G'day

From my hospital bed....... 

Please can anyone who has a 4.5lt petrol 1999 model (or close to that) let me know what fuel consumption you are getting when towing and going solo?

My Nissan Patrol (and caravan) was unfortunately written off recently, the old patrol was a 3.0 lt turbo diesel & worked very hard all the time pulling the 17ft pop top van, we had.

I am looking at buying a 1999 cruiser 4.5lt petrol 100 series GLX. I used to get about 6.8/7.5 km/lt on the patrol solo and 4.6/5.6 km/lt towing.

we have almost secured a 21ft Jayco WestPoint caravan and so would appreciate any help in what wagon to buy, I have about 15k to spend +- 5K

please let me know your thoughts.

Regards,

Richard

Hi there Frank,

Thanks for asking, in short....the accident happened at the Blue Waters free camp spot 30on 19/2/14 I am still in hospital, I had an 80 mm shaft of timber smash through my right arm, breaking both bones an came out the other side, I have undergone 5 theatre operations in Townsville and still have at least another few to go.

I took the below photos of my arm on my phone before the Ambo arrived, Debs is suffering bad bruising to her side caused from when I threw her off the bed and she landed on the floor just before the huge limb of the tree smashed through our van,

This tree limb has not only written off our car and caravan but also my daughters car and caravan that was parked next to us, none of my daughter or grand kids were hurt thank God.

Hi Richard

I'm sorry to see and hear of your misfortune,  you were lucky to have not had more serious injuries eh.

I have a 2000 100s lc 4.5 lt six cylinder, I get around 16lt/100km solo and around 19 to 20lt/100km towing a 16ft pop top van. Probably not ideal, perhaps if you could find a diesel model it would be better. Otherwise they are a very good comfortable and capable tow vehicle. ?

Hope you recover soon.

Regard

Ashley

Sheesh you guys need some good news /luck ! I suspect you'll be a little paranoid about trees in the future ? So lucky after hearing other misfortune up here in North West Sydney.. Nothing like camping with family and grandchildren !! So good to hear they're ok !!
All the best for you future . Graeme /Ann

we have the turbo v8 diesel as a work truck .. It doesn't seem to use anymore than a harder working Triton. Mind you they are work trucks and get no sympathy! The bigger Cruiser motor can't be pushed as hard as the smaller engine. At the end of the day reliability is far more important . Driving style while towing would make a big difference  with the 4.5 just cruising .. 

That is the scariest thing I have seen in a long time.

Glad you are both reasonably OK.

If it's any use, we used to tow with a Mercedes Benz ML270 (2.7lt CDI diesel) pulled like a train and very economical. Much better than our Prado 3lt diesel. Fuel figures 9/100 solo and 14.2 l/100 towing 1700kg full size van.

These ML's can be found from around the $9,000 mark for an average one and $15,000 should get you an excellent example. Comfortable and typical Mercedes safety standards.

Ken

Hello Richard, sorry to hear about this crazy accident we wish you and your wife a speedy recovery,---Richard part of your story worries me a bit we were hoping to secure a purchase of a Nissan patrol 2012 3.0 ltr you commented that your Nissan struggled with a pop top would you please give me more details on vehicle and weight of van etc we wer hoping to pull a larger van than yours- this decision to buy a Nissan patrol has been a roller coaster with the negatives versus possitives my head is spinning, your thought would be apreciated

hi everyone

sorry for the delay in answering but have been subdued with drugs and sleeping like mad. 
many thanks for your kind wishes, they all help in building up confidence and fitness to go on! I am typing with one finger left handed! but I am a right hand man!!
yip in a funny way I am a lucky dude to have not lost my/our lives.... as the tree started out determined to take our lives, but through I believe divine intervention all I sustained was my smashed wrist/hand, nothing when you really think of it.

I may never know why I/we were spared but I can say I am truly thank full I was spared! and I find it a bit difficult to even talk/type notes about it, I have survived a few serious incidents during the Rhodesian war, then smoking saved me whilst working at an explosives factory in South Africa I took a fag break and whilst up at the fag shed all 14 men who were in my building were killed by an explosion, I survived all the political issues in Johannesburg during the release of Nelson Mandela, I could go on but this one...... did scare me by far the biggest!

tomorrow 10/3/14 I go into theatre for the 6th time to have the plastic surgery done as so far they have put titanium plates and screws to hold both the bones in place, all the tendons and nerves have been tied up to each other(as seen in the photos), and goodness knows what else they have done during the 23 hrs. in total that I have been in theatre. I moved my fingers a tiny bit more today and now have a bit of feeling in the figures 3 out of 5 presently so looking good.

yesterday we bought another caravan it is a 21ft Jayco WestPoint 2006 model full height van, and today we bought a 100 series cruiser 4.5lt auto wife happy with the van & and I am happy with the work horse that will pull the van! now I just need to get out of hospital and back on the road , so when you see a rig parked way out there in the middle of the field miles from any shady trees then pop in and say g'day!  

