The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

After having my truck stolen i am now looking for a replacement.
i have to tow a 3.5 tonne trailer around so need a bit of power without using to much fuel?
been looking at discovery tdv6 or 3l hilux double cab, anyone on here have an good/bad experiences of these.
Also vw touareg but only the 2.5tdi, all need to be in manual as i dont like the idea of towing with auto box.
cheers brett

From what I've heard, many UK car dealers don't buy anything anymore that even resembles an SUV. Public perception has changed so much that it seems to be a no-no to own such a car. That means you can probably buy one for very reasonable money. If haulage were a key issue, I'd definitely look into a Nissan Patrol. Those things are indestructible.

My choice would be the Disco but the older TD5 version.

I have a friend with one of the new ones which seems to suffer from rear suspension problems although it is not the air suspension version. On that one it seems that the compressor for the suspension is vunerable if you use it off road (?).

If I win the lottery I would have one of the TD5's fully reconditioned and refurbished rather than a new one. It would also be painted the metalic green of mine or the dark metalic red.

Super6,

I would support what Brian has said as I had a Discovery 300TDI and now on my second Discovery TD5 and have not had any problems with towing at all. The disco will legally tow 3.5ton and without problem. Having the Dexta on the back is no problem, you know when the Major's on board but even then It's no problem. l'm not well up on information about the new TDV6 so cannot comment on it's towing performance.

Barry

Hi Brett,

As I live on the other side of the globe compared to you the market may be a little different to what it is here, but I have to agree with Oscar on one point, the Nissan Patrol is well worth having a look at. In Australia Toyotas seem to have the reputation of being indestructible, but our company has a Nissan Patrol that has been through the Simpson desert and other places like the Gibb River road towing a caravan without any problems while Toyota Land cruisers that traveled on the same trip broke front suspensions and drank juice like it was going out of fashion. The 3l Hilux is just not up to the job in my opinion and would never be allowed to tow 3.5 ton in Australia legally. If it were not for the 3.5 ton towing the Hylux is a great machine and many of my friends are very happy with them, but they will not pull much more than 2.5 ton safely as a friend of mine found out the hard way a couple of years ago. The Patrol can tow 3.5 ton legally and I can say it does it easily after towing my E27N home for some 400 km. The minus on the Patrol is that they seem to have a fragile engine reputation over here, but that seems to be from the boys that put power chips into them. Too much boost and too high an exhaust temp and they fail. Standard they seem to be fine. I can't comment on the Disco as I have only driven Defenders, but if they are anything like the Defender they would be more than capable, but a lot less powerful than the Patrol. I have never driven a TDV6 but the rumors are that they are rather more thirsty than the TD5. The Patrol might drink as much I am not sure as I have never done a comparison. No comment on the VW Toe rag, other than if you took it out bush and you got stuck most sensible people would claim it as a write off and buy a real car. Just my 2 cents worth.

Regards, Frank.