Best towing vehicle ?

[LURCHER]

DISCOVERY every time see pic!
Fabulous tow car both for rib and work , now great offroad with decent tyres fitted and a true long distance cruiser with loads of room and of course the best bit ,its a Landrover not some Taliban wagon .

[Lostboy]

I'm always intruiged by the passion for Landrovers, perhaps those who have them on this forum are just lucky enough to have ALL the Monday morning cars and not the Friday afternoon ones. Of course Mr Codprawn you could always open a Landy Service Centre yourself and rake in the cash with your good work (mentioned on a "Moorings" thread of all places!!!), but looking at some of the build issues that they are legendary for it could be a "finger in the dyke" scenario!!


Discovery 89-98

Discovery 98-02

Discovery 02-04

And a cracking summary:

LandRover had joint highest average cost in warranty claims for cars up to 10 years old in 2002 Warranty Direct index. Land Rover 3rd least reliable of 31 makes of car in 2002 'Which?' reliability survey cars 2000 - 2002; least reliable of 32 makes built 1997 - 1999. Land Rovers had third highest warranty repair costs in 2003 Warranty Direct Reliability index (index 167.53 v/s lowest 31.93). 18th from bottom out of 137 models in 2003 Top Gear survey. Land Rover 4th bottom of Reliability Index for 2004 combining average cost of repair of £367.03 with highest 46.23 failures per 100 Warranty Direct policies. Link:- www.reliabilityindex.co.uk

As opposed to:-

Taliban Amazon

Taliban Landcruiser 90-98

Taliban LC 90

Hamburger van fave

The Farmers Favourite

And of course the German one

Remember that all the reliability surveys etc quoted on those sites are from owners cars, trade bodies etc so are a far greater cross-section of ownership than is represented on here.

(By the way, I'm not the Irishman in disguise, although he did make me smile with his LR wind-ups!)

[codprawn]

Reading some of these it seems most of the Jap 4x4s suffer from auto gearbox failiures along with other problems.

I see the Discovery is quoted as being top heavy and dangerous or words to that effect - and yet no mention of it is made about the Jap vehicles which are just as bad if not worse. In fact LRs are better than most because of the heavy chassis and light aluminium body.

I think a lot of it comes down to public perception. Skoda always used to win all the top reliability and satisfaction awards - back in the good old days BEFORE the VW based cars came out!!!

One major problem LR has is that they have to remain the best offroad despite the fact most buyers will NEVER go offroad. When someone like Audi or BMW bring out a 4x4 they can make a lot of sacrifices knowing it will never even get dirty.

A perfect example of the bias shown is that they are very carefull to list all the LR recalls - and yet they list NONE for the Fourtrak in all it's years of production - remarkable!!!

And talking of recalls I remember my Uncle was nearly killed in a Peugeot 405 years ago when the brake vacuum pump(diesel) sheared off and he lost all control. Despite many claims etc nothing was done until it was featured on Watchdog. Many companies avoid recalls because they are bad publicity.....

And again talking of recalls the Merc A class was a death trap as was the Audi TT - nobody seems to mind that - it would have crucified any British company!!!

[Quickflash]

Originally Posted by Bigmuz7

A customer of mine had this problem when towing with an XC 90, and he was only towing one of our mini diggers and a trailer 1750 kgs tops. He thought he'd damaged something, but after a while it cooled and worked ok again, I'll see if I can find his details for you as it would be of mutual benefit for you both.

I still find that hard to believe though, that volvo didnt suss this ? I pull my 8.5 mtr with an X5 which is an auto and no problems. Whilst the X5 has no low ratio, it 'learning box' has some pretty clever tricks up its sleeve, such as changing up a gear when you go down hill to increase engine braking,.. but there are far better off roaders for sure

Thanks bigmuz, any help would be much appreciated.

[ian parkes]

I have a chuckle when I read posts like this ,
What luxury family car can tow 3.5 tons ?? There is only one mentioned in the whole thread that gets near it , then its on its limits .
the answer is none in safety .
Although there seems to be hundreds of caravaners towing huge vans with little hatchbacks .
I think its about time they started stopping towing vehicles like they do lorries for wieght and safety check , then maybe the daily reports on the radio that a car towing something has crashed and caused major delays will happen less.
At least there is now a towing test

[codprawn]

Well I have towed 3.5 tons and more with my Discovery quite some distance in perfect safety as have many others!!!

There are plenty of people who use Land Rovers for towing heavy loads all over the country and abroad - also in perfect safety - so what are you on about???

[ian parkes]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Well I have towed 3.5 tons and more with my Discovery quite some distance in perfect safety as have many others!!!

There are plenty of people who use Land Rovers for towing heavy loads all over the country and abroad - also in perfect safety - so what are you on about???

Thats what iam on about perfect safety .
I once towed a ford duple coach with a siezed engine up the hill from the Jamaica Inn , with my old series 3 landie ,but i didn't risk taking it down the other side

I saw a range rover a couple of years back with a big boat on top of it at the bottom of haldon hill a few years back , I think the whole family died . Bit it did pull the boat ok intill the boat took controll .

[codprawn]

Ever heard the expression - its the engine that pulls the train but the train that stops the engine?

In other words it's all down to how good your trailer is. The triple axle I used was awesome.

Imagine towing a Challenger tank with a Landie - I am sure that the tanks brakes would stop the outfit better than the LRs would!!!

[ian parkes]

I hope it always stays on the rails then

[codprawn]

I have just seen some figures that suprised even me - the 4x4s that hold their value better than all the others are the Defender - the Range Rover Sport and the Discovery 3 - much better than the competition!!!

[floater]

one word


DELICA


Job done

[codprawn]

I do like the Delica - but they look rather top heavy for going around corners!!!

[Nasher]

They are also just that bit taller than a Shogun, so will not fit in most multi-story car parks, under park barriers etc, which does then start to limit their use as a family car.

I do however like the look of them in an odd sort of way.

Nasher.

[joakimhansson]

Take a look at this...


ssangyong Rexton II

Towing 3200kg

Mercedes dieselengines 165-186hk

[codprawn]

If thats anything like the Musso no thanks. Yes they use Merc engines - the ones Mercedes stopped using a long time ago.............

[ian parkes]

there better than that sanwrong surely , my nieghbour has recently had a loverley TaTa safari appear in his drive , i have'nt asked him if he likes it yet

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by codprawn

If thats anything like the Musso no thanks. Yes they use Merc engines - the ones Mercedes stopped using a long time ago.............

The same one that pushed Rommel across North Africa.

[landlord]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I have just seen some figures that suprised even me - the 4x4s that hold their value better than all the others are the Defender - the Range Rover Sport and the Discovery 3 - much better than the competition!!!

Excellent towing vehicle

[Kernow Buoy]

Originally Posted by Mollers

The same one that pushed Rommel across North Africa.

That was a Montgomery!

[ian parkes]

Originally Posted by landlord

Excellent towing vehicle

Unless there is an identical boat and car to that about it was you I saw parked in a filling station having a coffee Saturday morning on the A35 Bridport i think .
I filled up there and then passed you on the bypass a few miles up the road .
I was in a VW van