Are they any good for towing?

[prozac]

Hi,
I'm hankering after a SSR-G 3.0 td.
Any good? I know feck all about Surfs, I just like them (and the Mitsi Shogun Sport Warrior but the mitsi's are only 2.5 and not Auto).
What are the G's like, excellent or more gizmo's to go wrong.
I tow an 18' caravan, currently with a BMW 525TDS Touring (146BHP).
Coming back from Dolgellau (been to Coed Y Brenin mountain biking) the beemer overheated. I'm hoping it's just the thermostat or something similar. We had to be AA recovered back to Coventry.
I've no real offroad desires.
Anything to look out for with the 3.0L?

Any advice would be welcome.

Cheers
Prozac

[TonyN]

They tow just great, heres some of the things our long suffering 3.0 has had to lug around.........





Fit an extra small ATF cooler in series with the in-rad one if you get an Auto, and it'll be good to go.

[stormforce]

Hi,
I'm hankering after a SSR-G 3.0 td.
Any good? I know feck all about Surfs, I just like them (and the Mitsi Shogun Sport Warrior but the mitsi's are only 2.5 and not Auto).
What are the G's like, excellent or more gizmo's to go wrong.
I tow an 18' caravan, currently with a BMW 525TDS Touring (146BHP).
Coming back from Dolgellau (been to Coed Y Brenin mountain biking) the beemer overheated. I'm hoping it's just the thermostat or something similar. We had to be AA recovered back to Coventry.
I've no real offroad desires.
Anything to look out for with the 3.0L?

Any advice would be welcome.

Cheers
Prozac

hi prozac and welcome to the forum if you take a look at the non surf related section there is a thread on there all about towing caravans etc you should find all the info you need to know.dont forget to get some pics up when you get the surf

[Linda]

Awh bless her - Black Bullet loves it!!! She's off to get Snoop's surf as we speak!!

They tow just great, heres some of the things our long suffering 3.0 has had to lug around.........





Fit an extra small ATF cooler in series with the in-rad one if you get an Auto, and it'll be good to go.

[Gtdog]

To simplify an awnswer, Yes.

[usafric]

Mine tows great, but if I keep it above 80mph, she tends to get a bit hot. I believe it is the position of the trans cooler, located on the bottom of the rad. Other than that she pulls all day at 70...

[prozac]

Cheers for the responses.
As I'm towing a caravan, I'm supposed to keep to 60 max anyway. I'm not too used to towing yet.

I'll see what happens with the beemer.....

[mud-ge]

mine tows my 21ft caravan just fine ,just got back from two weeks in cornwall,on the way back on the A35 my mates disco overheated half way up a long hill ,it took two litres of the finest bottled water evian to get it going again the surf wasnt even out of breath all the way back ,so by my reconing thats one to the surf and ten grand saved ,not allowing for the damage he must of done .

[laser_jock99]

Don't know about caravans- but I've been pulling up old roots and tree stumps with my Surf tonight. Tip- don't use ropes- thick chain is much better!

[Tallyman]

Mine tows great, but if I keep it above 80mph, she tends to get a bit hot. I believe it is the position of the trans cooler, located on the bottom of the rad. Other than that she pulls all day at 70...

There's a blanket 60mph maximum on M-way & dual carriageways in this country for EVERY vehicle towing a trailer, whether it's a caravan, HGV artic or a 3ft square camping trailer. It's amazing how many people don't appear to know that. I got overtaken by god knows how many towing vehicles on the way back from South Wales this weekend and I was doing 60mph most of the time. I even got overtaken once by an RAC van pulling a broken down car on an "A" frame and he was doing over 80mph. Given that the car was the equivalent of an unbraked trailer over 750kgs I believe he was supposed to be limited to 40mph.

[da SLUG man]

especially the state of some of the trailers about!... i think they're supposed to have at least 2 wheels and have some kind of framework holding them together!

[Linda]

There's a blanket 60mph maximum on M-way & dual carriageways in this country for EVERY vehicle towing a trailer, whether it's a caravan, HGV artic or a 3ft square camping trailer. It's amazing how many people don't appear to know that. I got overtaken by god knows how many towing vehicles on the way back from South Wales this weekend and I was doing 60mph most of the time. I even got overtaken once by an RAC van pulling a broken down car on an "A" frame and he was doing over 80mph. Given that the car was the equivalent of an unbraked trailer over 750kgs I believe he was supposed to be limited to 40mph.

Oh I suspect they all know the limit - they just choose to ignore it. Isnt there a top speed of 70 or something on our motorways!!

[sheeprus]

I've found the 2.4 can tow ok but gets a bit thirsty and struggles on some of the step hills between Cork and dublin, but then again, that was with about 1800kg's on the back.

[prozac]

They sound like pretty good towers. What sort of BHP does the 3.0L kick out?
The 2.5 Beemer TDS is approx 146.
What's the correlation between BHP and Torque. The Mitsi 2.5 TD 'only' puts out 114BHP but I'd imagine it's a reasonable tow car.

"Coming back from Dolgellau (been to Coed Y Brenin mountain biking) the beemer overheated. I'm hoping it's just the thermostat or something similar. We had to be AA recovered back to Coventry."
The Beemer is currently still in the garage. Paid £300 for an Auxilliary fan to be fitted at Godfrey Hall, Coventry. I drove less than a mile and the needle was buried in the RED. Needless to say I was less than chuffed. They've loaned me a mini. Better than nowt. Better than the BMW at the moment.

So, what's the figures on BHP? Does it matter?

Cheers
Prozac

[Chiko]

For towing, torque is more important than BHP.

BHP is the figure that sells cars and can be bragged about in pubs.

It's Torque that wins races, tows the loads, and looks after all the hard work.

Think of it as Torque being the brute force to overcome inertia/resistance, and BHP as being the power to keep it spinning once it's there.

As a very brief summary, the surf WILL tow better than your bmw. It has more weight, similar levels of torque, and more grip.

hth

-keith