A 4×4 off-roader should deliver high load-carrying and towing capability, but specs and real-world testing show they’re not all ultimate get-away vehicles…
In many ways, the off-road SUV is the ideal vehicle with which to take the family on holiday. Their practical nature, spacious interior, off-road capability and high towing capacity allow many Australians to fulfil their dream of making the Big Lap around our continent. But it’s also very easy to exceed legal load thresholds when packing these SUVs and/or when towing a heavy trailer. None of the wagons in contention for carsales Best Off-Road SUV 2022 are perfect in the weight domain, but some are clearly betting for towing and carrying plenty of gear. So let’s load them up and sort them out…
We’ve all seen funny images or video of vehicles overseas with a load on their roof or tray that is as high as a house. This would seem to be the very definition of overloading. But what is all the fuss about?
Why not load up a vehicle as much as you want?
Loading a vehicle without consideration of the weight involved risks an axle or chassis breaking or a tyre exploding – none of which is safe for you or other motorists when you’re wobbling down the road…
So the authorities have to draw a line in the sand, and that line is set by manufacturer-prescribed weight limits.
Unlike most other passenger vehicles, large 4×4 wagons such as the 12 lined up for carsales Best Off-Road SUV 2022 can be expected to carry and/or tow a lot of weight on a regular basis.
If you intend to do exactly that, it’s important you become very closely acquainted with the manufacturer’s maximum load weights.
It’s not just towing capacity that you need to understand; there are other key weights often overlooked including Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) and Gross Combined Mass (GCM).
As we’ve explained in advice articles, you have to check the vehicle manufacturer’s set load and towing capacities. This is so you don’t end up with an overweight, illegal and potentially dangerous rig.
All of the entry-level models on test have weight compromises, but some more than others.
Less than half of them have a maximum braked towing capacity of 3500kg. These are the Isuzu MU-X, Land Rover Defender 110, Nissan Patrol, SsangYong Rexton and the new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.
The maximum towing weights are lower on the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuner (3100kg each), the Ford Everest and Toyota Prado (3000kg each), the Jeep Grand Cherokee (2812kg) and Jeep Wrangler (2495kg), and the LDV D90 (2000kg).
All the contenders have the industry-standard tow ball mass limit, which is 10 per cent of their maximum tow capacity.
Most of them also offer the safety net of electronic trailer sway control, with the LDV and Nissan the only to miss out.
It’s important to note that every model on test will have a weight issue if you need to carry a full load of people and/or accessories and luggage, as well as tow a heavy trailer at the same time.
Payload can be the first problem. The vehicle with the lowest payload on test is the Fortuner at 625kg and the highest is the Grand Cherokee with 865kg.
The weight of the trailer pressing on the tow ball (which, as a maximum permitted, is called tow ball download mass, or TBM) is included as the SUV’s payload. Taking 10 per cent TBM as typical, for the SUVs with a 3500kg towing capacity, you have to account for potentially 350kg of the vehicle’s payload taken up by the trailer.
That means for the 3500kg SUVs (and assuming a 350kg tow ball download), the Defender has the most payload left over for people and gear with 494kg remaining. The MU-X has the least with 315kg left over.
For the lower tow-capacity SUVs, the Wrangler has the least payload at its maximum 250kg tow ball download mass, with 310kg remaining, while the Grand Cherokee has the most, with 585kg remaining once you factor in 280kg on its tow ball.
The next issue is Gross Combined Mass – the legal maximum a loaded vehicle and trailer can weigh all up. The Defender, Patrol and Rexton and are the only three vehicles here that can tow at their full 3500kg capacity while loaded up to their full GVM.
Of the rest, the LandCruiser 300 needs to be only 30kg short of its maximum allowed weights to not exceed GCM.
Of the vehicles remaining (all with a tow rating of less than 3500kg), only the Grand Cherokee, D90 and Prado can be at their full laden weight and tow right up to their maximum allowed towing capacity.
Your rig will (hopefully) weigh less than the maximum allowed, but the only way to know is to get your rig weighed either at a weigh station or by a private weigh operator.
As you’d expect, some SUVs on test are better than others at being able to lug a heavy trailer along well in terms of ride, stability and performance.
The new Toyota LandCruiser is the standout.
The LC300’s 3.3-litre twin-turbo diesel engine will tow a heavy trailer as if it almost isn’t there, up hill or down. Towing stability is excellent and ride quality, for the most part, is very good. The 300 Series also has a large fuel tank, permitting a long touring range.
Front-end suspension softness when towing may irritate some drivers, while the V6 diesel isn’t much more fuel-efficient with a heavy trailer behind than its V8-powered predecessor.
Following the LandCruiser 300 is the Land Rover Defender, which goes big on towing ride comfort and rock-solid stability when towing a heavy trailer.
It also offers strong if not stellar engine outputs to keep the rig motoring well up hills. The only downside is that some may find the 90-litre fuel capacity a bit on the low side for Outback towing trips, and the suspension can wallow a little with a heavy trailer out the back.
In third place is the Nissan Patrol, which offers a solid, heavy platform that won’t easily be shoved around by any trailer and a decent ride and strong hill-climbing performance.
