Tow Car - What to buy? - Page 5

boxhead · #81 (**permalink**) 05-31-2010, 11:20 PM

Here ya go Spook, this one is a newer model than mine, but it has the big block 265 fitted and auto trans.
It is also an X cop car with heavy duty suspension, slightly different color to mine.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....tchlink:top:en

No need to worry about warranties or $24K repair bills.

tomcat racing · #82 (**permalink**) 05-31-2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxhead

I still say my 1972 Valiant Station Wagon is the go, towed the Cobra to and from Melbourne with no issues apart from a failed 38 year old fuel pump.

those old vals are tough old girls

OZCOBRA · #83 (**permalink**) 05-31-2010, 11:44 PM

Can you imagine the cry at the Nationals..."Hey everybody the TWINS are here"....."Aren't they just the cutest!!!"

jcraigau · #84 (**permalink**) 06-01-2010, 05:56 AM

How about a crewman?

Seats min 3, tows 2100kg (or 2500kg in the V8) comes in the lazyman auto config.

Towmaster · #85 (**permalink**) 06-01-2010, 06:13 AM

Yeah I looked at the crewman too. Cross 8 is good, all wheel drive, relatively easy to get parts if it breaks. Thirsty as all hell.... I would have to drive it a round trip 170k every day. At 14lt/100k it gets a little expensive.....

OZCOBRA · #86 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 05:28 PM

Not really on any use to the OP.......But I know you love your F350 Duellys ......I came across this SWEET FORD PORN Tow package ,I had seen this picture before then lost it...
[IMG]

[/IMG]

Is the proud owner a CC member in the States????
Would love to hear some specs on the duelly !!!

sjelby · #87 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 06:34 PM

Being a tradie, i got myself a new Crewman to tow the tandem full of scaffold and mixer ect.
Talk about being thirsty........ it got traded in before it had its first service.
And the workers needed chiropractors after sitting in the back for more than 30 mins.
And im a holden man.
Traded it in on a Nissan d22 4x4.
Had no problems in the 110k i have put on it in 3 yrs.
Stan

HSVREDSLED · #88 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 06:59 PM

Might just be me, but the Val seems to be the best option here. We hired one about 20 years ago from a dodgy hire car place in Qld where the owner actually challenged us to destroy it. (mechanically) We tried...and couldnt. Damn thing near indestructible.

John Seagraves · #89 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 09:24 PM

Hey, I have a 1997 GMC Suburban 454 ci., dulie conversion, that tows a 20' Halmark like it wasn't there. I get about 15mph on the open road and about 10mph around town. Except for the gas, it is great. Lots of room for Cobra stuff and 8 people or take out the third row of seats and carry more stuff and 5 people. It tows like a dream.

Modena · #90 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Seagraves

I get about 15mph on the open road and about 10mph around town.

your 454 must be running on 1 cylinder....

I assume you mean mpg!

Aussie Mike · #91 (**permalink**) 04-25-2011, 09:56 PM

Funny this tread should pop up again. I just updated my tow car/daily driver. The Land Rover was getting a bit long in the tooth so figured I'd update it before the KMs go too high. I've had it for about 4 years.

I replaced it with a Mercedes ML320 CDI. A bit more road oriented than the Discovery but I'd only taken it off road twice in the 4 years I've owned it. The ML could probably cope OK with where I took anyway.

The ML 320 CDI looks like a good tow car on paper but so far I've only towed the 6x4 trailer. It makes way more torque and HP than the land rover and has a 3500KG tow rating. the 3.0L turbo diesel motor actually makes more torque than the 5.0L V8 in the ML500 so it should be good. 7 speed auto transmission is nice and smooth too and keeps the motor in the thick of it's torque. Leaves the Land Rover for dead at the lights.

It's much nicer on the road than the Land Rover and gets better fuel economy too. Quite surprising actually, it does about 9L/100 on the run to work every day. That's freeway/city mix.

Cheers

spookypt · #92 (**permalink**) 04-26-2011, 12:57 AM

Hey mike. My factory gm had the ml500 v8. Lovely car but when the air bag suspension fault sounds it's 20k if it's out of warranty!! Happened 3 times in the time we had it! I finally settled on a fpv 310 pursuit ute for round town and an f250 for towing the car and other heavy stuff. And love it! Spookypt

Aussie Mike · #93 (**permalink**) 04-26-2011, 01:50 AM

Hi Spook,

What year ML was it? the W163 (pre 2005) was known to have a few problems. The updated W164 (2005 to current) is supposed to have fixed Mercedes quality issues and is supposed to be pretty reliable. I did a lot of reading the forums and reviews before I settled on one.

I was actually thinking about getting the Porsche Cayenne Turbo for a while. I figured I could live with the looks for the sake of that performance (Keep my eyes closed till I got in it). Common sense prevailed and the ML was a bit more practical.

The Pursuit is a fun car I had a Tickford Pursuit 250 before the Land Rover. That was the last of the Windsor motors and the hottest one they made. They stroked them to 347 cubes from the factory. It was a laugh to drive as it didn't have traction control. That was an odd omission by the factory in my opinion since the sedan version had it and the ute was probably more likely to loose traction.

Which motor did you get in the F250?

Cheers

spookypt · #94 (**permalink**) 04-26-2011, 02:30 PM

Mike the pursuit is really a hp go Go cart. Not good for much practically but heaps of grunt and I love utes so perfect for work. The ml I think was an 05. Problem was always a faulty relay that caused the compressor to run all the time and eventually poo itself and the techs could never fully fix the issue for some reason. I went the petrol as apart from service and parts costs I just hate diesels. Spookypt