Towing expectations

[Tight-Head]

Hi,
Thanks for the add.

I'm in the market for a D23 for towing duties in UK & EU. My questions are simple.
1. What MPG could I expect when towing say a 1800kg car on an 800kg trailer at the legal max speeds.
2. Is buying a used Navara without tow-bar (and fitting one myself) a sensible idea to ensure that I didn't get an engine that has been overstrained.
3. What is average mileage per annum on a Commercial vehicle
4. What would be the service interval for a Navara chiefly used for towing cars?
5. Any other advice?

 

[tweak'e]

Hi,
Thanks for the add.

I'm in the market for a D23 for towing duties in UK & EU. My questions are simple.
1. What MPG could I expect when towing say a 1800kg car on an 800kg trailer at the legal max speeds.
2. Is buying a used Navara without tow-bar (and fitting one myself) a sensible idea to ensure that I didn't get an engine that has been overstrained.
3. What is average mileage per annum on a Commercial vehicle
4. What would be the service interval for a Navara chiefly used for towing cars?
5. Any other advice?

most people here are from aussie and nz. no idea what your legal max speed is.
your versions of D23 are a little different from ours as we have less emission standards, which will change economy a fair bit.
fuel economy varies a huge amount with terrain and the driver. also how much load is on the ute itself.
no idea what you mean by average milage.
service interval may be different here as our engines are a bit different. general rule do it earlier if doing lots of towing.
i would recommend a lighter trailer, 800kg is really heavy for a trailer.

for me fuel economy is probably around 14liters/100km when towing. but thats not towing a car, flat deck with 2000kg on it and the ute fully loaded as well. open road but hilly windy roads.
tho i did a trip with a load of pallets and i was sucking 30+ litres/100km, full noise on the flat and only doing 80km due to the wind.

btw single turbo or twin turbo model ?

 

[Tight-Head]

Thanks tweak'e.
Didn't appreciate the regional differences of the sites, when the site comes up for me it contains local adverts etc making it "feel" local.
Our trailers have to be built to EU standards and a "3,500 Kg capable trailer" weighs in around 700+ kg. reducing the weight of what we can put on them, 3500kg all up being the limit of car and my licence without a Tachograph and thereby limited driving hours. Of course Aluminium construction, if you had deep pockets, are available.
Twin turbo putting out 187 bhp or the earlier equivalent.

Cheers
Steve

 

[joe2006]

I gave up towing with my D40 Navara. While we did many trips towing a caravan, including around most of Australia, I found it frustrating and tiresome. Although the automatic transmission in my model only locked the TC in overdrive, so the little 2.5 litre motor was generally revving it's head off.

Our Pajero/Shogun with it's larger 3.2 litre capacity motor, did it with much less effort.

If I was considering a vehicle primarily for the purpose of towing heavy, something with a small capacity motor would not be my first choice.

That said, there are plenty of people doing it that seem happy enough.

I don't think finding a vehicle fitted with a tow bar would put me off, although lots of things are a risk with a second hand vehicle.

My Service Book refers to towing as, "Severe driving conditions" so the service intervals are halved (10,000ks vs 5,000ks). I think you guys have extended service intervals compared to here so you would need to check.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[tweak'e]

Thanks tweak'e.
Didn't appreciate the regional differences of the sites, when the site comes up for me it contains local adverts etc making it "feel" local.
Our trailers have to be built to EU standards and a "3,500 Kg capable trailer" weighs in around 700+ kg. reducing the weight of what we can put on them, 3500kg all up being the limit of car and my licence without a Tachograph and thereby limited driving hours. Of course Aluminium construction, if you had deep pockets, are available.
Twin turbo putting out 187 bhp or the earlier equivalent.

Cheers
Steve

do you guys have lower max weight trailers?
our common size is 2500kg with inertia brakes. i think aussie is 2000kg before they have to go electric (not sure on the details).
we have a fairly recent rule change which has allowed us to use UK 3500kg inertia braked trailers. local company is making conversions that change it from your horrible cable braking to our common hydraulic brakes.

the navara (and most other utes) 3500kg towing rating is with an empty ute. something i do not like one bit. no weight in the rear of a ute makes it real tail happy and having a big weight push it around is asking for trouble (2 ton ute towing 3.5t). i always have load on the back of the ute when towing.

 

[Old.Tony]

In NSW* at least, any trailer over 750kg total mass requires brakes on at least one axle and anything over 2,000kg not only requires electric brakes on all axles, but also requires a breakaway battery cable/switch and a monitor installed in the cabin. Additionally (in NSW at least), any combination (car plus trailer) weighing more than 4.5T must not be driven at more than 100km/h even where the posted speed limit is higher.

* NSW is the first official state in Australia settled by the peasant farmers back in the 1700s who'd been sent out by the snobs over in the UK who hated losing at cricket so they sent the best players over here, not figuring that we'd find a way back to whallop the buggers again.

 

[Tight-Head]

I could waffle on but this link is from our Government website . Anything over 750kg needs to be effectively braked, method is not specified.

 

[tweak'e]

I could waffle on but this link is from our Government website . Anything over 750kg needs to be effectively braked, method is not specified.

our towing rules in NZ are really slack.
only trailers over 2000kg require brakes.
vehicle manufactures limits do not apply. we have a rule that you must stop within 7m from 30km/h. however no driver ever tests that and police very rarely ever enforce it.
so for eg a ute usually has a 700kg unbraking towing limit, but its basically ok to use up to 2000kg unbraked.
don't need break away until over 2500kg.

 

[landmannnn]

Hi,
Thanks for the add.

I'm in the market for a D23 for towing duties in UK & EU. My questions are simple.
1. What MPG could I expect when towing say a 1800kg car on an 800kg trailer at the legal max speeds.
2. Is buying a used Navara without tow-bar (and fitting one myself) a sensible idea to ensure that I didn't get an engine that has been overstrained.
3. What is average mileage per annum on a Commercial vehicle
4. What would be the service interval for a Navara chiefly used for towing cars?
5. Any other advice?

1. 20 mpg
2. Yes, but it shouldn't be a major part of the selection
3. 20 to 25k miles
4. About 12k miles