So... what car do you guys drive when not flying?

jb747 said:
It's a very nice engine...
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I would imagine it is. It’s output is considerably more than the Jeep’s engine. And it tows my 2.6t van at 100 kays easily.

However I would love the RRS V8. That’s a real competitor for the Landcruiser.
 
mjt57 said:
I would imagine it is. It’s output is considerably more than the Jeep’s engine. And it tows my 2.6t van at 100 kays easily.

However I would love the RRS V8. That’s a real competitor for the Landcruiser.
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Not really - different markets.
I’ve never seen a RR with bullbar

RR = F
LC = PE/J

Majority of LC purchases are for the GXL model which is half the price of the RR. I think.

The drivetrain of the RR is much more advanced than the LC. I’ve got a LC200. It’s a 6 speed and I can’t get 6th until 120km/h and then only in S mode. t’s such a high gear at 0.6 only a diesel can use it at the low revs - and even then it’s at the lower end of the torque band. 120kmh = 1500rpm. It prefers 5th. The 6th was built for the Middke Eastern market where speed limits are either higher or not policed.
Overall the LC200 seems to be an over engineered car truck with an undertuned engine. And if it breaks down there are dealers and parts nearly everywhere.

My problem is this:

My LC200 Sahara diesel weighs 3.00T on the weighbridge with bull bar. GVM is 3300. When I tow the 3100kg horse float I have a weighbridge tow bar weight of 300kg. Essentially I can (legally) tow the float so long as there is no driver and have nothing in the fuel tanks

Car + Float + 5 pax + full fuel + luggage
Weighbridge weight of 4 axles of LC200= 4200kg. I’m nearly One tonne over GVM and also over GCM. And also 500kg over GCM of car plus trailer which is 6500kg

There is no vehicle that has a GVM over 4T in Australia apart from those American monster trucks

Impressively with this setup at the bottom of the Hume Highway - the steep bit going south somewhere near Mittagong, I can accelerate up that at 3000rpm giving grief to other cars who were expecting to overtake me on that hill - they have to speed up even more.

The other interesting phenomenon - I can get better fuel economy and cooler transmission (measured) with the above setup when I set the upper limit gear to 4th and 90-100kmh . RPM around 2000-2100. I think it’s because at 4th the revs are high enough in the torque band to produce the required power so that the torque converter locks up for longer in the journey.
 
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Driving to Wagga today.
LC200 + horse float + 1 horse + 3pax + 20kg luggage + 100L diesel

3000 + 1300 (tare)+ 700 + 240 + 20 + 80 = 5340kg
GCM 5340 OK
GVM 3540 over by 240kg. Have to go without any drivers or passenger again.
 
GVM and GCM were once the exclusive preserve of truckies, but no more.
The caravan forums are full of discussions on the subject

All these new suv's that can tow 3500kg…with 100kg towbar down force.. who are they kidding ?

For a time I had a Dodge ram and a 26ft gooseneck.
Loaded up , I could sit just over the speed limit in the motorway fast lane up hill and down dale.

I also towed a 4000kg + + boat with a MWB cruiser and later a rangie.

My family insurance broker opined that being overloaded and having an accident was likely not a problem as long as the overweightedness (sic) …. was not a contributing factor… YMMV (in caps)
 
tgh said:
For a time I had a Dodge ram and a 26ft gooseneck.
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Dually?

.....

Additional comapro between RR and LC:

I believe the current generation RR is a monocoque design whereas LC is a ladder frame.
I am agnostic as to which is better - Pros and Cons in everything.
However I do believe the LC200 is massively overengineered because 1) ladder frame, 2) the ladder frame is very similar to the ladder frame of the next size up Toyota Tundra. So while legally overweight in my setups, practically its not a problem, but I do limit speeds to 90Kmh while towing a laden horse float.

Interestingly the Tundra has a GVM of 7000 lbs = 3175kg (730kg over tare) but can tow a massive 4200kg. I dont know what GCM is but assume over 7000kg
Assuming 420kg towball, net vehicle payload would be 300kg.
 
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Dually? No, singles .
A RAM2500 with a coughmins diesel.

No contest in the toughness stakes , LC wins every time.
They are made for extreme use and they are so used around the world.

think i should shaddup and allow normal programming to resume
 
Whilst I would have normally said that the V8 diesel RRS is way beyond my price range, as it turns out, the local dealer sold one in the runout at the end of last year for $145k. A lot of money, but .... Probably a good thing that he didn't make me an offer on it. Realistically though, it doesn't offer all that much over the 3 lt SD engine...another 25kw and 40 nm, in exchange for appreciably worse fuel consumption.

