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OPINION: DAVID WILSON
David
wilson
The great towing lie.
I’m driven to write my piece
this time about one of the great
untruths of the new vehicle
industry, and that is the wildly
optimistic claims of wagons
being able to tow 3,000kgs and
utes 3,500kgs. I step in and out
of new vehicles almost daily and
from every manufacturer, so what
I’m about to say I can confidently
apply to every single one of them.
Standard suspension is rubbish,
engine power mostly asthmatic,
transmissions and tyres underspec,
rear drum brakes on utes
feeble and the tow weights
quoted are so far removed from
a safe reality it’s not funny. What
set this in motion was a phone
call from a client late last year
who was bitterly disappointed
with their ute’s performance
(one making great claims about
towing ability) and looking for
advice on how to improve his
situation. The ute was on its third
new automatic transmission at
only 45,000kms old and needing
a fourth. I wish I could divulge the
maker, but for reasons of privacy
and not wanting to interfere in the
outcome of a pending warranty
claim I can’t spill the beans.
In a nutshell, he’s selfemployed
in the building industry
and tows a tandem trailer that
hauls up to 2,500kgs; the loads
vary from day-to-day, a fair old
load, but well within the claims
the maker suggests.
Now the bloke in question is
no dummy. He and his wife spent
a lot of time researching how
they were going to spend their
hard-earned $50,000+, wanting a
vehicle that could haul the load
reliably and deliver on some 4WD
trips away in good comfort, the
classic dual-cab promise.
So after following the towing
advice in the owner’s handbook
(yep some people do read them)
to the letter he discovers his
first transmission is fried in
quick time. A combination of
gently undulating hills and flat
ground (they live and work in
a mainland capital city), stopstart
traffic and the odd highway
run, cooks the transmission
with a load 1,000kgs under
the suggested maximum. So
transmission number two goes
in, and the franchised service
centre gives them a pep talk on
technique, just in case the owner
is aggravating the situation. Bad