Yeh I have. Tow a large boat easily but are extremely thirsty when towing.

27 litres per 100 k`s towing a 24 foot boat to exmouth at about 100 kmh. Our boat sits behind the cruiser pretty good though, a cat or big cabin rig might be worse. Mine has done about 120 thousand now and been good. Only thing I`ve done is never towed the boat without knocking it back out of overdrive, not good for the gearbox otherwise.

so would you buy another or go turbo deisel?

i've got one 2005 model and auto, not a bad rig but i can't compare to a TD model as i've never been in one. tows my cruisecraft 625 very well at 100km/h getting around 550km from the 130L with the targa down but she's not a real tall boat but is 2.5T

yeh thanks guys.

looking at getting a new car and it will be a 100 series cruiser, i want a factory turbo diesel, auto, but they are rare, there seems to be a few v8's and plenty of petrol ones around.

anyone wanna buy my t bucket? $38k

I averaged 34 litres per 100 km towing a cat when loaded up was probably close to the max. 3.5t.  Piece of cake to tow and there is plenty of grunt there.  I generally sit around 90 - 95kph.  Turbo diesel as I recall was about another $10k on the purchase price.  Is it worth the extra, I think that depends on the amount of kms you think you are going to do.  I don't do a lot of kms so I went petrol.  Given the choice again I would do the same.

the T/D's still command a 10k premium now when i was looking, couldn't find one for less than 50K unless is was 2002 or 250k kms on it. 44k got me a 2005 auto v8 petrol with 78k kms with bullbar, spotties, towbar and a few other little things

 I think if you sit on 100kms/hr or under there not too bad fuel wise. I use to sit on 110kms/hr towing about a 3.5t hard top and I would use about 45lts/100kms. With only a 130lt tank I had to stop quite frequently driving up north.

cheers guys, i might searoulsy look at the v8's, gotta sell my hot rod first!!

Definately get another petrol v8, it was only 38 grand and had 68000 k`s on it. A turbo diesel was 50 grand. Buy plenty of fuel for 12k.

 Beautiful car to drive but a bit soft on the arse suspension. Install some airbags that fit inside the springs to stiffin it up and all better. Gets very thirsty if towing heavy or fast ( or both)

I did trade up to the 200 turbo diesel and would never go back. But for what I paid I could of bought a lot of petrol. However I can get from Perth to Gero on one tank towing 3.5 tonne. With the 100 V8 petrol that was 240km a tank.

 last trip in a mates 200 series t/d to coral bay ,think it averaged 20-21 litres per 100, 

thats sitting on a 100. Ally boat about 2.8 tons,

say 1400kms, thats 280 litres at say $1.60 per/l thats $448 total 1 way.

going on about 30 litres per 100 that the petrol boys reported thats

420 litres at about $ 1.55 per litre is  $651 , 1 way

pretty rough guide , but the figures ( apart from the cents per litre) do tell a story.

Strange thing too ,but towing the same or similar boat with a 80 series t/d

then a f250 7.3 litre t/d and then a n/a 100 diesel and then a t/d 100 series 

all came in at about 20 litres per 100, all at 100kms /per h , no matter what

the donk,wierd aye ,wonder if a 120 prado or similar  could better it? if you could legally tow it?

 I've got a 2003 100 series v8 on petrol/gas. i tow a 7m fibreglass centre cabin. If I had my way again I would spend the extra $10k on a turbo diesel. The gas cannot come into this conversation as it is just not worth when towing and travelling long distances.

The diesel will give, better towing economy, range and better resale value.

I have towed using both vehicles (100 series at work) and can say the turbo diesel pulls like a truck and keeps pulling. I know that when you are spending the quids straight up on the car, the extra cash is a stretch, but 5 yrs down the track, i wish i had splashed out.

cheers

Kev.

 ive just been looking at the same cars as you Ron .. i just bought the f250 7.3 lt turbo diesel .. 

why pay 40k - 50k for a cruiser when you can by a tank at the same price, tow the queen mary and still use less fuel ??