We put the whole rig onto a weigh bridge the other day, and the RRS weighed exactly 2420, with the weight exactly 50:50. Full fuel tank too. Van came in at 1900 kgs total, with 80 kgs on the ball. That was loaded for a short trip, with 80 kgs of water.

Quite honestly, the two vehicles are not comparable. For a start, someone who'd buy the Toyota wouldn't even look at the RRS or LR, and by the same token, it's unlikely that the reverse would happen either. The on road driving experience of the RRS/LR is from a different world to that of the Toyota. I would hate everything about the Toyota, and I expect the Toyota buyer would feel the same about my car.
 
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jb747 said:
Most new cars, be they a small hatch or a large SUV, simply do not have a spare tyre at all. Worst of all, they don't have any space to put the large lump you've just had to remove. The RRS carries a full sized spare. But that's increasingly rare.
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I had a flat in my q7 and what was even more surprising was that it was deflated to save space. It comes with a pump which I thought was pretty smart compromise.
 
Max laden weight 2950 kg
Empty weight varies, but from 2100 to about 2300 kg

Max tow weight 3500 kg
Max ball weight 350 kg
Max combined weight 6450 kg.
 
jb747 said:
Whilst I would have normally said that the V8 diesel RRS is way beyond my price range, as it turns out, the local dealer sold one in the runout at the end of last year for $145k. A lot of money, but .... Probably a good thing that he didn't make me an offer on it. Realistically though, it doesn't offer all that much over the 3 lt SD engine...another 25kw and 40 nm, in exchange for appreciably worse fuel consumption.
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Which begs the question; what fuel economy are you getting towing the van? The Jeep gets around 16 on average with a 2.6t (ATM) van. That's striving to sit on the limit.
 
mjt57 said:
Which begs the question; what fuel economy are you getting towing the van? The Jeep gets around 16 on average with a 2.6t (ATM) van. That's striving to sit on the limit.
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The weight of the van doesn't really come into play in steady state driving. I think frontal area will be a bigger factor.

I've only towed it about 500kms so far. Consumption on the delivery drive to home was in the order of 12 lt/100 km, whilst a recent run to Yarrawonga was about 12.5. I generally don't drive at the limit with the van...about 95 kph will do. The trailing arm suspension makes it a little higher than standard, and probably hurts the drag a bit. One weakness of the setup is that the fuel tank is only 85 litres. I'd have loved the 105 from the V8, but that's not an optional swap. Pity.
 
5.3T aggregate mass. Sydney City then Hume highway then Sturt Highway then Wagga town. Return

Horse float - height 2.7m, width 2.4m
Vehicle- extended towing side mirrors plus 3 roof racks nothing on it

Max speed < 100kmh

Engine rpm < = 3000

Didn’t zero avg speed prior to start so I can’t estimate

1088km
189L diesel
 
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Long range fuel tanks usually sit where the spare tyre usually goes - RRS and LC meaning the spare will have to be mounted elsewhere.

The LC200 has a dual automatic fuel tank 93 + 45. The fuel is continually circulated between the two and the sub rank will always empty into the main.

The 100 series had same tanks but had an electric button to switch over. Problem with that (personal experience) is when there are 2 drivers and one driver presses the button for the sub tank and uses the sub tank first but does not tell the other driver. Then when subtank empties the driver presses the button to select main tank. The other driver comes along and assumes as main tank is being used that sub tank is full.l then tries to select subtank when main tank low fuel light comes on
 
Back in 2007, I hired a pop top caravan, and towed it just on 17,000 kms through the centre and around the west coast. Tow vehicle was a 2006 Hilux SR5 diesel. Just looking at the records. 25 refuelling stops. Overall average consumption of 12.17 lt / 100 km. The pop top would have made a big difference, as it reduced its height to about the same as the tow vehicle. Way less drag. It was also nice having an aftermarket 145 litre fuel tank.

Mind you, I hated that particular van, and had long fallen out of love with the Hilux by the time we got home. Loved the trip though.

As I'm already a nut with regard to having a decent spare on the car, there's no way I'd lose that carriage. If I want some extra fuel, I can just hang a 20 litre can on the van. On the other hand, I can get over 600 km to a tank, with van attached, which isn't all that much different to what the 17 lt/100 km people will get.
 
Not a lot of places where refuelling options are > 500km apart.

Easier to carry one or two plastic fuel cans for the times you need it. A long range tank just increases tare and reduces payload

The tandem axle on the float also increases drag. Not only does it sit 0.7m higher than tow vehicle but it sits lower as well so lots of drag there.

Without the float the LC200 does 11.5L/100km on the same route

Best diesel price of the trip was Metro at Goulburn 127.9. No waiting unlike the queues at the adjacent 7-11 which was 133.9
 
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