Yet the petrol V8 is not always happy settling into a high gear at cruising speed with a heavy trailer behind. The V8 often feels like a sports car engine, preferring to reach for its power peak on such occasions.
When towing a heavy trailer (3000kg-plus), the Patrol isn’t actually much thirstier than a large diesel, and its 140-litre tank provides a long fuel range.
With its mix of relatively high kerb mass, long wheelbase and short rear-axle-to-hitch-point measurements, the Ford Everest should be a great tow vehicle. But in practice, it isn’t quite as rock-solid with a van behind.
The front-end pitches over undulating roads and it hasn’t got the hill-climbing ability of the better 3500kg tow wagons here – even though we had to tow a trailer weight several hundred kilos less due to the Everest’s 3000kg tow capacity.
The SsangYong Rexton has 3500kg towing credentials, and plenty of power and torque, too. Yet given its indifferent ride quality and turbo lag when unladen – plus the smallest fuel tank, at 70 litres, giving questionable towing range – it’s not a front-runner among the 4×4 off-roaders on test.
The Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuner share a similar towing performance. They are all very sensitive to trailer weight and balance. When towing a well-balanced trailer of around 2000kg to 2300kg, they all tow well. But when towing towards their maximum capacity – 3500kg for MU-X, 3100kg for the other two – they can feel quite twitchy.
Engine performance is more than acceptable in all, but none have the easy, hill-flattening torque of the better tow haulers here.
In diesel form, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is one of our towing favourites, but the petrol model is not quite as good.
Although it still offers good ride quality and strong stability as well as being a very capable towing hill-climber, the 3.6-litre V6 likes to be revved to give its best and needs plenty of fuel to feed it when towing a heavy trailer in hilly terrain or a headwind.
At that point, its relatively small 80-litre tank draws your attention to its limited fuel range.
In a similar vein is the Toyota Prado. It can tow up to 3000kg, but even more so than the vehicles above, the Prado lacks performance, is thirsty and not particularly secure on the road with close to its towing limit behind it.
The Prado is far better when towing closer to 2000kg than 3000kg.
With the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, its long wheelbase and short rear overhang should help translate to good towing stability. But in our testing that wasn’t quite the case.
While ride quality proved to be very good, we found it would start to yaw quite easily.
The V6 petrol engine needs to dig deep into its power band on a regular basis to maintain speed, and so the Wrangler isn’t really a settled – or particularly economical – long-distance tow hauler.
With just 2000kg towing capacity, the LDV is simply not competitive in this group.
Ford Everest Ambiente 3.2D 4×4Payload: 716kgKerb weight: 2384kgGVM: 3100kgGCM: 5800kgMax towing capacity: 3000kg
Max tow ball download: 300kg
Isuzu MU-X LS-M 3.0D 4×4Payload: 665kgKerb weight: 2135kgGVM: 2800kgGCM: 5900kgMax towing capacity: 3500kg
Max tow ball download: 350kg
Jeep Grand Cherokee Night Eagle 3.6PPayload: 865kgKerb weight: 2084kgGVM: 2949kgGCM: 6099kgMax towing capacity: 2812kg
Max tow ball download: 280kg
Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Night Eagle 3.6PPayload: 560kgKerb weight: 1900kgGVM: 2460kgGCM: 4706kgMax towing capacity: 2495kg
Max tow ball download: 250kg
Land Rover Defender 110 P300 2.0PPayload: 844kgKerb weight: 2261kgGVM: 3105kgGCM: 6605kgMax towing capacity: 3500kg
Max tow ball download: 350kg
LDV D90 Executive 2.0P 4×4Payload: 630kgKerb weight: 2285kgGVM: 2915GCM: 4960kgMax towing capacity: 2000kg
Max tow ball download: 200kg
Mitsubishi Pajero Sport GLX 2.4D 4×4Payload: 730kgKerb weight: 2045kgGVM: 2775kgGCM: 5565kgMax towing capacity: 3100kg
Max tow ball download: 310kg
Nissan Patrol Ti 5.6PPayload: 688kgKerb weight: 2812kgGVM: 3500kgGCM: 7000kgMax towing capacity: 3500kg
Max tow ball download: 350kg
SsangYong Rexton ELX 2.2DPayload: 727kgKerb weight: 2233kgGVM: 2960kgGCM: 6460kgMax towing capacity: 3500kg
Max tow ball download: 350kg
Toyota Fortuner GX 2.8DPayload: 625kgKerb weight: 2175kgGVM: 2800GCM: 5550kgMax towing capacity: 3100kg
Max tow ball download: 310kg
Toyota LandCruiser GX 3.3DPayload: 785kgKerb weight: 2495kgGVM: 3280kgGCM: 6750kgMax towing capacity: 3500kg
Max tow ball download: 350kg
Toyota Prado GX 2.8DPayload: 750kgKerb weight: 2240kgGVM: 2990kgGCM: 5990kgMax towing capacity: 3000kg
Max tow ball download: 300kg
Keyword: Best Off-Road SUV 2022: Towing and payload