now im just waiting for it to get to me :)

theres alot to weigh up . the petrol v8 has plenty of get and go around town and my preference is LPG conversion so it cheep to cruise around town

i had a V8 and at the time could not get it converted  at the time . so i sold it and bought a TD 2007 100 series and found the performance towing a 2tne boat at 100 kms was not that special  430 kms for 90 lt but i will admit that if i sat on 90 kms there was better consumption, for me the LPG V8 would be best but you do pay extra in the country for LPG so the saving would be as good as in perth.    my present rig old 100 series 4.5 lt petrol with bad issues, uses 30 lts per 100kms on lpg towing at 100kms @ 68 cents LPG   so i can use 2 tanks LPH to easily get 600kms  where as the TD. 90 litres of diesel @ $ 1.50 lt to get roughly the same distance.

if i had the extra money , yes the 200 series or 70 series TD v8 would be my choice

theres alot to weigh up . the petrol v8 has plenty of get and go around town and my preference is LPG conversion so it cheep to cruise around town

i had a V8 and at the time could not get it converted  at the time . so i sold it and bought a TD 2007 100 series and found the performance towing a 2tne boat at 100 kms was not that special  430 kms for 90 lt but i will admit that if i sat on 90 kms there was better consumption, for me the LPG V8 would be best but you do pay extra in the country for LPG so the saving would be as good as in perth.    my present rig old 100 series 4.5 lt petrol with bad issues, uses 30 lts per 100kms on lpg towing at 100kms @ 68 cents LPG   so i can use 2 tanks LPH to easily get 600kms  where as the TD. 90 litres of diesel @ $ 1.50 lt to get roughly the same distance.

if i had the extra money , yes the 200 series or 70 series TD v8 would be my choice

hi guys.

thanks for the comments.

i was in a 80 series petrol today(driving) towing a car trailer with a commodore on it, which all up would be like towing my 6.5mtr boat and i was quite impressed, i did take it very easy and not plant it, but it felt real good.

i will have to try the deisel next.

after towing my boat around with a 2.8 dual cab hilux anything would feel good though!!

cheers

ron

G'day Ron

I've got a V8 petrol Sahara. Just returned from Carnarvon and the best I got was 24 litres per 100km towing at 95kph. It helps not to have a headwind as this can easily creep up to 28 -30 litres. My rig is 685 Outsider, all up just on 3 tonne. No problems towing but does feel the hills. Self levelling suspension on the Sahara is the best, keeps headlights on the road !

I only do 15,000 pa so couldn't justify a diesel, however a mate has a 200 series turbo pulling a 23' cat. Greart tow vehicle but increased speed equals increased consumption.

cheers

Same, same cruise control. Ive got the 100 series V8 Sahara and it tows the boat (8m ally) too well. In general the 1HZ (4.2 ltr diesel) is a good motor unless you want to go over 100 or tow something. The turbo version is good but you pay for it. Money wasnt the issue when I bought the cruiser I have now, I just preferred the petrol. Unless there are overtaking lanes and you dont mind doing 70-80 kmh, Ill be in the petrol for a while. Its all good talking about the 200 twin turbo V8 diesel, but they cost big bucks for the performance, and the ones Ive been in are pretty thirsty as well.

Its definately the old Ford vs Holden thing though!

Go Eagles!

Hi Ron, i too have just sold my hotrod but i am getting a 3.0lt T/D dual cab. For me it's the best thing as i dont have the use for a large vehicle like the cruiser. I will volunteer it to tow the boat to Exy next year but thats about the extent of it's heavy towing needs. I have my own business in Perth so i carry a bit of gear in the back but it will be much better on the fuel than the larger vehicle. My choice is to sacrifice the 'once a year' trip north for the everyday running around. But if i use 15lt/100 kms for the trip, i will be happy.

Good luck with what ever you decide on.

cheers Rob

i have a v8 and love it the only downfall is towing a boat into a strong headwind! you can see the fuel gauge dropping! you will need to buy some airbags for the ass end as the suspension is very soft! good luck

i was looking around for 100 series as well, in the turbo diesel. But man they still cost a pretty penny!

Im running a Jeep commander 3trl TTurbo diesel. Sits on about 21-22ltrs / 100kms towing the 7.8m fury to Exmouth.Anymore than that starts to drink fuel. Plenty of guts tho, pretty easy to over take road trains towing the boat!.