Has anyone had any experience! Am lookingat purchasing a Highlander but worried that it may not handle regular towing of a double horse float & passenger (circa 1,500 kgs)
Torque is 337 nm @4700 vs my current diesel Santa Fe which copes very well at 436 nm @1,800-2,500.They both have a brakedtow rating of 2,000kgs.
If anyone has any experience I would be grateful for your views.
Thanks!
NZTools,
Nov 3, 5:43am
With peak torque that high up the rev range, you will have to be caning it to get anysort of forward motion out of it with a float on the back. Also, they are thirsty enough without towing anything.
Stick with a diesel if you are doing any sort of regular towing.
orca123,
Nov 3, 5:58am
Tonnes of people use the Highlanders for towing horse floats - just go to any horse show and you'll see loads of them parked up. Personally don't like them as they are gas guzzlers and way too much $$ to buy second hand unless they have been round the clock about 5 times! Our Landrover Discovery has a 3.5 tonne loading which is more than the Highlanders I think. It's been great (2.5ltr turbo diesel) for towing our TB float with two 17hh+ horses - up and down the hills easy. In saying that, we are currently looking at the Nissan Pathfinder to be our new horse float tow vehicle which loading is 3tonne. Again, it's just a 2.5ltr turbo diesel. You really don't need huge petrol engines to two - best with a turbo diesel ;)
orca123,
Nov 3, 5:58am
Tonnes of people use the Highlanders for towing horse floats - just go to any horse show and you'll see loads of them parked up. Personally don't like them as they are gas guzzlers and way too much $$ to buy second hand unless they have been round the clock about 5 times! Our Landrover Discovery has a 3.5 tonne loading which is more than the Highlanders I think. It's been great (2.5ltr turbo diesel) for towing our TB float with two 17hh+ horses - up and down the hills easy. In saying that, we are currently looking at the Nissan Pathfinder to be our new horse float tow vehicle which loading is 3tonne. Again, it's just a 2.5ltr turbo diesel. You really don't need huge petrol engines to tow - best with a turbo diesel ;)
monaro17,
Nov 3, 6:03am
Stay with the diesel- the power and torque is far more useable for towing- although the Highlander is good in short the Santa fe is a far more capable towing vehicle (it will use a heck of a lot less gas too.)
eajo1mbwass,
Nov 3, 6:14am
if your float is 3 ton hope it is braked and would hope you have the rated tow ball for that as most are round 1.8 ton , just because it says your vehicle can tow does not mean your tow bar or ball are rated for this should be a plate on it to give you the ratings and top of the ball has rating stamped on it
ema1,
Nov 3, 10:06am
Far better to bite the bullet and bypass the Highlander and go for the bigger Land Cruiser. Better-safer towing capability by far.
zebie,
Nov 3, 8:03pm
Can't say I have ever seen a Highlander towing a float either - and I am a regular at horse shows.There must be a reason why!
intrade,
Nov 3, 8:05pm
are there any diesel on the hilander! my plumber mate likes them and has anyone ever taken one in the bush! as thats where he be wanting to go with it to upgrade his 96 MUi told him a vitara diesel be the only thing or next year import a duster from uk for 35 grand
bwg11,
Nov 3, 9:20pm
I have never towed with a Highlander, but would expect it to perform very in a very similar manner to my petrol FJ Cruiser. Previously I had a 3 litre diesel Prado. Towing 1500kg there is a vast difference between the perfomance of the petrol and diesel. At, say 80 kph the petrol pulls out and overtakes easily, whereas with the diesel Prado overtaking had to be a well planned manoeuvre. Towing 1500kg there is probably about 3 litre/100 km difference between the petrol and diesel.
I tow a double horse float often with a V6 Surf (298Nm) You will be fine, just requires a different mindset when driving, i.e. revs are your friend. Having said that, how many k's a year are you going to do, if it much more than 10,000k petrol is probably not for you.
howesy1,
Nov 4, 12:39am
Thanks everyone for your advice.BWG11 are you saying that the petrol FJ Cruiser performed better than the diesel prado!
Ralphdog the Highlander is a 3.5 V6 so woulldprobably be similar to your Surf so good to hear that this handles it fine.
bwg11,
Nov 4, 1:20am
Yes, my Prado was a 1996 (107 kW and 343 Nm) so it is not surprising the FJ with 200 kW and 380 Nm has much more power when towing.
Sure, the newer diesels have great torque at lower revs, but when you really need power, for overtaking for example, the while diesels are out of puff at 4000 rpm, but the petrols are just approaching maximum power and torque. I often drive a manual Nissan SX-T (450 Nm) and have to admit the low down torque is really impressive.
I would expect that you would find that the Highlander would downshift earlier and rev higher than a diesel while towing in rolling hill country, but so what. My FJ does 16 litre/100 kms towing 1500 kg, whereas the Prado did 13 litre/100 kms. BUT, while the Prado spent a lot of time at full thottle, the FJ has power to spare.
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