The cargo capacity of the 200
Series Land Cruiser is reduced
to 260kg when there's 350kg on
the towball (fortunately, the ball
weight of the Trakmaster pictured
is much lower than that!).
ALL-CONQUERING CRUISER? PROMISING PATROL?
Think about that for a moment. We haven't
added any accessories to the vehicle, let alone
passengers and their luggage. Two hundred
and sixty kilograms is bugger all and, when you
consider that many people will buy the Land
Cruiser for its ability to tow a big caravan, it’s
easy to see how many owners’ van and vehicle
combinations will be grossly overloaded. However, Nissan ruins the party by reducing
the GVM depending on the towball mass and, in
this case, with 350kg on the towball the GVM is
reduced by 130kg to 3370kg. Our cargo capacity
is now just 270kg.
The Toyota 200 Series Land Crusier has a kerb
(or empty) weight of 2740kg. It has a GVM (or
maximum total mass) of 3350kg, giving it a cargo
capacity of 610kg. When we hook up a caravan
with a towball mass of, say, 350kg, the remaining
cargo capacity is just 260kg!
Let's look at another example. The Y62 Nissan
Patrol has a GVM of 3500kg and a kerb weight of
2750kg, giving it a cargo capacity of 750kg. Much
better than the Land Cruiser. So, with 350kg on
the towball, we should have 400kg remaining
which, again, is miles ahead of the Cruiser.
Unlike the Land Cruiser, the towbar receiver is not
a part of the vehicle’s chassis, so you have to take
into account the weight of the towbar assembly
itself (around 15 to 20kg). Now we are down to
just 250kg of remaining cargo capacity.
It’s not looking too promising, is it?
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