading capacity will fall on your empty tow ball mass) and the Vehicles GCM.
Typically Utes do poorly here as when they are towing their max weight you just about fit two passengers and half a tank of gas before they are overweight.
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Landrover Discovery 4 towing a New Age Manta Ray MR19E
Yep, that's true Muddy. However the manner vehicle specifications are detailed could be improved to help the hard of learning. I also believe that a "maximum sail area" should exist in a matrix with trailer weight. Whilst both might weigh 3.5T, there's a big difference to the towing vehicle between a 23' caravan and a trailer full of damp sand.
