Looking for a tow vehicle.

Yes a good move.

As you say it depends on requirements. Most people want a comfortable "car" that can handle the trailer/caravan without being illegal, hopelessly underpowered or terrify them with poor handling. Unfortunately the compromise is it normally has to be their daily driver, or at least their second car, as well.

The dominance of the Prado in the grey nomad world demonstrates a vehicle that just about ticks all the boxes. For those with bigger vans a Landcruiser or Patrol wagon is the choice but becoming too big for many people to use daily. There are several others in the Prado range.

I have had dozens of tow vehicles and can say without a shadow of a doubt the best by far was an old 80's F-150 4x4 auto with a 351 on gas/petrol. Whatever the load on the trailer you could just pull away from anybody going up hills. With the gas it cost about as much to run as a Hilux. It was a vehicle with authority, great handling and comfort but far too big for the average punter and now with gas outlets becoming scarce pretty sad on petrol consumption. Same goes for the modern Rams and F-250 if you have a spare $150,000 to spend.

So we are left with buying a rough truck like a Landcruiser ute or a lot more comfortable, but still a truck, Patrol ute or the most popular compromise the ubiquitous twin cab mid-size ute.

Once you decide on that path you can listen to your mates recommendations (how often do you hear people say they stuffed up and bought the wrong make) or some tossers doing magazine road tests on 4x4's and condemning them because the blue-tooth phone connection is old generation.

My two bob's worth is to look at the van you want for your six month retirement trip, normally home in two after mum starts to miss the garden and grandkids, and buy a vehicle with the capacity to tow the van. More sensibly buy the vehicle considering its use - a keeper and of use in your business, tow your boat or just a second car or alternatively, buy a vehicle perfect for the big trip but of no use later and sell it when you get home. Match your van to what it says on the tow ball.

All the same considerations for us blokes towing trailers and not vans.

And finally, Ratty said to Mole in "Wind in the Willows"
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”.

But in our case it is"
"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing than messing about in a vehicle with unlimited power"

Lang

And that is why the F350 has a Cummins and 10 speed, Power to tow, comfortable and not bad on fuel but a bit of a squeeze in parking areas and the turning circle of an ocean liner. Rated for 4.5 T so can handle most vans/trailers. Not perfect what does what I need it for.
Cheers Steve

Lots of good information there.
Lang, so here is another advantage to living in Victoria. Plenty of LPG still available. When I went through NSW about four years ago we were told that LPG was being phased out because all? new Taxi's in NSW were hybrids and did not have space for a gas tank.
In QLD we were told that many service stations had LPG but did not advertise it as they wanted to stop selling it once their tanks were empty.

It is good to hear opinions from those who have actually used the vehicles, most opinions about motor vehicles are held by those who have never driven, let along owned the model they are commenting on, so I ignore or avoid them. The comment that formed my opinion was by a workmate when at the age of 19, I bought a three year old Austin Cambridge with the last of the 1500CC engines. He said I would regret buying it as I would have to put a new camshaft in it at least once a month. I owned it for three years and in that time, all the engine needed was sparkplugs. I only sold it because I was going overseas!

Talking about tow vehicles I'd like to put a plug in for the International Scout
smaller in overall dimensions than an F150 or Landcruiser, better turning circle than an HQ Holden, and even on petrol only slightly more expensive than a V8 diesel Landcruiser to run. When I took the picture below, the engine was only running on 5 cylinders because 3 exhaust valves were almost totally burnt out, yet it made the trip from Melbourne to Queanbeyan sitting on 110kph pulling almost 3 tonne (the Scout on the trailer was full of spare parts including two spare gearboxes). Ok, so maybe it wasn't holding 110 going up hills. I have spent close to $40,000 on this Scout making it better than new, including adding coil suspension for a smoother ride, but I'm still way ahead of where I would've been if I forked out for a new Landcruiser, or even a new Isuzu twin cab.
And did I mention chick magnet appeal! Well, not so much a chick magnet, but plenty of old guys and a few young guys will want to bail you up and talk about how they or their dads used to have a Scout. And the bonus point is that no-one really knows what their rated tow capacity is, so Constable Plod can't knock you off for being too heavy!

I have had both short and long wheelbase Scouts. Great machine and pull as good as an F truck but do not handle or ride nearly as well in my opinion. The short one was quite luxurious, easily as good a fitout as a Bronco of the era but still more truck-like to drive. The Scout auto really got hot in long drags in soft sand whereas the F-150 C6 auto just kept cracking the bell housing.

Lang

Yes the Scout was very under rated, always wished Dad would get one instead of a Landcruiser, but no Landcruiser was the go for Dad
He would buy 2 every year for many years, yes I know it sounds strange
He had to wait 12 months for delivery there was such a shortage
He would sell one before he took delivery for a lot more than he paid and the one he took delivery of 12 months earlier he would trade in on the new one for less than or around the same cost
This was thru the 70's

He had a few deals like this back in the day

Paul

Bunged the post up a few times by mistake

If a veh6is of a certain age it has no GCM, tare or a lot of that type of stuff, this opens up what hcan be done with it
I'm gunna go any further there though, but worth keeping in mind

Paul