Towing vehicle advice

Lifted from Wikipedia;
The LR3 features full independent suspension (FIS). Like the Series III Range Rover, this was an air suspension system, enabling ride-height adjustment by simply pumping up or deflating the air bags. The vehicle can be raised to provide ground clearance when off-road, but lowered at high speeds to improve handling. Land Rover developed 'cross-linked' air suspension. When needed, the suspension mimics the action of a beam axle (as one wheel drops, the other rises). If the chassis of the vehicle contacts the ground when the suspension was at its 'off road' height, the system senses the reduction in load on the air springs and raises the vehicle an extra inch. In the UK and European markets, a coil-spring independent suspension system was offered on the base model. This model was unique in the range by having only five seats and only being available with the 2.7 litre diesel engine. This model lacked the Terrain Response system.

So unless it's a base model you'll get adjustable air suspension that is also conrtolled to maintain stability. Having driven one a fair bit I can confirm that the ride is very good.

Head says Toyota, heart says Disco 3 and old stuck in his ways employee says Defender!!!

Guess I'll just see what's about and at what price and let that guide my decision!

I'd probably be looking at more practical multi role vehicles... pick your brand but I mean something like a Ford Transit MWB bus.

I'd say no to the Toyota Landcruiser even though we have a small fleet of them. They turn worse than a small truck which can make them challenging to back a trailer or manoeuvre in tight places in comparison to others. At least in this part of the world they are hideously expensive to maintain if they have to go to a dealer. For a NFP with a limited budget I'd definitely want to look at the cost of keeping anything on the road.

I have a Transit (125 T350) that was purchased to move my 20ft 2.8t mobile workshop and all of my gear around every time I upped stumps... turns out it spent less than year used in this role only being driven every couple of months before I retired, however it did a decent job of it. It is big, gutless, slow (but will pull highway speeds with a load) , heavy, stable, comfortable, economical, cheap to maintain, easy to drive, has good visibility and is easy to back despite being a little bigger the others. It also has the versatility to take 8 seats or something like 1.8 tonnes (with the seats out) in the back. It was all that was required.

[yorkie_chris]

You see loads of transits spending all their days towing diggers around without much problem.

No transit...not happening...not on my watch! Occasionally the ground can be a liittle tricky so a 4x4 is essential.

I did say "pick your brand"...

Do you really have such exceptional circumstances that require 4WD and not just a little forethought as to where the wheels are placed?

This ain't my first rodeo! We own various vans already and we can occasionally use one of these but most of the time a 4x4 is needed due to location/access/terrain/weight/weather!

Originally Posted by phil24_7

Head says Toyota, heart says Disco 3 and old stuck in his ways employee says Defender!!!

Guess I'll just see what's about and at what price and let that guide my decision!

the defender is not that reliable,the td5 will be gutless with that amount of weight,and they are not nice to use on long journeys(over 10 miles),the disco 3,dont know much about these,but if it shares any mechanical parts that were used on the dico 2, i would then aviod it like the plague,so in my book it would leave you with the toyota,also check the maximum towing weight of any choice,and the maximum weight at the tow hitch

All have 3.5t maximum weight and 150kg weight on the hitch so no difference between them and all exceed the trailers weights.

Managed to convince the old bloke that will be driving it that new is the way forward. We did a tow with a Toyota Hi Lux and it pulled it no problems even though it doesn't have the towing capacity required so he'd now be happy with either of my choices or a Nissan Navara!!!