.Hi there Tezza n Tomoka

we had a 2002 patrol 3.0lt turbo GU diesel auto with 320,000 km's ,and towed the 17.5 Jayco sterling Outback.

I am a technician by trade originally and this was our eleventh caravan rig (not counting 4 motorhomes) that we have had.

regarding height, , the end of the Nissan was a bit soft and that was sorted with the equaliser bars we then had a good level rig with the vans nose a tad down.

power wise... well the patrol has never won any prizes for being sporty

when towing I kept the gear shift the same as when not towing and even at times engaged the speed cruise, when the revs were dropping below 2300 I would switch off the overdrive this would raise the revs to about 2700rpm and then if the incline was still continuing the auto box would kick another gear down and revs would go to about 3200rpm,

compared to my other rigs for what we were towing you had to sort of keep on working at the trip, you could not just get behind the wheel and cruise along, I suppose in short I felt the patrol did not really get its back into it gave up to easily and changed gear up for the smallest of inclines,

 I used to get about 6.8/7.5 km/lt on the patrol solo and 4.6/5.6 km/lt towing and an average speed of 93 km/hr

when we discussed about getting another one yea we could do but we found the solid front axial, gave a hard ride and I guess also wanted a bit more power,

I drove the patrol for just over two yrs. as my company car then bought it when I was made redundant in Sept. 2013.

in all that time never had an issue and was reliable as a rock. I have seen patrols pulling really big rigs but I personally believe that the horse should also be enjoying the trip and not be having its engine flogged to the maximum.

on our Australian roads we have miles of straight road with side and head winds that hammer you for many hundreds of km's so you land up wavering good bye to your fuel economy.

everything else about the ute/wagon was pretty good no complaints.

hope this helped?

Tezza and Tomoko

Hi Deverall11
Yip did buy a lotto tickets but no win!
Suppose u can't be lucky every day! Hey!

I am sure the cruiser will give me many miles of good towing and safe travels, we paid $13000. And seller going to put roadworthy cert on and two new rear shocks on bin the deal, it does have 268,000 km on the clock!

cheers

Rich n Debs 

268,000kms on a Land Cruiser?

Is that all?

It's just warming up mate!

G'Day sorry to see you bashed up. We have a petrol 98 100 series which we to a 25ft Jayco. I bought it because 1 I could afford it and 2 mainly because we wanted the 3.5 tonne Braked towing capacity. 

Ok our dramas so far Fuel when towing on petrol (we also have gas) can get as abad as 25 litres /100ks

2 we had bad problems with over heating at first we had the head gasket replaced but still suffered until my wife found something on the net about Toyota noy putting enough oil in the viscous clutch on the fan. About 1 hours work and $24 dollars for 2 vials of oil from toyota and the over heating is mostly under control. We did have it get a bit hot once but the abient temp was well up into 40s, and I have since fitted an extra oil cooler to the trans, I am also considering whether I should maybe think about electric fans as this can help cooling and takethe drag off the engine and save fuel, but I dont really have the money to try.

3 Our only other problem was that we needed to get a drop hitch so that the van towed at the correct angle, Lift kits look good but for most people towing are probably not that practical.

Hope this helps and good luck 

Cheers Andrew

Sorry to hear about your accident and to see your pictures ...

We have an 1995 80 Series (manual & petrol 4.5) Land Cruiser and it is fantastic for towing our 21 foot Jayco Heritage van.

We have travelled just over 20,000 Kms and the tug is averaging 5.3 Kms / litre or a smidge over 18 litres per 100 Kms.

Average tow speed is 90 - 95 km/hour pulling 2500-3000 rpm. Even unhitched, I run her up to 120km/h pulling same rpm.

Fuel consumption shocked me at first and I thought we needed a newer diesel tug but after seeing the costs involved and the minimal advantages of them versus an old truck like my 80 series, I'm not convinced it is worthwhile. Mechanic friends have told me that unless you are absolutely working a diesel motor all day every day like a big truck, then you are kidding yourself with a mid sized diesel tug unless you have lots of cash to keep them serviced.

I'm sure I'll stir up a hornets nest with comments re diesels v petrol engines, but I think it comes down to personal choice and tow weights.

The only negative with the 1995 80 series is the 2.5 tonne tow limit ... Luckily for us the Jayco fully laiden is not even close.

My hayman reese anti sway bars ensure the ride is smooth and I can face up to road trains coming at me with the confidence that I will not get blown off the road!

Since July 2013, we live on the road now full time and the ol'80 has not missed a beat, just rolled over to 285,000kms.

In my profile pic is our "fleet" including our 1st van, the beige Millard to the left.

Hope this helps ...

Cheers - Weg