Thread: Tow Wagon

i hear all concientious tradies will be selling their utes and buying suzuki swifts ....... strop some 6 metre lengths of timber to the roof , concrete barrow in the boot and save the planet sweet as
......

apparerntly comrade cindy believes toyota make an ev hilux. she got her ass kicked by toyota nz on air

I'd get a volvo AWD wagon. Make sure it's turbo and tiptronic.

Kia Sorrento or Hyundai Santa Fe, good for towing and good internal space.

I'm a pretty big fan of the Mazda 6 station wagons as well.

My wife just bought a 2018 Highlander, quite nice and not as bad on fuel as I thought it would be, haven't towed anything with it yet though. My wife loves the highlander but won't drive my ute for the same reasons as your wife.

a few years back we bought a ute not as suv so the mrs could have a manual not a slushbox!!

Test drive a ranger, try out the park assist and then let me know how it goes , still yet to try it out

Hyundai santafe diesel.

I had a Santa Fe. It was about 2007 vintage. Heap of shit that shat electrical components one after the other; dash bits, ecu, window activators... I hope the later models are better.

We have been through a similar conundrum.

Found what I believe is the perfect car for me now, Subaru Outback 3.6r.
Fast, tows well, comfortable as any Merc or Beemer, drives like a sport saloon and yet is pretty handy over the rough stuff especially now that I have put on some A/T tyres.
Gets around 9l/100kms in mixed driving.

Hardly notices my 5m glass boat or the caravan. Still does the same speed, fuel consumption just goes up a bit

Yes, it is cvt, but it is the new gen chain driven cvt the same as in the STI and can handle truckloads of torque and has a 100000 mile warranty.

Paid $27k for this.




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we have a 2016 Colorado. I get to drive it 2-3 times per year if I am a very good boy!!
My wife has zero issues parallel parking it in places I would not even attempt. You would not get her to change vehicles as she in her words " feels safe" in it as she can see well ahead over the pesky EV's etc
That said if we didn't have the ute I quite like the Holden Captivas

1st thing I would do is insulated the shed, good curtains next, then think about some form of heating. Hole in the wall/window rattlers are very cheap.
But seriously avoid Volvo like the plague have a look at https://www.gazleyskoda.com/skoda-range/kodiaq/

As Holden has gone bust. let her know the Ute's not worth shit on the second hand market any more, and you (both) will be losing money hand over fist if you flog it off. Economically you will be best to keep it till it stops working. Get her a shopping basket to run around in and leave your pride and joy alone.

I would second the Subie Outback 3.6 with the CVT not the older slush box (1.8 ton Tow rating)

The 2.5 is plenty reliable but you may miss the torque, Tow rating is only 1.5 or 1.6 ton. (New model is 2 ton)

The 3.6 with CVT will cruise at around 8 L/100 out of town, and is a very comfortable ride, will out handle any ute or SUV/
I typically averaged 9-10 ltr / 100 km in the one I had. Surprised more that the odd car off the lights as well.
Z

Originally Posted by Dorkus

So the Mrs has arrived at the arbitrary, unilateral and unconsulted decision that my ute (2015 Colorado) must be sold and a more "family friendly" wagon be obtained. If this was an employment relationship or some other commercial contractual arrangement, I'd be all over it - but it is not. She is the boss and I will do as I am told because it is too cold to sleep in the shed.

The key reason she wants it gone is "it is too big" and "I cant drive it in town" and "Its a manual".

So the brief for the new car is that it has to be automatic, big enough to fit a family of four (plus a dog) and all our gear for a week away, but nice to drive, small enough to parrallel park in town easily, fuel efficient but fast, powerful and able to tow the boat (5.8m Lazercraft on alloy trailer). Needs to have the comfort of a nicely appointed european limo, but with the maintenance and running costs of a jap matchbox/shopping trolley.

Obviously the brief is impossible, so I am going to try out a few at car yards in the near future to see what she can/can't live with.

Key questions I have for you fine folks are
a. "what do you drive and what do you tow?"
b. "does it work for your needs?"

I am particularly interested in the mid sized SUV options (think RAV4, VW Tucson size) as I think that is what she is going to want but I am not sure it will tow my waka. I only live 10 min from the boat ramp that I will launch at 90% of the time, but I would want to be comfortable towing as far north as the BOI or down to the Coromandel.

In a perfect world I would get a Toyota Highlander, but there are two issues I can foresee - With my budget I will be looking at a 2012-2014 model with between 120-150k KM on the clock, and I think she will still have problems driving it in town.

Budget is $30k max and the newer the better as far as I'm concerned.

Taking a punt here, but as mentioned, maybe offer to 'upgrade' her car for her rather than yours. If that is a no go, Sell both, get a family friendly car such as she is after and buy a cheap tow vehicle (Replace the Colorado with what she desires and sell her car to buy the cheap tow car. (Older Falcon / etc, or manual SUV....)

I would suggest sitting down and discussing what she wants. Try to point out that anything big enough to tow will still likely be too big for her to comfortably drive in town and anything she can drive may not be the best option to tow. One problem I see is if you both want it, who gets it? Say you want to go fishing with the lads and need to tow the boat, but she wants to take it to town....

If she's got her owne car for town why does she need to take the Ute